Terrorists morally justify violence by framing themselves as selfless freedom fighters

Evidence

Terrorists contend that fundamental changes can be achieved only if they take up arms against blameworthy oppressive, corrupt regimes. They frame the battle for social change in a war metaphor, seeing themselves as “freedom fighters” and “revolutionaries” selflessly battling despotic enemy forces on behalf of the marginalized and maltreated (Cordes, 1987). In her analysis, Cordes notes that terrorist groups are not monolithic but have internal disputes over the justification of violence, the forms it should take, and whether to target the foe discriminately or indiscriminately. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2173

Categorization

• DEFINE: Illustrates how war-metaphor self-framing as ‘freedom fighters’ is a disengagement device, not just description.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 2173