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Part II Terror Symbols & Signs
MU MVZ 203 / 448
Spring 2010
Sonoma State University
Dave McCuan
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What Makes a Terrorist?
• The argument in this class is not that
“culture makes a terrorist,” but that cultural
and religious values—which are often
intentionally manipulated by charismatic
leaders or strong organizations—can
contribute to the making of terroristsmaking of terroristsmaking of terroristsmaking of terrorists
• These same set of values, manipulated or
interpreted by a different leader or group, by
contrast, can also contribute to the makingmakingmakingmaking
of pacifistsof pacifistsof pacifistsof pacifists
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What Makes a Terrorist?
• In this regard, one of the best ways to
think of culture (along with its signs,
symbols, & icons) as a meaningmeaningmeaningmeaning----makingmakingmakingmaking
mediummediummediummedium, which interacts with other
forces—political, economic, and social—to
influence or shape the behavior of
individuals
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What Makes a Terrorist?
• Cultural symbols need to be understood in
the context of particular place and within
the context of broader social, political and
economic forces: these contextual factors
will make the use of cultural symbols more
or less possible, more or less effective.
• These symbols tell us about a group’s
founding, its ideology, its aims, and
methods.
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What Makes a Terrorist?
• In this regard, culture is not purely an
independent variable
• At the same time, many culturalists would
agree that culture and religion have an
autonomous effect insofar as they
sometimes provide a necessary or at least
authoritative basis for collective action
• That is, without an appeal to culture, some
collective activities might be virtually
impossible.
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What Makes a Terrorist?
• On this point, consider the rise in one
particular type of terrorist activity: suicide
bombings. How can this activity be
explained or understood without taking
into account cultural factors?
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What Makes a Terrorist?
• To justify the act of “suicide terrorism,” one
of Lebanon’s leading Muslim clerics
argued that a special context existed in
Lebanon and this special context made it
permissible for Muslims to “explode”
themselves in the name of Islam, and to
defeat enemies of Islam.
– In a similar vein, the concept of JihadJihadJihadJihad was
redefined to justify and legitimize all sorts of
political violence.
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What Makes a Terrorist?
• The important point is thisThe important point is thisThe important point is thisThe important point is this: The
“Islaminization” of political violence carried
out by Hizballah allowed the organization
to claim a divine or sanctified role, which,
in turn, conferred an obligation on the part
of all Muslims to support, or at least not
oppose, the actions taken by Hizballah.
• The more successful this process of
Islaminization, the more powerful
Hizballah became.
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The Usefulness of Signs
• A Sign is something that gives us direction
but does not tell us what to think. It does
not give us a description.
• Examples? Stop, Restroom, Yield, Green
light,
• In other words, signs give directions while
symbols tell us how we should feel about
something.
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Symbols as Experience
• A symbol, on the other hand, tells us what
images to look for in our culturally
encoded experience in order to determine
how we should feel about the thing
represented.
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Examples of Symbols
• Golden Arches,
• Statue of Liberty,
• the scales of justice,
• capitalism,
• democracy,
• apple pie,
• baseball, the Stars and
Stripes, the bible,
• lawyer,
• radical,
• liberal,
• human rights,
• Communism,
• Fascism,
• Feminism,
• thief,
• murderer,
• criminal,
• terrorist and terrorism,
• taxes, politician,
• Conservative,
• postmodernism
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Signs & Symbols Reflect an Ideology
• An ideology is a system of values and beliefs regarding
the various institutions and processes of society that is
accepted as fact or truth by a group of people.
• An ideology provides the believer with a picture of the
world both as it is and as it should be, and, in doing so,
organizes the tremendous complexity of the world into
something fairly simple and understandable.
• Ideologies help us make choiceschoiceschoiceschoices based on beliefsbeliefsbeliefsbeliefs and
valuesvaluesvaluesvalues and they simplifysimplifysimplifysimplify our complex world.
• So, let’s turn to some symbols here for a moment.
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Imam Anwar Al-Awlaki of the Falls Church Dar Al-hijrah Islamic Center, VA
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Most Symbols by Groups are
Relatively “Clean” in Layout
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But Get More Complex, Nuanced
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With In-Depth Meaning(s)
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