RECIPROCAL APPROACH TO TERRORISM AND TERRORIST-LIKE BEHAVIOR Gregg Barak ABSTRACT In the

context of a general discussion of terrorism and through the use of narrative descriptions. I examine
some of the properties and pathways common to three forms of "terrorist-like behavior. Specifically
revealed in this chapter are the underlying tensions and dynamics involved in the actions of killer boys,"
"suicidal terrorists," and "genocidal exterminators." The intentions here are to share some of the
insights of Barak's recently developed Reciprocal Theory of Violence and to broaden the understanding
of terrorism as it relates to individual, institutional, and structural behavior.

INTRODUCTION

Elsewhere I have written extensively on the reciprocity of violent and nonviolent anlaticeships and about
the properties of violence and nonviolence (Barak, 2003). have also introduced a "reciprocal theory of
violence" which argues, among ther things, that despite the diversity of violent and nonviolent
expressions found ghout families, neighborhoods, classrooms, workplaces, country clubs, or in army of
other settings and groupings, there are established pathways to violence and nouviolence that cut
across the interpersonal, institutional, and structural 34 GREGO A Reciprocal Approach to Terror are not
the result of some kir many normative "offenders. it's "a form of socially conc gender socialization and
se In the end, there is plenty and "culturally normative these kinds of sexual acti exterminators because
the former cases are the least likely of the three exam from both self and others terrorism, consider
brief, terorist-like behavior. Before turning to these for both victims or s spheres of social and cultural
organization. According to this theory, vil abuse, and nonviolence or non-abuse, are viewed as operating
along continuum where the actions of individuals, organizations, or nation-s capable of stimulating,
accommodating, or resisting various pathways of stonviolence. Contextualized patent reciprocal
relations consist of connecting and overlapping patterns that invo repetitious or habitual acts of
perpetrators, victims, and agents of social sexual violence. Hence, there may exist within and across
different forms of violent and non Acts of sexual misuse o and pathways common to and children, and
seconda behavior, similar and dissimilar states or "mind sets" of emotional being In this chapter, I
examine some of the properties forms of "terrorist-like behavior" in the context of terrorism more gener
chridren, their acquired a doing so, I dwell longer with killer boys than with suicidal terrorists or geno
undeveloped as a consec most tape, child molestation, and gender harassment, for examples e associate
among the most common forms or expressions of this kind of violence. Thog different in many respects,
these three forms of violence may, indeed, and correspond to the same kind of related and underlying
tension or dynamic underpins many forms of terrorism. In each of these types of sexual coercion, th
perpetrators share a common need to compensate for a lack of an adequately secu sexual identity.
Varying only by degree, heterosexual rapists, child molesten and gender harassers, whether diagnosed
as "normal" or "pathological" actor are persons who consciously and unconsciously use their situations
or relation positions of power to control, force, trick, or pressure relatively weaker person through fear,
intimidation, and what often amounts to a sexual terror of other sexual violence in human beings so that
they may feel some kind of temporary relief or release from their sexuality anxiety. Terrorists, too, may
share this need to overcome anxich sexual or otherwise, in the pursuit of pride and self or collective
respect. This pathologic or sympathetic int optelation and analysis of these perpetratos sexuality as
"sick" or compulsive, or of and differeconsider briefly, acts of sexual coercion as illustrative of the same
involved in various acts of terrorist-like behavior. from others with resp legacy of a "double sta more
generally. After child sexual abuse, ar (Grauerholz & Korale In similar fashion sccount for the full ra penal
abuse, econom contribute to violent or culture, their com of sorting out. In sh factors, there are p used
to reveal over is also true of the c behavior as the product of weakness pathways of vario
underdevelopme vulnerability, repressed rage, unacknowledged shame, and what motivates these
offenders. Other viable analyses include the idea that the wolved in the different pathways of these
coercers originate in a need for sexual of these. From this latter control, domination, or some
combination core ordinary occurrences of acaggerations of conventionin rape, gratification insti
perspective are viewed as extensioween men and women, boys and gli sexual relativample are vir
diferentials between men and women, boys and girls. These Reciprocal Approach to Terrorism and
Terrorist-Like Behavior are not the result offende kind of orberation or deviant response on the part of
so arty normative "offenders. According to this view, rape is not about pathology, formation and sexual
leasingal aggression that stems from tradiology gender socialization and sexual learning" (Berger, Free &
Searles, 2001, p. 250). In the end, there is plenty of data to support the positions that both "mentally ill"
and "culturally normative" offenders and victims comprise the perpetrators of sexual violence. Acts of
sexual misuse or abuse are primarily committed by men against women more generally these kinds of
sexual activities were often victims of child abuse themselves. As orists or genundeveloped as a
consequence of their abuse or neglect. As adults, if alienation the three exam children, their acquired
abilities to trust, empathize, and identify with others were , for example, legacy of a "double standard"
of sexuality, however, coercive activities by men g to these acu e of the same violence. The may still be
associated with the abuse of prostitutes and a misogynist culture from both self and others continues,
this is enough to "help" violators disassociate from their victims or suppress any ability they might have
to mutually identify with others. With respect to the weakening institutions of patriarchy and the Or
indeed, more genen abuse, and prostitution often involves rape and sexual harassment more generally.
