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What Americans Believe About Cryptozoology
Topic Started: Dec 1 2006, 07:51 AM (308 Views)
Deleted User
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The Meaning of Terrorism

There is no simple, all-embracing definition of terrorism. It means different things to different people. Though unmistakable in its manifestations and effects, it is difficult to describe in satisfactory terms. It is more easily understood when broken down into its elements.

Terrorism is never an accidental or incidental product. It is a deliberate challenge to power and authority. An act is only meaningful as terrorism if it serves that purpose.

Terrorism is something people do to other people. It is an activity designed to affect human beings, individually or collectively. Terrorism is as much a product of the reaction to what is done as it is of the original action.

Central to the notion of terrorism is the creation of overwhelming fear. Death and destruction are incidental to this - they are only a means to this end. This core element of terror is what the terrorist seeks to generate by his activity. What he does with the fear he has created is terrorism.

Terrorism is coercive. It is intended to act upon the mind of some person or persons to bring about a result that the terrorist wants. This is the primary use to which the fear created is put by the terrorist.

The distinctive use, to which the coercive fear created by the terrorist is put, is its application to the resolution of a power struggle. In this sense, terrorism is always political. Its value is premised upon the belief that matters can be altered to the terrorist's way of thinking through violent means or a credible threat to employ them.

Terrorism is an unacceptable challenge to the State's monopoly on the use of force, or an abuse of that monopoly in the case of State or official terrorism.

Terrorism, therefore, is always extra-legal. It recognizes no authority save its own and is an exemplification of the doctrine: might is right.

Terrorism is always purposeful. However seemingly random or indiscriminate the activity that is its dynamic, terrorism has always an end in view. The goals may be long or short term, but they are always related to the act intended to promote or attain them.

Some criminal activities generate terror incidentally. Such terror facilitates the commission of the crime, but serves no other purpose for the criminal. For the terrorist, however, terror is an end in itself. This is what he seeks to create by the activity undertaken; this is what he will use for his special purposes.

Terrorism is fear for effect. It has a theatrical quality that is designed to impress. There is an immediate and a remote audience for terrorism. The impression upon those who feel its effects directly is intended to make itself felt on those farther from the scene.

Terrorism requires a responsive audience. All its manifestations are attention-getting devices. By means of these destructive activities, the terrorist seeks to establish a relationship with the person whose conduct he wishes to influence. Terrorism cannot be ignored. The degree of exploitation of the attention he receives is the measure of the terrorist's success.

Those who fear nothing and value nothing are immune to terrorism. They are few and far between.

If these elements can be so simply stated, why is definition so difficult? The short answer is that it is not. What is difficult is not definition itself but the application of the definition to certain classes of behavior. Resistance to the characterization is at the root of all the semantic problems.

Terrorism is a "bad" word; few, nowadays call themselves terrorists. One man's terrorist is another's patriot, freedom fighter, or revolutionary hero. Terrorists seek to justify or rationalize what they do so that in the process it is not terrorism. Thus the essential ingredient of a definition of terrorism becomes a matter of perspective.

Definition, therefore, rests on a judgmental factor. The application of what is defined to a particular person and what he has done rests on another. As long as the political struggle continues, there can be no reconciliation of the conflicting viewpoints.

Terrorism, of some kind or another, has been with mankind from time immemorial. While retaining its basic characteristics, modern terrorism shows signs of distinctive development deriving from our present state of evolution.

Modern society is exceptionally vulnerable. Progress, in all fields, favors those who would engage in socially disruptive behavior. Much of what we rely upon for life support and comfort is critically exposed to those intent upon harm. Such exposure induces a counterpart political vulnerability. The terrorist is able to bargain because he can threaten effectively what we must have and what we cannot totally protect.

High technology reduces the power disparity between the terrorist and society. A single individual is now in a position to offer serious challenge to the nation state. Such possibilities are heady stuff for those whose intellect is not on the same level as the technology available for them to employ.

Modern communications greatly facilitate terrorism. Enterprises are now possible that would have been beyond the wildest dreams of the turn-of-the-century anarchist. The terrorist is now able to bring about global involvement. Terrorism knows no frontiers.

Lastly, there is the influence of the mass media. Events can now be presented, in all their horrifying drama, in real time. The inflated, exaggerated image of the terrorist projected into the very homes of the viewers through television carries the message of terror more effectively than anything devised to date. Millions now know the meaning of terror and terrorism though they would be quite unable to articulate it.

Fundamentally, then, the "new" terrorism is very like the old. Only its reach and potentiality have been enhanced. Terrorism can now strike in any place, at any time.

Terrorism means the creation of a climate of fear and uncertainty. It means deliberate killing and maiming of individuals on a selective or random basis. It means assassinations; kidnapping; hostage taking; bombing and arson; sabotage; and extortion. Terrorism is war.

