Symbolic Violence And Al-Qaeda

Al-Qaeda used direct and symbolic violence to create the reaction that they wanted in the American people from their 9/11 attack. Direct violence is used to physically eliminate parts of the opposition and to destroy resources used by the institution. This type of violence does not regard the symbolic results of their violence, but when paired with symbolic violence it can be very dangerous. Symbolic violence is staged for a movement, in this case Al-Qaeda, to gain attention. They directed their action at the American people and government. This is intentional and reflects the results they wanted to find from the American people.
Al-Qaeda wanted to inspire fear and anxiety by their attacks. For example, after 9/11 many Americans were fearful …show more content…
This is part of symbolic violence, and it is mostly seen in the aftermath of 9/11. It made people ask questions of the government that had not been asked before and created a large historical event for people to use to question all motives. Symbolic violence is used to gain attention, and Al-Qaeda gained a huge amount of attention after the attack. Al-Qaeda used this attack to gain attention with the sympathizers, people who were potentially interested in this type of violence already could find an outlet with Al-Qaeda. The terrorist also intended to recruit sympathizers. This was also a type of symbolic violence because it caused people to gather and made neutral citizens recognize that they are not safe from attacks. Therefore, they should urge their leaders to rethink their policies that have caused this violent reaction from the terrorist. All of these are reasons for Al-Qaeda to attack the United States in this terrorist attack. They used direct and symbolic violence to create the reaction that they wanted in the American people from their 9/11 attack. The horrors committed against the American people were not justified by this attack, however and it is still a sobering reminder of the evils in the