After all, sexual harassment sometimes includes rape, as does or dynamic (Grauerholz & Koralewski,
1991). In similar fashion, there is no single variable or set of variables that can lent and novic erns that
involver ts of social com lent and nonvic onal being. ys common to г. ual coercion, adequately se tions or
relat weaker pers account for the full range of other forms of violence, such as homicide, terrorism,
penal abuse, economic slavery, and so on. In short, because all of the factors that contribute to violent
behavior reside in such diverse realms as biology, psychology, or culture, their complex,
multidimensional, and interactive pathways are in need of sorting out. In short, whether the
manifestations of violence in general or of sexual violence in particular are reflected or not in various
internal and external factors, there are pathways or developmental themes that can be identified and
used to reveal overlapping etiologies among the varieties of violence. The same is also true of the
diverse yet similar pathways to terrorism. In an effort to reveal the reciprocal social relations linking the
properties and pathways of various forms of terrorist behavior, child molete ological" a terror of of For
release ercome anx espect. se perpetra most of this essay will consist of providing narrative descriptions
of the similar tensions or underlying dynamics involved in the actions of "killer boys," "suicidal
terrorists," and "genocidal exterminators." In each of these different but related scenarios of
interpersonal, institutional, and structural terrorism, the perpetrators and victims-yerpersonal - were all
dealing one way or the other with issues of shame, esteem, loss (or for exam lack), and repressed or
suppressed anger. In the first instance, the stories of boys relations that kill consist of histories of
abandonment or of disconnected youths who have ese violate been victimized in one form or the other
as infants and young children, byparents and/or their communities. These stories are also about youths
who have lost their childhood and who have, at a very early age, been exposed to he than protected
from the dark side of violent realities. Last but not least, the stories of violent boys are about the efforts
of youths t to overcome their humiliation and rejection, even when they are a product of functional
communities. feelings GREGG BARAK Fenesevolence of sa justice (B 's freed erman mrsally over time
anteronst violence to justice to the om the second example, the nature of suicidal terrorists is shown to
invol scenarios that have to do with the exclusion from or disaffection with politic and economic
participation. This occurs primarily among young adult males. Th of religious, ethnic, and cultural
conflicts involving of terrorism pathways taken to these particular forms of lethal violence are numerous
an emanate from larger histories an array of secular and our groups. In the process, these acts of violen
have often served as a means of establishing the terrorist as a In the third example, genocide has to do
with an entire people's or tribal-natioso that those so been victimized by some greater social evil or
injustice. martyr who these forms of g cultural disassociation from and rationalization of the mass
extermination some are of the groups of different human beings. Rather than the Holocaust, for
example, bei who are not n the product of a perverted, pathological, or diseased handful of
collaboration create widespr suffering from despair and acting in isolation, this episode planned
execution was more accurately the product of exterminators who be of systematic antrenorism as w
longed to supportive groups of well-wishers and sympathizers, who were seekinge behaviors individually
and collectively to reassert their cultural pride and dignity. The spot of of in collective emotions of
onlookers and bystanders, all of whom possessed degrees traditionally of prejudice, bigotry, and
hostility toward non-Aryan races as well as generationscial or ethn of repressed patriarchal hostility,
were not only enduring elements of the normal state of affairs; these sentiments of insensitivity to other
humans were quite often zens, responding g to their uniquely shared celebrated by nonviolent, law-
abiding citizens, humiliation and defeat as World War. a nation during the years immediately following
mmitted by "wh geuces, real Generally, the ts and coun Before turning to these three forms of
terrorism, some kind of discussion are not only called for on the meaning of the word terrorism and on
the way in conceptualize these case studies as which below/hing sor exemplifying commonly shared
characteristics tear and experiences of terrorist-like behaviors Retzinger, 1991). of shame, rage, and
revenge (Schelle under dolescent mon

TERRORISM AND TERRORIST-LIKE BEHAVIOR

There are numerous definitions of terrorism and characterizations of terrorists Many of these definitions
of terrorism are one-sided, biased, or political/and legally restrictive, tendieting home behaviors and
ignoring others. In other words, sotterorist violence of the firsbeen illegitimated and others, in other
legitimated Terrorist violence of the first kind involves kidnapping, torturing, and kalling, terrorist
violenustice (Basecond kind involves freedom fighting, national illation, and social justice (Barak, 1991).
