Gruesome symbolic atrocities can provoke escalation to total war against perpetrators

Evidence

In retaliation, ISIS staged videotaped beheadings of two American journalists. They warned that further American attacks would bring the war to the “far enemy” and “result in the bloodshed” of Americans (Shane & Hubbard, 2014). Seeing staged beheadings of one’s fellow citizens activates a strong sense of moral obligation to put a stop to it. President Obama decided to intervene militarily in a more extensive way. What began as a very limited U.S. mission to halt the advance of ISIS forces instantly escalated into a war to eradicate ISIS. The beheadings and accompanying threats seemed designed to provoke the United States into another war that the militants could exploit as a war of the West against Islam. A display of ruthless invincibility also is used for enlistment of potential recruits. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2456

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the chapter’s broader moral disengagement theme and to atrocity-propaganda dynamics in current conflict reporting. — connects to: Mutual escalation between armed parties can enlarge victim circles far past the combatants. — Leonard S. Newman and Ralph Erber (eds.), Understanding Genocide: The Social…, 133