Lecture questions ‘why so few terrorists?’
Published: Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Updated: Tuesday, February 12, 2013 00:02
Kurzman said the reason terrorism gets so much disproportionate attention is because of media coverage.
“Terrorists live on public attention,” he said. “If we did not cover it in the media, their plots would have failed. …The force multiplier for terrorism is our response.”
Kurzman acknowledged the importance for the media to cover the events, but emphasized how much power it gives to terrorists.
Crystal Corona, a junior majoring in public health, attended the event and said she agreed strongly with the point of the lecture.
“It’s really interesting,” Corona said. “Certain people, like journalists, will give it so much attention that the terrorists are winning and getting what they want.”
Kurzman went on to explain that almost all Muslim leaders have denounced terrorist attacks on civilians as “un-Islamic,” and except for some issues, agree strongly with Western ideals of democracy.
“Muslims and non-Muslims have relatively similar levels of belief in democracy and democratic ideals,” he said. “It is important as we study terrorism to study non-terrorism or the lack of terrorism. (We should not) forget that the vast majority of Muslims are not engaging in these acts of terrorism and would never
want to.”



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