Hence, there has been a fair amount of disagreement about the accuracy and application of these
terms: "one's man terrorist is another man's freedom fighter." If one is looking for a definition that
works" universally over time, then one needs to refer to those definitions of terrorism and terrorist
violence that try to employ standards that show no political of viole or perpetrators. favoritism, do
justice to the social relations of inequality, and are inclusive of all forms of terrorism, "retail" and
"wholesale," without regard to victims Some of these forms of generic sed to least, ir feeling families nto
ith polim males merous bal-naty actions aimed as inducing fear of similar attack in as many non-
immediate victims mination as possible so that those so threatened accept and comply with the
demands of terrorism are of the more traditional violent peterorists are not necessarily negotiating
demands engaging in a totally the terrorists, some are of the more contemporary vintage like suicide
bombers or llabore attempting to ematic swho ere see create widespread panic and despair, new kind of
terrorism or who as warfare. What both of these "old" and "new" forms of terrorism committed by
"wholesalers" and "retailers" alike, share in common with the terrorist-like behaviors discussed shortly,
is "the use and/or threat of repeated gnityviolence in support of or in opposition to some authority"
(Rosie, 1987, p. 7). ed degre eneratio There are traditionally three basic types of terrorism or terrorists:
religious, ts invoh yr who The nom quite of political, and racial or ethnic. Each of these may express
different and overlapping kinds of grievances, real or imagined. Terrorist motivations are too numerous
to count. Generally, the motivations of most terrorists have been separated into mely she
"rational/irrational," "psychological," and "cultural" ones. With rare exceptions, ng the cussion Ch belo
most terrorists (and counter-terrorists) believe their "cause," or the actions that flow from it, are not
only morally good or justified, but that they are necessary means for achieving some end that will better
society. Whether these forms are about inducing fear and panic or securing negotiations of some kind,
there acteris is typically some underlying ideological belief system driving the behavior. In (Scher
contrast, some terrorist-like behavior such as the killings of relatively anonymous people by adolescent
males, are less about, if not at all, ideology than they are about personal vengeance and redemption. In
other words, their terrorist-like behaviors are more social than necessarily religious, political, or ethnic
as OR traditionally classified. When examining the various kinds of terrorism and terrorist violence, it
helps Term to think about whether these acts are domestic or foreign-based (or both) and whether they
are carried out by governments or by citizens (or both). Historically,terrorism is carried out from above
in some kind of been labeled as wholesale or state terrorism. This is the type of abuse and terror
perpetrated by traditional dictatorships, from Europe and South America, that in the popular vernacular
has often been refer as a "reign of terror." By contrast, when terrorism is carried in quasi-organizational
cells or sporadic outbursts, it has been labeled out from be terrorism, or guerrilla warfare, and is often
referred to as a "state of siege 1988). When terrorism becomes a joint venture carried out both s or
dialectically from "above" and "below" perhaps this should be referred simultan systematic also
different, and over For example, may be exp морь деле be move thao colher searclass valence As there
are shared prat and the vess to the scheme of "civil war." From what has been defined and
characterized as terrorism and ver behavior, thus far, one could create a taxonomy or a classification
scheme the same time, a reciprocal approach to terr taxonomies, on the one hand, as and, accumulating
social relations terrorist-like behavior views sun risused to be typer, "typ useful for descriptive and
analytical purposegament, all newborns of terrorist-like behavior that cut across interpeu sormally. To
begm sonal, institutional, and structural orders describe, for example, of society. If one uses this
taxonomy the terrorist organization Al Qaeda, applicable: categorical - ethnic, political, and religious;
organizational - intenta tional, nonstate retail and state tate wholesale; motivational and irrational; and
objective and vengeance. panic, crisis, and the following types an -cultural, psychologic desperation and
KILLER BOYS: A CASE OF LOST CHILDHOOD

Teror rism and out been labe ate of se oth simult In both the rash of relatively unusual rural and
suburban school shootings across America in the 1990s and the more steadily occurring and common
inner-city drive-by shootings committed in association with gang activities during the late 1980s and
early 1990s, there are profound emotional and psychological similarities d be refrelationships, gender,
far more than either race or class, is etiologically connected that link these acts of lethal violence. In the
scheme of socialization and social cation and/or social abandonment, for example, may be experienced
by adolescent boys. to these expressions of violence. As there are shared pathways between these
forms of youthful killing, there are also different, and overlapping, pathways. Familial leading to multiple
pathways to killing. Those who experience only the former or only the latter types of abandonment will
differ from those who accumulate both types of experience. From the beginning of life and even
possibly before birth, human development has required the interplay of biology and culture. Child
development, for example, is about "the characteristics children bring with them into the world and the
Type is about world treats them, nature and nurture in the original). By combining the perspectives of
exchange theory, resource Dominhysical make up and because of the world they inhabit and because of
how well theory, ecological theory, and sociobiology, it can be argued that children "face different
opportunities and risks for development because of their mental and on, Fe their inborn traits match up
with what their social environment of rewards, and punishes" (Garbarino, 1999, p. 72: original). What
this Sis & kind of developmental model assumes about lethal youth violence is that natural or biological
predispositions to aggression will only translate into behavior when & Vithey occur in social situations
that allow or promote their expression. In other words, social contexts matter very much in of
temperamental characteristics associated with violence. and mediation on view Developmentally,
