4 ms·

I don't think anything much has changed. It's interesting to look at Joseph Conrad's "The Secret Agent" -- published in 1907 -- which is based on a true story

I don't think anything much has changed. It's interesting to look at Joseph Conrad's "The Secret Agent" -- published in 1907 -- which is based on a true story (of an anarchist attack on the Greenwich Observatory in 1894). All the elements of modern "terrorism" are there back then: a half-wit dupe bomber, nutjobs with a crazy ideology (anarchism in this case), and national actors manipulating them from behind the scenes.

paganel 14y ago
> All the elements of modern "terrorism" are there back then: a half-wit dupe bomber, nutjobs with a crazy ideology (anarchism in this case), and national actors manipulating them from behind the scenes. And before that there were of course the Russians, where I think everything started (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism_in_Russia#19th_century https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism_in_Russia#19th_centu...): > Nechaev argued that the purpose of revolutionary terror is not to gain a support of masses, but to the contrary, inflict misery and fear on the common population. According to Nechayev, a revolutionary must terrorize civilians to incite rebellions. Fact is, I also believe that the Tsarist secret police Okhrana was much better at actually fighting the "terrorists" using classic methods like "infiltrating and influencing revolutionary groups, rather than merely identifying and arresting their members", compared to what the US secret agencies are doing right now. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okhrana https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okhrana) It's crazy that I was just reading a couple of days ago about how the CIA had almost turned into a military unit because of its control over the drone war, instead of doing actual information agency work.
- harshreality 14y ago
  Another view of terrorism, in some ways similar to Nechayev's (in that the goal is revolution), is that it is an amplification attack. By committing acts of terror, a group forces the government to respond with stricter laws and more aggressive enforcement. Eventually, citizens who were not affected or inconvenienced very much under the original regime become significantly affected, and so they begin to oppose the government and support revolutionary causes, even if they are normally in favor of law and order and opposed to violence. I believe this is the functional element of all terrorism, whether it is explicitly acknowledged or not. However, if that's true, not all terrorists recognize it; their goals might not be aligned with the ultimate consequences of popular revolution.
- podperson 14y ago
  The Russians are in fact behind everything in Conrad's novel.
- pyre 14y ago
  | "infiltrating and influencing revolutionary | groups" This happens in the US now, but usually the undercover official isn't attempting to convince them not to do something bad. They are either encouraged to do something bad, or allowed to, so that they can be caught in the act and everyone can get a good pat on the back for a job well-done in capturing the 'bad guys.'

paganel 14y ago

> All the elements of modern "terrorism" are there back then: a half-wit dupe bomber, nutjobs with a crazy ideology (anarchism in this case), and national actors manipulating them from behind the scenes. And before that there were of course the Russians, where I think everything started (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism_in_Russia#19th_century https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism_in_Russia#19th_centu...): > Nechaev argued that the purpose of revolutionary terror is not to gain a support of masses, but to the contrary, inflict misery and fear on the common population. According to Nechayev, a revolutionary must terrorize civilians to incite rebellions. Fact is, I also believe that the Tsarist secret police Okhrana was much better at actually fighting the "terrorists" using classic methods like "infiltrating and influencing revolutionary groups, rather than merely identifying and arresting their members", compared to what the US secret agencies are doing right now. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okhrana https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okhrana) It's crazy that I was just reading a couple of days ago about how the CIA had almost turned into a military unit because of its control over the drone war, instead of doing actual information agency work.

harshreality 14y ago
Another view of terrorism, in some ways similar to Nechayev's (in that the goal is revolution), is that it is an amplification attack. By committing acts of terror, a group forces the government to respond with stricter laws and more aggressive enforcement. Eventually, citizens who were not affected or inconvenienced very much under the original regime become significantly affected, and so they begin to oppose the government and support revolutionary causes, even if they are normally in favor of law and order and opposed to violence. I believe this is the functional element of all terrorism, whether it is explicitly acknowledged or not. However, if that's true, not all terrorists recognize it; their goals might not be aligned with the ultimate consequences of popular revolution.
podperson 14y ago
The Russians are in fact behind everything in Conrad's novel.
pyre 14y ago
| "infiltrating and influencing revolutionary | groups" This happens in the US now, but usually the undercover official isn't attempting to convince them not to do something bad. They are either encouraged to do something bad, or allowed to, so that they can be caught in the act and everyone can get a good pat on the back for a job well-done in capturing the 'bad guys.'