Bertologue

I understand the concept of religion being the "biggest cause of terrorism" but I feel that this is misrepresented. I do agree that religion is the biggest excuse for terrorism, but I am not sure that it is the cause. In Encyclopedia of Wars -by Charles Phillips (Author), Alan Axelrod (Author): there are a total of 1,763 wars listed of which 123 are listed as religious wars. The State Departments lists 42 terrorist entities of which 21 have religious leanings and 14 are specifically religious ( http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/fs/37191.htm ). Until the 1970's terrorist activity in the United States was mainly politically aimed (communist, leftist, fascist, and other ists…) with clear political agendas. In the 70's we started to see an increase in the number of terrorist groups that were associated with a religious or nationalist agenda but these attacks were political and not religious. Members of this group were the PLO, Jewish Defense League, and others. We stil...

Terrorism and Extortion are very similar in action but where they differ the most is with intended results. Extortion : Using violence or the threat of violence to create an environment where actions toward the victim lead to the victim giving the perpetrator(s) something of value . Terrorism : Using violence of the threat of violence to create an environment where actions towards the victim lead to society giving the perpetrator(s) something of value . When defining terrorism it is pertinent to first set what parameters the definition is adhered to. If we took a general definition of terrorism and said that it is simply the act of generating fear to elicit the desired response of the issuer then we can say all governments engage in terrorism to control the activities of their populace. Threat of going to jail unless you meet social norms would fit into this definition of terrorism. The same could be said about having a strong military imposing the will of a country upon another co...