whether a baby is characterized as "difficult" or "easy" or predisposed to be "hyper," "hypo," or
somewhere in the middle of a continuum cal pun all newborns possess essentially the same needs. On
their own, lapping without social interaction, human infants can neither survive physically nor oss inte
develop normally. "To begin the process of human development, a child needs not so much stimulation
as responsiveness; children need to make connection through ing type entering into a relationship"
(Garbarino, 1999, p. 38). Making a connection or an al-attachment with another human being during the
first year of life is a critical step choly in the process of human development. taxonom reta During
infancy, according to most psychological models of development, we are all natural narcissists it's a
matter of survival. If we are not to become

sufferers of classic narcissism, a personality disorder in which the symptom include lack of empathy,
grandiose fantasies, excessive need for appro rage, social isolation and depression, psychoanalytic
theory informs us that must more or less successfully negotiate the uneven transition from the nati
narcissism of infancy to a more realistic view of our place in the world by the ap of 4 years. The
psychological adjustment away from narcissism begins arom month 3. when most babies come to know
and love the people who care them. Bv 9 months, most babies have formed a specific attachment to ond
more caregivers. Attachment is a mixture of at least two properties, knowing and feeling, Posit
Attachments supposed to exist when fan able to feel for thei connectionly as individuals and when they
are a there is said to the aspe particularity when both of these conditions sound affirmative connection
and a foundation for sound emotional one, the other, or both of these properties are missing from early
childhood deve opment, there is a greater likelihood of detachment, disconnection, and/or denial.
Although there are varieties development. W disassociation conclude s of attachment, it is generally that
in the presence of their "objects" of attachment and desire, infants become th to explore and concluded
that to develop their skills in mastering the world. Conversely, it is ally setting. Whether and tar, making
them less In the absence of the beloved object, they become wary and withdrawn, defensive rather
than exploratory, captured by their anxiety. This relationship becomes one of the important mediators
werwhelming feelings between a child's temperament and the challenges of entering and mastering the
world outside rawn or acting o the family. Good attachment does not inoculate a child against later
misfortune, but it does net of abandonment and the child off on the right foot (Garbarino, 1999, p. 39).
In terms of human development, then, what does get the child off on the wrong fog or on a pathway to
violence? It should be clear by now that there is rather a series of things: an accumulation of things that:
tare both inside and outside no one thing, abandonment do young person's head. At the interpersonal
level, these may include early childhoucka trauma, abuse, neglect, or family disruption. At the
institutional or structural leve me result these may include toxic environments, economic deprivations,
communities violence, racism, and other systems of cultural discrimination and oppression, sun as the
intense pressure that most boys feel, by virtue of the dictates of masculin socialization, to be tough, to
suppress tender emotions, and to be powerful. emotional best to sup Psychoanalytically mother-child
abando issues of rejection and other dr what shume a boy Interpersonally, youths suffering from abuse,
neglect, or disruption are mo likely to experience shame, rejection, alienation, rage, and a bloated sense
self-centeredness. On top of this, if they are experiencing the damage or injur At the same tim inflicted
by living in the ecological communities most victimized by other form felings of aba of institutional and
structural violence, these youths (especially males) are

susceptible or vulnerable to victimization and to longer careers of violence, to committing lethal

violence, and to being institutionalized first as juveniles and r caretakers are also less likely to experience
desensitization and to dehumanize others near then as adults, for life. By contrast, those young males
who have been supported and feeling have been deprived politically and economically, but not socially
or emotionally, by aid to be development a parent or significant other and insulated from institutional
and structural connected in their formative social relationships, these individuals are more likely to
empathize and relate with other people in a positive fashion. Young people who and far. making them
less likely to engage in violence throughout the life cycle, with most violent activity on their parts
peaking (if it exists significantly at all) during late adolescence and, shortly after that, disappearing
altogether. tion, disassoc not be the case. Some boys who mange to kill have not been obvious victims
generally co of physical abuse, emotional neglect, or environmental toxins. However, through rly
childhood As for killer boys, although most will have a history of victimization, this need "normal"
human developmental processes these boys end up feeling terribly Conversely, inferior, rejected, and/or
humiliated, even when they have grown up in the ideal family setting. Whether based on reality,
fantasy, or some combination of the two, killer boys, from the school corridors to the ghetto streets,
engage in toughness and aggression as a means of adaptive survival or as a defense mechanism against
imporate and ashelming feelings of personal vulnerability. Whether these lining feelings overwheln or
acting out, most rtune, but it of abandonment and intense bouts of depression that they typically do
their for them at infants becom defensive the world emotional best to suppress, deny, and avoid
altogether. To the ment common to a newborn humans. If Psychoanalytically, of course, such feelings
stem from the shared fear of of abandonment do not dissipate normally, or if they remain as unresolved
ade earlych issues of rejection (e.g. when a boy concludes that his addicted mother chose crack and
other drugs over him), then strong feelings of humiliation are often the result: is no one thin inside and
o or structumi s, communit ad oppression tates of mas be powerful sruption bloated se damage ed by
other males) What shame a boy feels when he is abandoned by his mother! What lengths he will go in
order to defend himself against these feelings. Inside, he "forgets" so that he doesn't have to feel.
