After the terrorist violence in Brussels many people, including Barack Obama, said we should not change our way of life and live in fear because that is what terrorists want. Maybe, but is that all they want? It seems that something important is left out of the story, writes Sheldon Richman. In the classical model of terrorism, instilling fear (along with causing death and injury) is not an end in itself. It’s a means to an end.
Terrorists don’t necessarily get a kick out creating carnage and fear (though it is possible), writes Richman. Primarily they want the survivors’ fear converted into action aimed at changing their government’s policy. Thus terrorism, if it to have any meaning, is a political, not a sadistic, act.
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