Indiscriminate terrorism requires trained moral disengagement that targeted violence does not

Evidence

Terrorists face an especially troublesome moral paradox: Because they take innocent lives indiscriminately as a means toward a sociopolitical end, their actions belie the very liberation values they espouse. From a psychological standpoint, seemingly random third-party violence is much more morally perturbing than violence directed against specific officials who are blamed for contributing, in one way or another, to people’s aversive life conditions. It is easier to persuade individuals who harbor strong grievances to kill officials they loath or to abduct advisors and consular personnel of foreign nations that support oppressive regimes. However, to slaughter ordinary men, women, and children going about their lives requires more powerful psychosocial machinations to neutralize moral conflict in ways that enable terrorists to live in peace with themselves. Intensive psychological training in moral disengagement is necessary to create the capacity to kill indiscriminately without self-condemnation. Recall the intensive psychosocial program that transformed ordinary Greek soldiers into cruel torturers who took pride in their brutality (Haritos-Fatouros, 2003; see chapter 2). — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2116

Categorization

• XREF: Builds directly on the Greek torturer program from chapter 2 — the moral disengagement techniques that enabled ordinary soldiers to brutalize prisoners.
• SEED: Essay angle: the psychological gradient between killing officials one loathes versus killing anonymous civilians, and the moral-training industries that collapse it.