Terrorist Mentality
www.MickMaurer.com
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The Terrorist Mentality
by Dr. Mick Maurer
Click here to learn more about the mentality
“Terrorism is the intentional use of, or threat to
use violence against civilians or against civilian
targets, in order to attain political aims.”
The bombs are packed with ball bearings,
nails, screws, etc., to tear the flesh apart
(as seen in the picture of the body below).
Who are the real martyrs? The "shahid" who
claims to bear "witness" for his God or the
innocent civilians going about their daily lives
who are killed or maimed by this witnessing to
his faith.  This is murder not suicide so why do
we not call it such.
  • Much of contemporary terrorism seems to be predicated on excessive resentment and
    extreme self-righteousness:

  • collectors of injustice: extremely sensitive to slights and humiliations inflicted on themselves
    or on members of social groups to which they belong or with which they identify themselves

  • hypersensitive to the sufferings and injustices of the world at large, but totally insensitive to
    immediate, palpable suffering directly around him, especially if he has produced it himself

  • propensity to dehumanize his victims by regarding them as objects or impersonal concepts

  • perceives himself part of an elite engaged in a heroic struggle to right the injustices of a
    cruel world

  • this struggle is an obligation, a duty, not a voluntary choice, because they are enlightened in
    a mass of unenlightened

  • may be stress seekers with a need to interrupt the monotony of this daily lives by the pursuit
    of adventure and excitement

  • frustration about an inability to change society

  • a sense of self-righteousness

  • a utopian belief in the world

  • oversimplification of issues

  • a feeling of social isolation

  • a cold-blooded willingness to kill

  • infected as well with an anti-Western bias

  • many, not all, are inspired, motivated, and justified by fundamentalist religious doctrine, the
    approval of God for the killing of pagans, heathens, or infidels

  • vast majority reported that there were no other family members in the organization when
    they joined (70% of secular & 80% of Islamists)

  • sometimes there is a missing father.

  • the mother is a significant image in their lives.

  • they behave impulsively and perceive things in extremes, in shades of black and white.

  • they have known failure in their lives.  

  • peer group was of much greater influence, and in many cases it was a friend or acquaintance
    in the group who recruited the subject (secular in school and social group, Islamist in
    mosque, religious organizations and religious instruction)

  • 15% of secular and 30% of Islamist sited formal recruitment process

  • over half of each group knew their recruiter prior to recruitment

  • those previously imprisoned, especially the Islamist terrorist, found the experience was
    intense – further consolidated their identity and the group or organizational membership that
    provided the most valued element of personal identity

  • prison brought them closer to the group, learned more about the group and were more
    committed to the cause following their incarceration (77% of Islamists and 54% of secular)

  • concerning group dynamics and decision making for both groups it is clear they could
    question details, but not whether or not the authorized act should be carried out

  • with no other means to achieve status and success the organization’s success became
    central to individual identity and provides a ‘reason for living’

  • the more prominent and the more important (and often times the more violent) a group is,
    the greater the prestige that is then projected onto group members
The following GRAPHIC pictures are of a bombing on Public Transport –
Haifa , Israel Dec 2 , 2001
A Terrorist Mentality Heuristic:

Four observable stages appear to frame a process of ideological development common to many
individuals and groups of diverse ideological background (a heuristic):

1. Things are not as they should be, an injustice that does not apply to everyone, "it's not fair”

2. Because injustice generally results from transgressive (wrongful) behavior, hold a person or
group responsible (“it’s your fault”), identifying a potential target

3. Deem the person or group responsible for the injustice as “bad” (“you’re evil”)

4. Facilitates violence
Terrorist Mentality
The ‘suicide’ bomber does not act out of suffering or
inferior economic status, but rather out of a desire to
win social recognition, if not in his lifetime, then after
his death as a 'shahid'.
  • The Islamic designation shahid (Arabic: “witness”) is equivalent to and in a sense derivative of the Judaeo-Christian concept of
    martyr.

  • The full sense of “witness unto death” does not appear in the Qur'an but receives explicit treatment in the subsequent Hadith
    literature, in which it is stated that martyrs, among the host of heaven, stand nearest the throne of God.

  • While details of the status accorded by martyrdom (e.g., whether or not a martyr is exempt from certain rituals of burial) have
    been debated among dogmatists, it is generally agreed that the rank of shahid comprises two groups of the faithful: those
    killed in jihad, or holy war, and those killed unjustly.

  • The term is used informally to venerate anyone who dies in a pitiable manner (e.g., in childbirth; in a strange land).

  • Among the Shi'ite branch, the martyr par excellence is Husayn ibn 'Ali (c. 629–680), whose death at the hands of the rival
    Sunnite faction under Yazid is commemorated every year during the first 10 days of the month of Muharram.

  • In the 20th century, many Muslims called suicide bombers belonging to Islamist and Palestinian nationalist groups claim to be
    "martyrs".

  • Such usage is very controversial and generally has not occurred in the English media. On the other hand, the Arab word "shahid"
    has been sometimes used since in English it carries no obvious emotional baggage.

  • Suicide bombers in Palestine are typically hailed as "martyrs" by many Palestinians (the actual percentage is also disputed) due
    to Islam's prohibition against suicide.

  • ‘Suicide’ attacks are considered a preferred means by terror organizations for the following reasons:

    1.  ‘Suicide’ attacks cause grave damage to property and multiple deaths.

    2. ‘Suicide’ attacks receive broad media coverage. A ‘suicide’ attack is a “media event,” as it necessitates determination and
    martyrdom on the terrorist’s part.

    3. Although a ‘suicide’ attack is essentially uncomplicated, it can be perpetrated at the time and place that the attacker chooses.

  • those who commit or encourage these attacks do not associate these acts with suicide – but as heroic acts of martyrdom

a. suicide associated with hopelessness and depression desire to end intense & unbearable psychological pain family and loved ones
attempt to discourage

b. martyrdom by contrast is associated with hopefulness about afterlife rewards in paradise and feelings of heroic sacrifice; others who
care for the actor see the pending act as heroic; family & loved ones typically support the behavior if the event occurs the family is
honored
Sri Lanka where the Tamal Tigers began the first use of suicide
bombers.
The alleged London Bombers 7-7-2005
Madrid Bombings 3-11-04
Terrorism will always be an
unjustified and unfair,
cruel, abominable crime as
it seeks to undermine the
most elemental human
rights of people and
communities.
The bombs are  packed with shrapnel to cause massive injury to those not
killed by the explosion
"We must teach our young to love death, as
much as our enemy loves life."