Terrorism and Perception

Abstract

Terrorism can be described as a fiction of war because it is based in a fiction of power. Using the media, it can stage a power that it does not have. Acting so, it is able to dominate the imagination of a population that is simultaneously the object and objective of its fight. The power of terrorism is not its violence capability, but the narrative in which action, message and cause converge. The danger of terrorism does not lie in its strength, but in the errors that a state or government may commit when fighting against it. Any short-term reaction to an attack could be potentially wrong because it is emotionally biased, exhibiting State internal contradictions and weaknesses.