The terrorist recognizes no class of non-combatants. For the terrorist, there are no innocent victims. The war is a total war. None can stand aside, unconcerned.

Terrorism is largely a matter of the emotions. It is approved or disapproved by the heart rather than the head. There are few acts of terrorism - however barbaric - that cannot generate sympathy somewhere or in someone for the terrorist.

Terrorism is a political statement couched in terms unacceptable to those to whom it is addressed. Whatever it is, it cannot be ignored, and the dilemmas it generates must be faced. Terrorism will not go away. It is the last resort of the desperate and is sometimes earlier on the list of priorities of the not so desperate.

Terrorists are few, and truly committed terrorists even fewer. Yet even one terrorist might have many victims. Sometimes these are chosen selectively, sometimes at random. Anyone might be a victim of terrorism. Only the degree of danger varies from case to case.

What terrorism means for you, therefore, depends upon who you are, what you do, and where and when you do it. For you, terrorism may just be something you read about happening in far-off places or watch on your television screen. Or it may be something that touches you, once and for all, with searing, devastating effect.
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Deleted User
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While this is not intended to be, nor will it be allowed to turn into, a discussion about religion or politics, I did find the following article interesting. This article from The Christian Post website mentioned the following:

Time additionally measured Americans on weird beliefs including their perception of UFOs and Bigfoot. The report showed that 25 percent agree some UFOs are probably spaceships from other worlds and 18 percent agreed that creatures like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster will one day be discovered. Also, 41 percent agree that ancient advanced civilizations, like Atlantis, once existed, and 37 percent agree that places can be haunted.

Doing some digging, I found that the survey was in fact sponsored by Baylor University. While the survey was mainly about religious beliefs, it also included questions about nonstandard beliefs.

Christopher D. Bader, an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Baylor University, was one of the principal investigators of this study. Chris and I have corresponded over the years about the subject of Bigfoot, something he has had a keen interest in since his childhood growing up in Washington state.

I called Chris Saturday morning and we talked about the survey. He shared with me the following about their findings:

The Baylor Religion Survey (BRS) is planned as a bi-annual study of religious attitudes and behaviors in the United States. Every two years we will administer the survey to a random, national sample with the help of the Gallup Organization. While the survey is focused on religion, every wave will included "topical modules," batteries of questions about a particular topic of interest that will not appear in every wave. The first wave of the BRS was collected in the fall of 2005. The topical modules on this first wave included trust of other people, consumption of religious books, movies and other products and the paranormal, very loosely defined. As part of the "paranormal" set of questions, two items were asked of interest to cryptozoologists.

First, the BRS asked respondents their level of agreement with the statement "Creatures such as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster will one day be discovered by science." More than half of respondents (56.3%) either strongly disagreed or disagreed with this statement. About 27% (26.9) were undecided. The remaining 16.9% agreed or strongly agreed.

Some interesting patterns emerge when breaking down this item by demographic characteristics. For example, males are on average more skeptical about cryptozoology, with 61.3% of male respondents disagreeing/strongly disagreeing with this statement, compared to 49.8% of females. On average, whites were more likely to disagree (57.5%) than African Americans (47.7%) and those of "other races (34.2%). Catholics were more likely to believe in the existence of Bigfoot/Nessie (23.9%) than Protestants (18%). Age had no significant effects, but Kerry (22.4%) and Nader (25.1%) were much more likely to find merit in cryptozoology than Bush voters (14.3%). Respondents generally become more skeptical about Bigfoot and Nessie with higher levels of education. For example, a third of those without a high school diploma (33.4%) agreed with the above statement, compared to 18% of those with a B.A. degree.

A second question gauged levels of interest in cryptozoology. Respondents were asked "Have you ever read a book, consulted a Web site, or researched the following topic. Mysterious animals, such as Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster?"

About a fifth (21.3%) of U.S. citizens have researched Bigfoot/Nessie. Despite their skepticism, males are more likely to have done such research (24.1%) than females (18.9%). Those of "other" races (non-White, non-African-American) were the most likely to have done such research (32.2%), compared to Whites (21.6%) and African Americans (11.9%). Religious preference had no impact on researching mysterious animals. Neither age nor education had significant effects. For example, respondents between 18 and 30 were much more likely (35.1%) to have done such research than those over 65 (12.4%). Nader voters were also more likely to research crypto (29.3%) than Kerry (21.1%) or Bush voters (20%).

The survey, along with the initial findings are available on The Association of Religion Data Archives website.
Baylor Religion Survey, 2005.

Source
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Isis
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The Goddess of Darkness & Desire

Xsas's did you write this sweetie...... :huh:
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Isis, The Goddess of Desire & Darkness. In The Darkness, We Find The Light.

This is a Drama Free Zone..!
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Yes it is a chapter from one of my publications. I have several publications on the market.

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