Terrorific: What Is Terror?

Illustration Essay – Ali Kilinc – 900235909 EBG 191 – 3:30PM - 20424

Terrorific: What is terror? The world we knew 20 years ago is long gone. Technology has influenced almost every aspect of our lives and globalization has made it so that no one is left out on anything. Modern warfare has evolved into a state where super-powers deplete all of their military resources to fight a “feeling.” This feeling is terror. In the midst of all this, do we stop and ask ourselves: What is terror? Terror is disrespect for one’s values. Terror is in constant unease over ordinary things. Terror is being in pain. Terror is an immense feeling of fear brought on deliberately by force. The word terror drastically changed in meaning during 20012008. This was around the same time that the Bush Administration took office. The word terror has been linked to terrorism, terrorist, and Jihad. US citizens were terrified when the terrorists crashed planes into the twin towers. Immediately a link was formed in our minds. This fear of “terrorism” was required by all of us to accept the “war on terror.” If we had not embraced the terror as such, we would not have supported the atrocities of war. Adolf Hitler’s Reich Marshall once said that if you tell a country that it is being attacked, and inflict terror into them, it is very easy to go to war. This is the root cause for the new definition of terror, terrorism.

Illustration Essay – Ali Kilinc – 900235909 EBG 191 – 3:30PM - 20424

Terrorism, by definition, means acts of violence for political or religious reasons. Terrorism may or may not cause terror. It is also possible to be in terror without the presence of any terrorism. On the one hand, a terrorist organization could destroy a public park at night in the name of “safer parks,” and not cause any terror. On the other hand, we can look at the mass raping that occurred in Atlanta. Rape, although not terroristic in nature, inflicted terror into millions of women in Atlanta. When freedom fighters work against their communist dictatorship to bring it down, their own country calls them terrorists, accuses them of treason, and executes them. Should we be fighting the “War on terrorism” instead? Yes, we should be fighting the “War on terrorists.” Then we need to take a closer look at how we link terror to terrorist. When we enter a haunted house, or when we watch a scary movie, we feel terror. However, we do not necessarily feel terror when an extremist organization halfway across the world commits a violent act; it rarely concerns us. In 1794, the word “terror” was used in a political way. The “Reign of Terror” was the violence that occurred in France before the French Revolution. It was referring to the mass killings of French citizens by their own government. In no way was “The Terror” linked to terrorism; it was never even mentioned. In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, any government, any movement,

Illustration Essay – Ali Kilinc – 900235909 EBG 191 – 3:30PM - 20424

any organization, or any person that commits terror is labeled as a terrorist. The world has changed. Everyone around the world is aware of the terrorism, and they are in terror. Governments are expected to make their citizens feel safe, even when their citizens are feeling frightened with terror, even when that feeling of terror is irrational or irrelevant. We live in a world based on labels, and the label of terrorist is being passed around quite often. At the moment, no one wants to experience terror, even it it’s just in a haunted house.