Outside, he punishes the world so that he feels avenged. Shame at abandonment begets covert
depression, which begets rage, which begets violence. That is one of the powerful equations of life for
lost boys (Garbarino, 1999, p. 44). At the same time, not knowing your biological father can also lead to
severe feelings of abandonment associated with the usual feelings of shame, rejection, and negative
self-worth.

Where repressed feelings of early childhood coalesce in a context of pers poverty and deprivation,
accompanied by feelings of alienation from socity's broader institutions, such as schools and law
enforcement, then a "code of the street" often develops as a means of psychological adaptation.
Organized arsw streetpofite search for "respect" and are dedibility with the ance, this e a desperate
possession of both respect and credibility with the ability to the credits inary person from the
interpersonal violence of the street. In the form of theind of "people's law," or "street justice," the code
involves a "primitive f a kindial exchange that holds would-be perpetrators accountable by promising
"eye for an eye, or a certain "payback' for transgressions. In service of this eth repeated displays of
'nerve" and "heart' build or reinforce a credible reputatio for vengeance that works to deter aggression
and disrespect, which are sources great anxiety on the inner-city street" (Anderson, 1999, p. 10). seren
Eastern neglect, or maltreatment, or in early adolescence due to economic deprivars and of shame and
h racial prejudice, and/or societal stigmatization, the interactive search for individues secular and
nonsecula In sum, whether the killer boys are lost in early childhood due to parental abuse and social
respect may, sooner or later, erupt into lethal violence that, althoughputs, but thes are often per it
appears random and senseless to most law-abiding citizens, has an intrinsi logic of its own. This logic is
rarely understood by victims, victimizers, or at large, which are all too often too busy dismissing these
violent deeds as the belonging to society inexplicable acts of crazy or evil people. spiritual yearmings,
and subculture provides m to a clos struggle against som groups possess in comp anspiring evil agents.

SUICIDAL TERRORISTS: A CASE OF SECULAR DESPAIR As suggested above, terrorism, terrorists, and
terrorist-like behavior, come terrorists, religiod founs. For example, there are neighborhood terrorists,
politenes terrorists, counterterrorists, and international terrorists, to identify in all very religion has b
political anarchists, religifferent terrorist groups may consdentify the social Political archists, religious
extremists, nationalist-scepansist of street gang agents, hired mercenaries, and/or organized criminals.
While there are no "terroristes personalities" or even "terrorist mind sets" per se, there are subcultural
worlds of terrorism that are motivated by political calculus, by nationalist fervor, or by reli gious hate.
These different subcultural groups of terrorists, such as those involvedyb in suicidal terrorism, have their
own unique social psychologies and dynamics that help to reinforce a pattern of one-dimensional
groupthink. This form of thinking angle the does not accommodate the other person's point of view and
often amounts to little more than clichés to express one's own "point of view," which is more often than
A Reciprocal Approach to Terrorism and Terrorist-Like Behavior of engaging in code what Arendt (1963)
referred to as "the word-and-thought-defying banality of evil." Historically, those who become members
of violent sectarian groups or y in the case of suicidal terrorists who kill themselves and others, the
composition extremist cults have been mostly young adult males. Suicidal, homicidal, or both, hve of
these subcultural organizations varies from nation to nation according to social conditions, religious
traditions, and historical factors. In Europe of the 19th and 20th centuries, for example, there were
working-class and elite-born terrorists, f this respectively. In the Muslim world of today, terrorists are
likely to come from two ey classes. Either they are unemployed and from poor families, or they have
been educated at universities or seminaries but are also unemployed. What is shared by Western and
Eastern terrorists across the modern periods are collective feelings: of betrayal by authorities and
elders; of social, psychological, and political, if not spiritual, despair, and of shame and humiliation at
their own inefficacy to alter or transform their situation. lepte won Na paz Terrorists, secular and
nonsecular, East and West, are generally not psycho- an or sociopaths, but they are often persons with
unresolved psychological tensions. unfulfilled spiritual yearnings, and feelings of isolation and loneliness.
