Terrorism
The meaning of terrorism is the use of unlawful and violent act to frighten people to achieve his goal. Terrorism has been described in various ways as both a tactic and strategy; a crime and a holy duty; a justified reaction to oppression and an inexcusable abomination. Obviously, a lot depends on whose point of view is being represented. Terrorism has often been an effective tactic for the weaker side in a conflict. As an asymmetric form of conflict, it confers coercive power with many of the advantages of military force at a fraction of the cost. Due to the secretive nature and small size of terrorist organizations, they often offer opponents no clear point to follow a defending strategy or to deter.
That is why pre-emptive strategy is being considered to be so important. In some cases, terrorism has been a means to carry on a conflict without knowing about the nature of the threat, mistaking terrorism for criminal activity. Because of these characteristics, terrorism has become increasingly common among those pursuing extreme goals throughout the world. But despite its popularity, terrorism can be a nebulous concept. Even within the U.S. Government, agencies responsible for different functions in the ongoing fight against terrorism and extremism use different definitions.
Terrorism is a criminal act that influences people beyond the immediate victim. The strategy of terrorists is to commit acts of violence that draws the attention of the local populace, the government, and the world to their point. The terrorists plan their attack to obtain the maximum publicity, choosing targets that symbolize what they don't like. The effectiveness of the terrorist act lies not in the act itself, but in the public's or government's reaction to the act. For example, in 1972 at the Munich Olympics, the Black September Organization killed 11 Israelis. The Israelis were the immediate victims. But the true target was the estimated 1 billion people watching the televised event. Those billion people watching were to be introduced to fear - which is terrorism's ultimate goal. The introduction of this fear can be from the threat of physical harm and ultimately a death, financial terrorism from the fear of losing money or negative effects on the economy, cyber terrorism harming the critical technological infrastructures of society and psychological terrorism designed to influence people's behavior. Terrorism is designed to produce an overreaction and anecdotally, it succeeds at that almost all the time. Societies tend to close themselves off and governments use tactics that restrict and infringe upon everyone.
There are three perspectives of terrorism: the terrorist's, the victim's, and the general public's. The phrase "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter" is a view terrorists themselves would gladly accept. Terrorists do not see themselves as an evil. They believe they are legitimate combatants, fighting for what they believe in, by whatever means possible to attain their target. A victim of a terrorist act sees the terrorist as a criminal with no regard for human life. The general public's view though can be the most unstable. The sympathetic view of terrorism has become an integral part of their psychological warfare and has been countered vigorously by governments, the media and other organizations.
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