Courtenay said:
I just dont get it how anyone could think blowing up people is going to help anyone, be it as an act of terrorism, or in a war or anything.
But at the moment all i can do is hope that all my friends and their families over there are safe...
Terrorism in some cases is the effect of a systematic oppresion and set of beliefs and discourses forcing some sort of disparity and minoritising of a certain group. In these cases, such as in the Balkans, the systematic rape, murder and pillaging of the various groups by the Russian military would be reason enough for me, if i found myself in a similar situation, to feel that terrorism was a concept in which i hope some sort of change could be sought. Legal grounds are worked against you, institutions and social discourses are set up to perpetuate the violence and the differences. Even Nelson Mandela found himself pushed to the point of terrorism as his attempts at the legal and peaceful change within the Apartheid regimes were set back step by step.
For most, the prime purpose of terrorist acts, is to claim the spotlight, and highlight some sort of problem in an attempt to reform. The problem is that with the world becoming more desensitised and more and more violent acts occuring, there needs to be more horrific and 'inhumane' acts committed. I say 'inhumane' for there are far worse things seen throughout history and which has been passed over as antiquity.
Issues such as this are rife with socio-political and cultural baggage which will take a while to even partially understand, and hotspots like Israel are examples where the continual perpetuation of this 'they just hate us' attitude does not work.