Joining a terrorist subculture provides members with self-confidence, certainties, and a sense of
belonging to a closely knit, exclusive community engaged in a "righteous" struggle against some
omnipresent enemy. What these subcultural terrorist groups possess in common are fantasies of evil
and dreams of victory over conspiring evil agents, whether they are political, religious, ideological, or
cultural. at, altho deeds Often these beliefs in conspiracies, intensified by a group mentality, border on
Come paranoid delusions capable of facilitating fanaticism, self-deception, and violent ts, pe behavior.
Every religion has had its share of fanatic proponents, especially during its formative stages. But the
spirit of fanaticism has not been confined to the religious sphere only: orists he so vemne I worl or by
nam of thi Fanaticism was one of Adolf Hitler's favorite terms, and it appeared again and again in his
speeches. It has appeared in every religious and political creed, especially the radical ones, in one way or
the another. It is not the same as fundamentalism, because the fundamentalist is (or anyway should be)
bound by the holy texts, whereas the fanatic frequently feels free to provide his own interpretations.
Fanaticism can turn inward and express itself in asceticism or self-flagellation, as it still does, for
example, among the Shiites. But in our day and age it shows itself more frequently as hostility toward an
outside enemy, an unwillingness to compromise, and an eagerness not just to defeat the enemy but to
destroy him. The modern fanatic is more cager to castigate the flesh of others than his own (Laquer,
1999, p. 98). nts to Although the century that has just ended and the one that has just begun has not
often experienced a rise in Christian or Islamic fundamentalism per se, there has been,especially in the
autocratically ruled countries of Central Asia and elsewher revival of Zoroastrian and Manichean
theology. Dating back to the third century and to the ancient religions of the Middle East that believed
in an eternal strug between divine powers of good and evil, both of these early religious traditio
profoundly influenced the extreme warrior visions of Islamic and Judeo-Christia thought alike (Warner,
2001). ough way that is killers of the inner cities, members of secular and nonsecular terrorist subculture
also subscribe to the code of their sect or cult. Perhaps what differentiate who kill is the degree to which
the terrortiter compartmentalize and control their violence. What these offensive defensive fanatics,
religious zealots, political soldiers, and gangbangers in common is "an absolute certainty as to the
justness of their leader, all sha of their cause, legitimas considerations the inability to recognize other
moral values and and the abdication of critical judgment" (Laquer, 1999, p. 99). Historically, suicide has
played an important role in a number of religious for those who at the couple of Camt enocide usually
invol Mas killings of "othe and terrorist groups. These acts, committed by both individuals and
groupssent extreme for masse, may stem from a variety A tradition of psychological sources, rational
and irrational minations such of collective suicide in the history of religious sects can be tractoyment
practice back to a wing of the Donatists, a fourth-century Christian sect in North Africa bigotries, in the
and it has continued into the present day. At their extremes, these suicidal sec have regarded life on
earth as relatively unimportant, a prelude to life after death stories of gen - to paradise, a place of
material and sexual fulfillment where as martyrs the sea altural denial members will be reunited with
their families and stand in front of God as innocely and comm newborn babies. Hence, their suicides are
often thought of as joyful occasionscious their dead relativer living family members to be proud of and
to even celebre venge suicidal-homicidal exploits. present the of mild form ellar to overcome ev In 2004,
in the West Bank or Gaza Strip, suicidal terrorists may be the Israeli occupation, showing their hate and
contempt for the USA and final suppo Jews, and trying to liberate all of Palestine, but they may also be
on a pathway erpersonal, to paradise. Other Palestinian candidates for suicide may be more fatalistic,
less theological, about dying, maintaining that since they are bound to die violently sooner or later, they
might as well die sooner for a good cause. In the case of the World Trade Center, the U.S. Pentagon
Building, and the crashed jet airliner in Western Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001, it is claimed that
suicidal terrorists like Mohamed Atta and several of his coconspirators were said to be driven and
incensed by an American-backed repressive Egyptian regime, the ass E Gulf War, and the Oslo peace
accords. More generally, when it comes to suicidal migious bombers, it is often difficult, if not
impossible, to disentangle religious from nationalist motives. 1930s, tet terrible lective hu Goldhager
Howeve th cent policies

GENOCIDAL EXTERMINATORS: A CASE OF CULTURAL DENIAL adeo- On the dark side of cultural
existence, anything is possible, even the mass exterminations of fellow human beings. delse third tous
tn to by you ist subc differen ormer offensive gers all During the Nazi period of the 1930s and 1940s,
millions of people (particularly, but not exclusively, Jews) were systematically rounded up and shipped
to concentrations camps, where they were worked to death, starved to death, tortured to death, or
simply executed. Three decades later, the Khmer Rouge Party, under the leadership of Pol Pot, did much
the same thing to the people of Cambodia. Just after the turn of the [20th] century, the Turks attempted
to exterminate the Armenian people (Garbarino, 1999, p. 112). Genocide usually involves the cultural
denial that real harmed is being done and group represent extreme forms of hate and intolerance. By
