Description

Imagining Terrorism: Terrorism and Anti-Terrorism Terrorism, Two Ways of Doing Evil

This article examines two aspects of dehumanization, which are perspectives that feed off each other, but facilitate violence against other human beings. It looks at the reciprocal sanitization of evil in the West and the beautification of evil in the Muslim world that rationalize unspeakable interpersonal violence. The authors analyze the definition of violence and explore the thin line that differentiates conventional war from terrorism. In short, this essay compares the stereotypical imaginaries of occidentalist terrorism with orientalist “antiterrorism terrorism.” This comparison generates the insight that both ultimately lead to violence that in turn leads each to mutually reinforce the other in a vicious circle of hate and global conflict.

Abu Ghraib, definition and discourse of terrorism, counterterrorism, high-technology warfare, state and nonstate violence

Citation: Social Justice Vol. 32, No. 1 (2005): 113-125.