Abu Aardvark has been examining an opinion poll on terrorism conducted by the Center for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan. The survey was conducted in several Arab countries, including Jordan.
I have to admit I was very surprised by the poll findings among Jordanians.
One finding I found highly disturbing was that only 35% of Jordanians regard 9/11 as a terrorist attack. Only 35%!!! What do the other 65% think, that these were acts of heroism?!?! Give me a break! This is really disturbing, as we are talking more than half the population here.
Another disturbing finding was that only 48% of Jordanians thought the bombings of the Red Cross and UN headquarters in Iraq were terrorist acts? I wonder what the percentage would be if the same sample was asked about the bombing of the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad?!?! I’m now beginning to wonder how many wouldn’t consider that a terrorist act! Pathetic!
Amir-I sincerely hope you’re correct.
Natasha-thanks for the warm welcome. Don’t have time to contribute, but this site is one of the coolest reads on the net. Right up there with “So I Want To Be An Astronaut”.
PS-You husband is an awesome photographer 🙂
Thank you Amir.
I realize that many dictionaries might say something similar, but “the act of using force against people often for ideological or political reasons” is a very poor and overly broad definition of terrorism.
That would include all wars. It could potentially include police arresting an anarchist, or anyone if you argued that law and order is an ideological position.
It is obvious by that poll that those polls don’t have familiarity with the western meaning of the word terrorism – they merely attribute things they disagree with as terrorism and things they agree with as not terrorism.
Dear Noffius,
First of all welcome to Mental Mayhem. We hope to see more of you around here. Terrorism in Arabic is “Irhab”. The traditional understanding is the same as in English, the act of using force against people often for ideological or political reasons.
Could some of the Arabic speakers on this board help me out? What exactly is the Arabic equivalent of the word terrorism? Whats the traditional understanding of the Arabic word?