Seven Myths Regarding Terrorism l. Contrary to popular belief, terrorism is not a new nor an unprecedented phenomena. As historians can document, it is actually quite ancient in its origins. 2. Since one person's terrorist is another's liberator, the term terrorism is politically loaded and should be discarded. 3. Terrorism has historically been assumed to be a left-wing and/or revolutionary phenomena. In reality, there are right-wing groups, enforcer groups from governments who use terroristic tactics, and criminals (who are neither left- wing, right-wing nor revolutionaries) who will use terroristic tactics simply to gain an advantage. 4. Terrorism is assumed to take place whenever there are legitimate grievances and amending these conditions will bring about a cessation of terrorism. No on both counts: a. The most repressive, unjust societies have historically been the freest of terrorism. Most terrorism has been directed either at democracies that ironically offer some legitimate channels for change, or at totally ineffective authoritarian regimes that wouldn't know how to change even if the emperors agreed. Terrorism rarely surfaces in totalitarian systems that offer no legitimate channels for change, because in those regimes, state terrorism has, Bassiouni style, repressed public displays of civil disobedience and terrorism. An interesting irony. b. Even when countries have changed to meet terrorist demands, terrorists tend to continue with new demands being placed on the government. The terrorist demands are not issue oriented but power oriented. The issue is simply the vehicle being used to strengthen their relative position. 5. Although terrorism is viewed as being highly effective, this is only the case if it is part of a larger strategy. Indeed, terrorism as one component of opposition, was responsible for the creation of Algeria, Cyprus, Ireland, Israel, Tunisia and the United States. 6. Terrorists are viewed as idealists, but his is clearly not so. They are power oriented, not issue oriented. Humane behavior is generally sacrificed for the revolutionary goals of power acquisition. This makes the differentiation between the so-called criminal terrorist and the political terrorist very difficult, for they are both willing to harm others to get their way - one wants money and the other wants power. 7. Terrorism is often described as a weapon of the poor, but many terrorists come from affluent backgrounds and are often supported by outside powers such as Algeria, Cuba, Libya, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Russia, Syria, the United States, Yemen, etc. The so-called "riff-raft" theory is simply not accurate. Some terrorists do come from the lower-classes of society, but the majority are not the outlaw, dregs of society the media often portrays them to be. Drawn from Frank Hagan, Introduction to Criminology, Chicago: Nelson-Hall, l990, pp. 451-452.