An idea new to me, on terrorism

[cakmpls]

I was listening to MPR this morning, and they were talking about the video threat against U.S. and Canadian malls by al-Shabaab. For anyone who doesn't know: al-Shabaab is a Somali terrorist group, and Minneapolis has a large Somali community (who have vociferously condemned the video

Comments

[akirlu]

I am surprised you hadn't heard that particular point before; it was certainly raised as early as 2001 in analyses of Al Qaeda's motivation for the 9/11 attacks. I would generally take your reason #1 as secondary, as its primary importance is as an instrument to #2. It's creating that sense of unity through a common oppressor that is by far the most central goal. IMHO, anyhow.

[judith_dascoyne]

That this new to me too.

[carbonel]

This is comparable to the way that an abusive significant other isolates the abused partner so that person has only the abuser's perspective, and only the abuser to turn to for comfort and validation.

[sturgeonslawyer]

Yeah, of course they do. By making (say) Somali-Americans feel isolated and hated, they improve their ability to recruit Somali-Americans.

[jiawen]

There's a kind of terrorism-security complex in which terrorists, national security apparatchiks and other fear-mongers collude to keep the general public afraid, anxious and thinking with our reptile brains. It's not conscious collusion, but the effect is the same.