the psychology of terrorism
On first impression, looking at the Palestinian picture, it would appear that terrorism is a direct attempt to redress the balance of power. While Israel has wealth, military might and the backing of the American Superpower, almost unconditionally, the Palestinians have more covert forms of support: tunnels from Egypt, actions by the Hesbollah guerrillas, Iran, and past Iraqi payments of money to the families of suicide bombers. So the psychology of terrorism appears to involve a re-balancing of causal power, plus attention focusing on the plight, the poverty and chaos, the suffering of a people. But there's a lot more to 'the psychology of terrorists' themselves. Desperation, fearing cultural loss and having nothing to lose, the terrorists are trained into believing that they have a 'heaven of martyrdom' to gain. They believe they will become truly loved as the beloved of Allah, fighting a Jihad (Holy War.) These social beliefs are very powerful as they produce social reinforcement - e.g. attention, acceptance, approval, praise, affection - within the tight knit, integrated social circles of the terrorists and their families. So behavior is strengthened and it persists.. Like reinforced concrete. The psychology of envy rears its ugly head in this context, too. The United States of America is the most successful civilisation ever, as measured by wealth, scientific and technological achievement, growth and global spread into the hearts and minds of humanity. The fall of the USSR is perhaps marked by the presence of a red haired clown, Ronald McDonald, in the center of Moscow. Hollywood, TV, The Internet, the music industry, Boeing, Microsoft.. the list of 'channels of influence' is endless. American military might is applied in Korea, Vietnam, Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan and it is implied elsewhere. The peacemakers in their silos and subs keep the general equilibrium - globally - but still, why do these terrorists bite and sting - to awaken the sleeping giant? What can they gain by using terror as a strategy? As a tactic? The psychology of terrorism is to shock, terrorize, disturb the sense of security and to create civil chaos, disorder. It is an attack on perceptions and beliefs. But from there it has no future or long term viability. It is not wise or good. It is an appallingly bad strategy which is doomed to failure. If you die, you are ineffective. The western countries are organic and a little inflammation from a bee sting can always be treated. But once motivated, they seem to arise to stamp out beehives rather effectively, to prevent any mutation of their opponents into superbees. This is a biological war for survival of groups within a species. Cultural groups.
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