Fear and Terrorism

For the last ten years or so the word terrorism has been used so much it is sickening. While I myself am tired of hearing it I am also fascinated by the whole concept of the word, what it means and how it is used as a weapon.

What is terrorism?

The WordNetdictionary defines terrorism as "the calculated use of violence (or threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature; this is done through intimidation or coercion or instilling fear".

So we can see that by definition terrorism is meant to intimidate and to instill fear. Most of us are familiar with that fact. This definition also states that terrorism is used to "attain goals that are political or religious or ideological" in nature. I'm not sure I necessarily agree with the limited nature of this particular definition as I believe that the nature of terrorism itself (instilling fear) can be used in a variety of settings both and do not necessarily come with the intent of attaining political, religious or ideological goals. I've seen it used in work places in a small scale simply to make people feel powerless and become easier to control and manipulate no matter what the nature of the goal. I'm also not convinced that violence has to be threatened, I think it is possible to terrorise someone with the threat of anything important to them including their job, health care, home etc.

Terrorism can be effectively perpetrated in many ways. Most times there is some initial somewhat unpredictable attack or threat that begins to instill fear in a person or group of people's minds. On a large scale, the media quickly follows up to make sure the event and the related fear is replayed enough times that we cannot avoid thinking about it.

The mind is a very powerful thing. Once we begin turning something over in our minds and begin to consider all the possiblities that come with it, fear begins to enter. Particularly when our stability is threatened in someway; whether it is economic stability, our feeling of safety, our knowledge of what to expect, or our everyday life structure. Once fear sets in, terrorism begins to become effective.

 It could be argued that terrorism can only be effective once you begin to allow fear to grip you and you stop going about your daily activities as usual or you allow fear to control your daily activities.  Terrorists attack or threaten not because of the attack or threat itself, but because of the results of it.  One attack can only affect so many people but fear can affect millions upon millions of people, entirely disrupting their lives and even economic stability, mental stability etc.  Once they have been shaken by fear, people tend to act a bit irrationally and are much easier to scare further, to control and to manipulate.

Although we often see fear as being something that grips you without control, we could consider that fear is a choice, we decide how much we let something influence us and how much time we will spend thinking about it, therefore "theoretically" couldn't we also control our development of fear.  I have had the luxury of growing up in North America where there has not been an immediately threatening war for sometime.  My husband, however, grew up in a country ravaged by a long civil war.  There is something that he has developed that I dont see very often in people.  It is the absence of fear.  After the things he has seen, he has committed his life into God's hands and refuses to entertain any idea of fear.  I'm not joking when I say nothing scares him.  Terrorism in his case cannot be effective.  It would not work because it would not result in instiling any fear.  It is because of him that I have been able to see that terrorism is only as effective as people allow it to be. 

 Next time you hear about some attack, you are threatened by someone or something or are just simply scared of something, take some time to recognize the power you are giving up over your own life.  Do not allow yourself to develop fear whenever possible and do not allow yourself to be terrorized, whether it be on a national level, community level, or even at work or home.  Do not let the threats be successful.  Commit your life in God's hands and live it to the fullest!