Terrorists justify acknowledged harm as insignificant beside oppressors’ suffering

Evidence

Advantageous comparison is an especially important mode of self-exoneration from the harm terrorists cause because they acknowledge responsibility for it. From the terrorists’ perspective, the harm their attacks cause pales when compared with the widespread suffering inflicted on downtrodden people by oppressive power holders who are often backed by foreign patrons. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2149

Categorization

• XREF: Advantageous comparison lets harm agents relativize their acts against a worse ‘them’ — structurally the same move as voters endorsing harsh policy against an outgroup painted as greater threat.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 2149