‘Terrorism is in the eye of the beholder’ – Critically assess this statement
It is argued that the act of terrorism began during the French Revolution, after the executions of the monarchy, the leading revolutionary group the Jacobins sort to use the guillotine as a method to extract fear in the public and deter enemies. Terrorism/terrorists or any other form of deviant behaviour instils fear into the public and thus can apply stigma to the involved parties, such as the Islamic state/Muslims, a new form of music or new trend. Additionally, this essay will recognize Pauline Hanson’s Senate speech regarding Muslims. This piece also will detail the notion of terrorism, the myths and preconceptions as well as a brief commentary on both domestic and state terrorism. In addition, the main focus of this essay will be on moral panics and how these panics make terrorism fester to be in the eye of the beholder.
Many scholars have attempted to define terrorism, some such as Walter Laqueur who argues that ‘a …show more content…
Relating to this, governments and police (those that represent law order) generally apply deviant labels too respective groups. As mentioned previously, a misconception of why individuals turn to terrorism is due to poverty and lack of democracy. This is a representation of what Edwin Lemert identifies as primary deviance, in which factors such as a loss of a relative for example are not subject to the cause of terrorist acts; but rather how society as a whole deals with these acts after the fact (Lemert, 1951). The conduct of the Islamic state (ISIS) instils enough fear into the public that some even tend to form prejudices against Muslims. Pauline Hanson and her One Nation party for example has used the fear of Muslims and ISIS in her maiden speech to the
It is argued that the act of terrorism began during the French Revolution, after the executions of the monarchy, the leading revolutionary group the Jacobins sort to use the guillotine as a method to extract fear in the public and deter enemies. Terrorism/terrorists or any other form of deviant behaviour instils fear into the public and thus can apply stigma to the involved parties, such as the Islamic state/Muslims, a new form of music or new trend. Additionally, this essay will recognize Pauline Hanson’s Senate speech regarding Muslims. This piece also will detail the notion of terrorism, the myths and preconceptions as well as a brief commentary on both domestic and state terrorism. In addition, the main focus of this essay will be on moral panics and how these panics make terrorism fester to be in the eye of the beholder.
Many scholars have attempted to define terrorism, some such as Walter Laqueur who argues that ‘a …show more content…
Relating to this, governments and police (those that represent law order) generally apply deviant labels too respective groups. As mentioned previously, a misconception of why individuals turn to terrorism is due to poverty and lack of democracy. This is a representation of what Edwin Lemert identifies as primary deviance, in which factors such as a loss of a relative for example are not subject to the cause of terrorist acts; but rather how society as a whole deals with these acts after the fact (Lemert, 1951). The conduct of the Islamic state (ISIS) instils enough fear into the public that some even tend to form prejudices against Muslims. Pauline Hanson and her One Nation party for example has used the fear of Muslims and ISIS in her maiden speech to the