RUNNING

HEAD: LOVE AS A TOOL TO TERROR

Love as a Tool to Terror

Megan Rutter
Northeastern University

LOVE AS A TOOL TO TERROR

Love as a Tool to Terror

Introduction
I was sitting in my second grade classroom and Mrs. Weikert was at the front reading a
story in French. The phone in the room rang and she told us we all got to go home early. For a
room of second graders, this could have been the best day ever, but something about her tone of
voice and the look on her face made us all silently gather our things and line up. When the bus
arrived at my stop, my mom was not waiting for me like usual. I raced my sister home without
realizing that the moment I entered the house the world would be changed forever. That day was
September 11, 2001.
Through an investigation of the motivations for 9/11, I argue that these events were not
simply motivated by a hatred towards the West and the United States, but also as an act of love
for Muslim culture, the Islam religion, family, and self. 9/11 changed the United States forever,
in policy and pride, and a thorough understanding of what led to this action is crucial to
preventing future terrorist events.
Terrorism is the epitome of evil, with the principle aim to enact fear in the public and
resentment for ones own government. In all measures of terrorism, 9/11 will go down in history
as one of the most incredible, devastating, and powerful terrorist acts in the modern era. The
terrorists were able to produce a large-scale reaction and overwhelming sense of fear in millions
of people and across multiple nations. This event was planned and initiated Al Qaeda.
Al Qaeda, originally a religious unifying group, was a transformed into an organization to
internationalize their message, gain supporters and train an army of fighters. Osama bin Laden,
the central leader, was an international public speaker and businessman, gaining support
throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa. As bin Ladens son stated, our father was the

LOVE AS A TOOL TO TERROR

only one who never forgot them [the poor] they worshipped him with their whole hearts,
(Bergen & Cruickshank, 2012). Bin Laden was able to influence his followers emotions,
specifically love, to create terrorists.
How Love Builds Terrorists
According to Kruglanski et al. (2013), there are two kinds of love for oneself, self-love
and love of self. Self-love is determined by how others see them, whereas love of self is the
individual drive for comfort, safety, and survival. Self-love is a broader sense of community
acceptance and normality and can become a motivational force strong enough to generate action
against the enemy. When a group perceives itself in conflict with dangerous detractors, its
ideology may prescribe violence and terrorism against the enemy as a means of significance gain
that gratifies self-love concerns (Kruglanski et al., 2013). Culture and society dictate what
norms that a group views as reflections of a capable, strong, and loyal person.
According to Pankhurst (2010), the idea of the Caliphate was, used primarily as a
motivational and instrumental tool in uniting the ummah in its efforts to expel foreign forces
from what it considers to be occupied lands. The Caliphate began as a peaceful religious goal to
unite all people under one god, Allah. But, as the bastardization of Islam and the quest for Jihad
has grown, it now supports a very anti-Western philosophy and a global terrorist manifesto
(Pankhurst, 2010). The ideas of radical Islam have been used to make Muslims in the Middle
East believe in a cause larger than themselves and a way to rectify the current global power
struggle against the West
According to Mandel (2002), bin Laden was a key instigator of terrorism, using
religious nationalism to rally support for his cause. By framing this issue as good versus evil
bin Laden was able to gain active supporters and followers willing to die for his cause against the

LOVE AS A TOOL TO TERROR

evil Western governments. Character is a contextually based, malleable concept, though, and
requires a thorough understanding of extenuating circumstances to understand. Humans
implicitly perceive those similar to them as good and those different as bad, which can lead to
biases and in extreme cases genocide or murder. The members of Al Qaeda were taught to
perceive all Westerners as having evil character (Mandel, 2002). Terrorism groups are also
similar to gangs or hate groups, in that the members are usually young males who feel that they
have been victimized or marginalized by the community or the world. This combination of
finally belonging to a highly respected group and having a predetermined bias against the West
creates a dangerous blend of willing men and a cause great enough to die for.
This widespread religion connects families and communities and creates a kind of
communal love first created by the ancient Greeks called philia. Philia is the love of friends with
a focus on promoting happiness and companionship between members, without sexual attraction.
This similarity and relatedness to each other creates a sense of connectedness and unifying
culture. Philia is, according to Aristotle, virtuous love that is similar to altruism as a motivator
for action on someone elses behalf. This empathy and altruism among the Islamic community is
a strong influence on stimulating action.
Family is the central influence in ones life, as parents instill rules of expected behavior
through life. Post et al. (2009) describes the influence of family can be very powerful on ones
collective identity. Kids model behavior and values through their parents, who teach them how
a member of society is supposed to act and appear in public. This creates a collective identity of
citizens and a standard to reach for in behavior that represents the morals of the community. The
terrorists of 9/11 were rational and ordinary normal members of society, and were representing

LOVE AS A TOOL TO TERROR

their family values, religion, and collective identity when they committed those heinous acts on
9/11 (Post et al., 2009).
Locicero and Sinclair (2008), discuss the group dynamics of Al Qaeda, and that the
hijackers chosen for 9/11 had control and power within the group and were involved in the
planning also. They had lived in the United States for years prior, but the collective identity of
hatred from their native country against the West was strong enough to act against what had
become their new home (Locicero & Sinclair, 2008). Engle (2007) created the theory of the
unfaced, which describes how the West has deemed Muslim people as a lesser race, so they
feel that in order to be respected they must make themselves known by any way possible. The
love for their culture justifies the use of murder as a way to spread their message to Muslims
globally and become a tangible threat to the West.
Conclusion
There is no argument that terrorism is a hateful act, but the picture is not that simple.
Love is an equally powerful and motivating emotion that needs to be acknowledged and
researched further. The context of event in regards to cultural and societal goals must also be
understood to create a complete picture. Terrorists do not just make the decision to wreck havoc
on a country, but these radical ideas must be developed through family, religion and culture. The
terrorists of 9/11 believed they were accomplishing their Jihad for the Islamic world. Simply put,
they were acting out of love.
9/11 is a date that I will remember for the rest of my life. For a small second grade
student, that was the day that planes became unsafe and people evil. That was the first time my
parents were not able to tell me the monster was made-up or just on TV. That was when I
realized death was not just for the old or sick, but also the unlucky, powerful, and hated.

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6
References

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