what is “terrorism”?

1. what is “terrorism”? ( a take-home quiz )

2. what is terrorism?

3. is terrorism the same as fear?

4. what is “the war on terror”?

5. is it a war on an emotion?* *The Epistemology of State Emotion, Lauren Berlant, 2005

6. or an emotion waging the war?

8. who, or what, is a terrorist?

9. a fist?

11. a puppet?*

13. *As part of “pre-emptive” arrests of activists at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia in August, 2000, police raided their art space and destroyed puppets as “evidence of criminal plans.”

14. a mask?*

19. *Since 2000, laws originally passed over a century ago as anti-Ku Klux Klan measures have been used in many cities and states in the u.s.a. to block, repress, and derail anti-war, anarchist, and anti-global capital protests. Demonstrators have been arrested for wearing masks and even hooded jackets.

20. a masked man?

22. a man with a gun?

24. a masked man with a gun?

26. a woman with a gun?

30. do terrorists work alone?

31. or in groups?

33. Image of lynchings, kkk

34. are terrorists anonymous?

36. or “known unknowns”?

37. is the terrorist an “unknowable subject”?

38. why do some writers assert that this is so?* * “It’s just too hard -- and in some sense not important -- to understand why one human being can actually take a knife to another person’s throat and lift off his head.” from “The Terrorist as Auteur,” by Michael Ignatieff, 2004

39. can you pick out the terrorist from each of the following pictures?

44. study this picture.

45. does it suggest that there are “real” and “unreal” terrorists?

47. is it a question of knowing the “real” from the “fake”?

48. why is this woman laughing?

49. now study these pictures.