Most of Them Are not Terrorists at All

We describe terrorism in lazy terms. It shows neglect, which can lead to abuse.

“Terrorists” have been called unintelligent. Terrorists are not unintelligent. They are smart.

Terrorists are said to be suicidal. They’re not.

Terrorists do not kill themselves. Successful terrorists live for many, many years. They have no wish to die, go to Paradise, and enjoy the love of virgins forever. They prefer to stick around, consume their favorite libations, and enjoy virgins in the flesh. True terrorists love life and cling to it. They are killed, but not on their own terms. They are killed by stealth bombers.

The pawns of terrorism, the ones who kill themselves, lack in many ways. Intelligence may be one such lack, but many are quite intelligent. Very intelligent people who come to feel that they lack a place in society, a sense of purpose, a sense of belonging, acceptance, or in extreme cases, a reason to live, imagined or otherwise, can and do become pawns of terror.

True terrorists lack for nothing. They have a place, a purpose, a sense of belonging, and acceptance, all of these. They enjoy life. The pawns are not terrorists and should not be called “terrorists.”

We have to quit doing that. Call them what they are!

They are the uninformed tools of terrorists - they could be called “UTOTS” - or “suicidal pawns of terrorism” - “SPOTS,” for short - or just “pawns.” Terrorists they are not. (I like “UTOTS” best.)

UTOTS are told that they’re martyrs. They are not.

There’s your next misused word: “Martyrs.”

Martyrs don’t kill themselves, and they certainly don’t die for the purpose of creating violence. True martyrs die at the hands of authority figures. People beheaded by UTOTS are much closer to martyrdom than UTOTS themselves will ever be.  Martyrs are people who die for the sake of all peace loving people. They don’t kill other people. They are usually executed by some society that fears the voice of reason. And that is the one thing terrorists fear most. (UTOTS don’t. They don’t see the significance of reason, and they are usually unwilling or unable to participate in a reasoning process.)

Still, we let the UTOTS call themselves “martyrs.” We have to quit doing that.

The purpose of terrorism is often argued. Sometimes, we say that terrorism has no purpose.

We have to stop doing that too. Their purpose is simple: Find UTOTS to die. Tell the world you and the UTOTS are acting on behalf of people of a certain ethnic and/or religious and/or racial group. Provoke the targeted society to retaliate, become irrational with fear, and eventually fall to decay from within.

The clearest sign of success for terrorism is retaliation. If a terrorist act can provoke an outrageous war upon some nation, the terrorists rejoice.

But the ultimate purpose of terrorism is precipitating the downfall of a society through instillation of irrational fear deeply into its citizens. A targeted society embraces fear and plunges itself into the pit of terror and violence, weakening it from the inside. Shake up the society enough, and you get them into a position where you can steal away their power.

Terrorists know exactly what they’re doing. It has to do with ethnic, religious, and/or racial prejudices to begin, but quickly devolves into something that has nothing to do with them. Here are the stages:

1.     1. A peaceful, free society perceives a threat and turns its prejudices and suspicions upon people who can be identified by their ethnic, religious, and/or racial identity.

2.      2. Ordinary but slightly irrational citizens of the free society, uneducated, unreflective, easily motivated by fear, easily influenced by prejudices that sound like slogans of wisdom, begin to wage violence upon those same people. The society begins to resemble the early stages of Germany prior to World War II, in which the Jews were targeted.

3.     3. Some of those disturbed citizens begin to wage violence upon law enforcement officers who are bound by law to protect all citizens, including those of the targeted population.

4.     4. Now the purpose of terrorism begins to blossom on its own, far removed from strange notions of Holy Wars and religious affiliations. Numerous ordinary, well-meaning but deeply rattled citizens begin to devolve. They take comfort in buying assault weapons and ammunition, preparing for the ominous, ultimate, seemingly unstoppable confrontation.

5.     5. People shoot each other. Some are shot by mistake. Fearing any imagined danger, terrorized individuals kill weaponless suspects who seem to be reaching for something, anything. To an imagination so devolved, anything begins to look like a gun.

6.     6. The feeling of personal terror grows. People begin to fear the unfamiliar. People begin to stay home.

7.     7. Some of the terrorized citizens now fully devolve into UTOTS. They saunter and boast. They begin carrying concealed weapons of their own. Doing so helps to sway their fears. They defend themselves with very loud talk, ignoring the voice of reason, and clinging instead to every platitude, every prejudicial remark, any rationalization, to justify their personal terror and their decision to prepare to wage violence.

8.     8. UTOTS get more and more willing, as time passes, to shoot first instead of shooting back. Still more common people, and more law enforcement officers, get shot because of imagined threats, or by accident. The urge to kill builds up, and some kill large numbers of people, and then commit suicide, for no apparent reason.

9.     9. When the majority of Americans, or British citizens, or French citizens, or Germans, begin to fear for their personal safety enough so that they feel a need to carry weapons, shoot first, and ask questions later, the terrorists have succeeded. The society is eating itself away from the inside.

I think we’re at about stage 7 or 8. There may still be time to stop this nonsense, but watch for another rounding up and incarcerating. We’ll be looking for people of Persian descent, and/or Muslims. It will look a little like post-911, when quite a number of innocent people were arrested, held without trial, and shipped off to GITMO. Our soldiers who do that work will wear special uniforms. Perhaps they will look a lot like the SS Troops who ferretted out and shipped off Jews.

Many still cling to their platitudes: “Guantanamo Bay? They should have kept them there. They must have been guilty of something!” That’s the way UTOTS talk, unknowingly furthering the terrorist cause. I wonder if and when we’ll build a second and a third concentration camp in Cuba. I wonder if Cuba will become the next Auschwitz. I wonder what our “final solution” will be.