The victim of terrorism

Abstract

Even though the events described here are quite complex, they evoke primitive emotions and cries for simplistic solutions. It is unfortunate that the channel of communication from victim to public is open for so brief a time, and in the presence of competing concern about police tactics, negotiations with terrorists, and all the other elements on the diagram. The stress that these victims endure, the coping mechanisms they display, the human interaction they achieve in the face of death should give an anxious public the patience to consider policy carefully and dispassionately. Just as terrorists find it easier to vent their rage at victims who are mere symbols (a curtain rather than a man) the public may treat victims of sieges (and indeed the whole spectacle) as characters in a novel who elecit passion rather than thought. Any effort to reduce sensationalism and to promote a detailed exchange of information between victims and those who are capable of caring about victims should help society as a whole cope with the threat of terrorism.