comparison, institutionalized Mass killings of "other" human beings are socially rationalized as necessary
eligious either to overcome evil of some kind or to accomplish some greater collective killings or
selective and discriminations such as "redlining" geographical areas as uninsurable can be employment
practices represent moderate forms of hate and intolerance. Individ- North As emp ual bigotries, in the
form of expressed ideologies, written, spoken, or portrayed, represent mild forms of hates and present,
re se, legit onsider fe after od as in ful occe ven cele Histories of genocide, past and present, reveal that
the buildup of a collective Historil denial of other groups' right to exist requires not only generatio at
both conscious family and community members passing along or instilling, and unconscious level,
attitudes conducive to actions of intolerance, but a shared need for vengeance and retaliation, aimed at
real or symbolic enemies that represent the objects of repressed shame and anger. Stories of genocide
also be protes disclose, for example, that the denial of persecuted personhoods require the cultural
support and accumulation of prejudice and hatred across the spheres of On a painterpersonal,
institutional, and structural violence. In the case of the Nazi era of the 1930s, tens of thousands of
German citizens reacted to Hitler's interpretation of a terrible economic and political situation by
helping to transform both their the ca collective humiliation and historical sympathy for anti-Semitism
into mass murder suicida USA atalistic die vide d jet (Goldhagen, 1996). However, cross-national
comparisons reveal that in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there were variations in the degree
and types of anti-Semitism regime across Europe, for example. Some countries such as Bulgaria had
traditions of es tos religious tolerance and diversity and were thus less susceptible to anti-Jewish igious
policies and practices, even during hard economic times. In other countries such as Romania, Great
Britain, Italy, and France, between 1879 and 1939, when economic prosperity was deteriorating and the
level of immigration European Jews was increasing. anti-Semitism grew. It all depended "on the en of
Ext to which Jews were perceived as a threat to non-Jews" (Levin, 2001, p. 149) Poland, for example,
evidence was recently revealed that a massacre of Jews the town of Jedwabne. in 1941, involved
ordinary farmers who herded 1,60 their Jewish neighbors into a barn and set it on fire (Stylinski, 2001).
eir le point is that the policies and practices of genocide were carried out enthuraged not by ideological
fanatics and schizophrenics, but by ordin citizens. In other words, histories of cultural hate that
culminate in genocide not depended on individual pathology or abnormal psychology. Rather, the
genocides are simply the extreme manifestations of the shared normative traditional values of hatred
and intolerance. The combination of a long histo of anti-Semitism and a strong desire or need to protect
the Fatherland as each Perhaps, on a deeper psy these were connected to one's individual self-interest
accounted for the and enactment of the "final solution" in Nazi Germany: creat bers of interpersonal,
institune adversely related to exp chapter have used the beth the properties of and p ans of tamily,
subculture, ar este behavior in three f genocide Common to eac ellations of reciprocal pre ded, among
other things, p apesonalization, desensitizati operiences and memories of h hundreds of thousands of
German and Austrian citizens. While the police looked on approvineral and to terrorist-li Hitler's
condemnation of the Jews reflected not only his personal opinion, but also the beliefs of and students
voiced their demands to rid the universities of Jews and cosponsored lectures maar kind of motivated
university students joined together to beat and batter their Jewish classmates, Faculty memben on "the
Jewish problem" Because of their genuine conviction, thousands of German soldim in these terrorist-
and police helped to murder Jews. Civil service bureaucrats aided in doing the paperwork to expedite
carrying out Hitler's extermination program. Many important business, banking, and industrial firms
cooperated in the task of enslaving and murdering Jewish citizens. Thousands whereas the church in
other European countries denounced racist anti-Semitism, Germany' to their sense of in peligious
leaders (both Catholic and conclude: tem 47). eciprocal relationships L pap, or nation's humiliati hared
and violence. Ben at make the perpetrator (Margalit, 2003). What en the conscious level, ma manscious
level, howeve right Lie Anthony Gidden rai heory of violen and social structure Hence, genocidal
exterminators refer not only to those folks who constructed the ovens and filled them with people and
gas, but to the hundreds of thousands of civilians and noncivilians alike who aided and abetted, or did
not resist, the extermination of whole groups of people. Collectively, genocide represents the familiar,
subcultural, and cultural deper-serpersonal, sonalization and desensitization of others, to the extent
that the perpetrators fail to see the individuality and humanity of their victims. That is, to the extent
that the genocidal exterminators lack the ability to empathize, they lose their ability to control their
inhumanity. They also become objects and subjects of unlimited possibilities for violence. The same
kinds of reciprocal relations of violence, for different as well as for overlapping reasons, engulf killer kids
and suicidal terrorists, as these too have become vulnerable to interpersonal and IMPLICATIONS arried
that both the properties of and pathways spheres of interpersonal, institutional, and structural relations
as well as across the domains of family, subculture, and culture, are cumulative, mutually reinforcing.
