Can Terrorism Ever Be Justified Analysis
Can terrorism ever be justified?
Introduction
The purpose of this essay is to explore the issues surrounding the morality of terrorism. I will begin by providing contextual information of the topic through exploring the history of terrorism. From the Sicarii in 50AD who carried out assassinations with short daggers to more recent attacks such as 7/7 bombings in the London underground. In this section however we will find it is not only the methodology of terrorism that has changed but its definition has evolved also. I shall use the historical examples to find any patterns in the use of the word and analyse what these examples tell us about the meaning of the word. Throughout my essay I shall adopt a narrow definition as I believe it allows …show more content…
I agree with this entirely as quite often a terrorist organisation becomes deluded by their aims and forgets to look at the wellbeing of a whole society. For example the members of the Ku Klux Klan believed that immigrants didn’t belong in America. They thought that by attacking black Americans they were moving society forward, when in actual fact they were doing the opposite, they had ‘ideological’ conceptions of what was good for America. Foition additionally said that terrorism is never the last resort to make a change; I adopted this point as there are always alternative less aggressive strategies. For example Martin Luther King’s speech which wished for equality between white and black people in America was extremely influential and helped strive towards the more equal society which we live in today. This highlights that’s terrorism isn’t the most effective option and often results in a nation abiding out of fear rather than choice, therefore has no real change to a societies opinion. Thus terrorism cannot be justified on the basis that is the only available option. Foiton additionally argues that terrorism is not morally acceptable because all objectives that need innocent people to die to be reached are bad. If an objective requires people to die for it, is it really worth carrying out? I agree with Foiton as a human life is worth more than any potential political gain, therefore terrorism cannot be justified upon the grounds that the end will justify the
Introduction
The purpose of this essay is to explore the issues surrounding the morality of terrorism. I will begin by providing contextual information of the topic through exploring the history of terrorism. From the Sicarii in 50AD who carried out assassinations with short daggers to more recent attacks such as 7/7 bombings in the London underground. In this section however we will find it is not only the methodology of terrorism that has changed but its definition has evolved also. I shall use the historical examples to find any patterns in the use of the word and analyse what these examples tell us about the meaning of the word. Throughout my essay I shall adopt a narrow definition as I believe it allows …show more content…
I agree with this entirely as quite often a terrorist organisation becomes deluded by their aims and forgets to look at the wellbeing of a whole society. For example the members of the Ku Klux Klan believed that immigrants didn’t belong in America. They thought that by attacking black Americans they were moving society forward, when in actual fact they were doing the opposite, they had ‘ideological’ conceptions of what was good for America. Foition additionally said that terrorism is never the last resort to make a change; I adopted this point as there are always alternative less aggressive strategies. For example Martin Luther King’s speech which wished for equality between white and black people in America was extremely influential and helped strive towards the more equal society which we live in today. This highlights that’s terrorism isn’t the most effective option and often results in a nation abiding out of fear rather than choice, therefore has no real change to a societies opinion. Thus terrorism cannot be justified on the basis that is the only available option. Foiton additionally argues that terrorism is not morally acceptable because all objectives that need innocent people to die to be reached are bad. If an objective requires people to die for it, is it really worth carrying out? I agree with Foiton as a human life is worth more than any potential political gain, therefore terrorism cannot be justified upon the grounds that the end will justify the