and inversely related Bahamass genocide. Common to lora to explore the common pathways and
properties of terrorist-like behavior in three forms; youthful homicide, suicidal bombing, and each of
these forms of terrorist-like behavior were constellations of reciprocal properties of and pathways to
lethal violence that mong other things: personal and social histories of humiliation, shame,
dainersonalization, desensitization, and dissociation of one kind the other the included, among Perhaps,
on a deeper psychoanalytic level not really explored here, the experiences and memories of humiliation
shared by those engaged in terrorist-like behavior make the perpetrator feel entitled to discharge
aggression in destructive beha Margalit, 2003). What emerges, then as a precursor to much yilnin
general and to terrorist-like behavior in particular, is a psychic formation in al relationships that entrap
those whole, old the surface, persons of recir kind of motivated irrationality Foreve because of their
personal, peculiar in these terrorist-like behaviors belies are to their acts group, or nation's humiliation
and suffering, that they are entitled ghatred and violence. Beneath the surface, the situations are often
the reverse. Because they find enjoyment in destructive hatred, these persons actually become attached
to their sense of individual and/or collective humiliation. Dialectically, one might conclude: terrorists
and those engaged in terrorist-like behavior, on the conscious level, may hate or despise their sense of
humiliation; on the unconscious level, however, they may take pleasure in and hold onto it with all their
might. erded In this chapter I have used the reciprocal theory of violence which argues to violence or
nonviolence, across the Like Anthony Giddens' (1984) structuration theory more generally, the
reciprocal theory of violence or of terrorist-like behavior does not treat individual action and social
structure as separate and dualistic phenomena. On the contrary, the interpersonal, institutional, and
structural levels of society are, indeed, part and parcel of the same set of inclusive cultural relations.
Thus, to "bring off" terrorist interactions, most individuals, groups, or nation-states make use of their
knowledge of cultural behavior in such a way as to render their interchanges "meaningful." Similarly, to
reduce such behavioral patterns as terrorism and terrorist-like behavior, social policies are called for
that not only transcend the "necessity" of counter-terrorist violent strategies in the short-run, but which
ultimately require that the etiology of such developmental behavior be addressed at its political,
economic, and cultural [Link] HA 5 just the behavioral actions In sum, both character and
of sexual misuse, abuse, or t actions of both terrorism and counter-terrorism. That is to say, none of
behaviors can be separated from issues of personality and individual developme bel the one hand, or
from the social legacies of inequality and privilege, on on the and. Thus, the various forms of interperson
with the ons of self- pride, anger, and humiliation must all be addressed within the larger cultural
institutional contexts of expressed masculinity, misogyny, and patriarchy. Finally, not to acknowledge
these relationships or to do anything less it struggle to reduce terrorism and terrorist-like behavior,
according to the recip theory of violence and nonviolence, will in all probability only beget more no
terrorism. In other words, anti-terrorist practices such as acts of counter-lemon or war will not serve as
any kind of permanent or lasting deterrent against terror As an alternative to resisting the likely
reproduction of terrorism and terrorist behavior and as an effort in the creation of empathetic pathways
between viduals and nation-states alike, strategies involving mutualistic practices such altruistic
humanism or positive peacemaking are called for that strive to repro patterns of nonviolent interaction.
These nonviolent and cooperative me of socially interacting hold out the possibilities of transforming
interperson institutional, and structural relations away from the globally dominant paradi of
adversarialism and toward the globally subordinate paradigm of mutual (Fellman, 1998).

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