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The Kent State University Press - Albert Borowitz

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139 pages

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Examines the motives of terrorists, from ancient Greece to the present day"A unique work of. . . history, made all the more interesting by its relevance to the time in which we live." -James R. Elkins, editor of Legal Studies ForumIn this timely study of the roots of terrorism, author Albert Borowitz deftly assesses the phenomenon of violent crime motivated by a craving for notoriety or self-glorification. He traces this particular brand of terrorism back to 356 BCE and the destruction of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus by arsonist Herostratos and then examines similar crimes through history to the present time, detailing many examples of what the author calls the "Herostratos Syndrome," such as the attempted explosion of the Greenwich Observatory in 1894, the Taliban's destruction of the giant Buddhas in Afghanistan, the assassination of John Lennon, the Unabomber strikes, and the attacks on the World Trade Center buildings.The study of terrorism requires interdisciplinary inquiry. Proving that terrorism cannot be the exclusive focus of a single field of scholarship, Borowitz presents this complex subject using sources based in religion, philosophy, history, Greek mythology, and world literature, including works of Chaucer, Cervantes, Mark Twain, and Jean-Paul Sartre.Terrorism for Self-Glorification, written in clear and direct prose, is original, thorough, and thought provoking. Scholars, specialists, and general readers will find their understanding of terrorism greatly enhanced by this book.

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Terrorism

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Publié par	The Kent State University Press
Date de parution	31 décembre 1969
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781612774145
Langue	English

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Terrorism for Self-Glorification
Terrorism for Self-Glorification
The Herostratos Syndrome
A LBERT B OROWITZ
The Kent State University Press Kent and London
2005 by The Kent State University Press, Kent, Ohio 44242
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2004017495
ISBN 0-87338-818-6
Manufactured in the United States of America
09 08 07 06 05 5 4 3 2 1
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Borowitz, Albert, 1930-
Terrorism for self-glorification : the herostratos syndrome / Albert Borowitz.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-87338-818-6 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Terrorism. 2. Violence-Psychological aspects. 3. Aggressiveness.
4. Herostratus. I. Title.
HV 6431. B 692 2004
303.6 25-dc22
2004017495
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication data are available.
In memory of Professor John Huston Finley, who,
more than half a century ago,
first told me about the crime of Herostratos.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Author s Note
Introduction
1 The Birth of the Herostratos Tradition
2 The Globalization of Herostratos
3 The Destroyers
4 The Killers
5 Herostratos at the World Trade Center
6 The Literature of Herostratos Since the Early Nineteenth Century
Afterword
Appendix: Herostratos in Art and Film
Notes
Index
Acknowledgments
F IRST AND FOREMOST my thanks go to my wife, Helen, who has contributed immeasurably to Terrorism for Self-Glorification, providing fresh insights into Joseph Conrad s The Secret Agent, guiding me through mountains of works on modern terrorism, and reviewing my manuscript at many stages. I am also grateful to Dr. Jeanne Somers, associate dean of the Kent State University Libraries, for her ingenuity and persistence in locating rare volumes from the four corners of the world.
Except as otherwise indicated in the endnotes, all translations from foreign languages are my own. When I bumped up against my linguistic barriers, Alex Cook and Markku Salmela came to my rescue, translating Japanese and Finnish sources, respectively. I am also indebted to the distinguished Turkish author, Nazli Eray, for procuring me an English version of her early Herostratos play. I also wish to thank the many authors who generously provided copies of their works relating to my themes. Among their number I cite notably the dramatists Carl Ceiss and Lutz H bner, mystery writer Horst Bosetzky ( -ky ), and scholars Katariina Mustakallio and Kerry Sabbag.
Finally, I acknowledge with gratitude the advice of Classics professors David Lupher of the University of Puget Sound and Thomas Martin of the College of the Holy Cross on the meaning of Herostratos s name and other knotty issues.
Author s Note
I N SPELLING MY protagonist s name Herostratos, I am transliterating the ancient Greek original. Variant spellings appear in other languages:
Latin
Herostratus
English
Herostratus (or sometimes Eratostratus)
French
rostrate
German
Herostrat
Italian
Erostrato
Portuguese
Her strato
Spanish
Er strato
Spellings used in directly quoted passages have not been altered. In spelling other ancient names, I adopt the form most commonly encountered in my sources; e.g., Ephesus.
Introduction
A N IMPORTANT STRAND in the history of terrorism is Herostratic crime. This phenomenon, consisting of a violent act or series of violent acts motivated in whole or in part by a craving for notoriety or self-glorification, can be traced from the destruction in 356 BC of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, by the arsonist Herostratos. The man identified in ancient sources as Herostratos is a shadowy figure of whose life nothing is known before he was apprehended, tortured, and executed. The death penalty was accompanied by a postmortem sentence of the type that came to be known in Latin as damnatio memoriae, the damnation of the condemned man s memory through the imposition of a ban on the mention of his name. Soon after the death of the temple destroyer this prohibition was flouted by Classical authors; through the ages and around the world the terrible name of Herostratos became paradigmatic of the morbid quest for eternal fame through crimes of violence. New attacks made against lives and monuments seemed to be motivated by personal vanity, whatever high-sounding phrases the criminal might launch in justification. Writers who tried to understand these puzzling outbreaks of murder and destruction often invoked Herostratos as an archetype.
The recognizable features of these crimes for fame, and the commentaries that these acts have inspired, make it possible to attempt a definition of what can be called the Herostratos syndrome : Herostratos and his followers share a desire for fame or notoriety as long lasting and widespread as can be achieved. This desire may be appeased by publicity for the criminal s name but often, preferring to elude detection by retaining anonymity, he is satisfied with the celebrity that arises from his act. These alternative or combined means of gratification, publicity for the name or for the crime, reflect the same underlying Herostratic impulse, that is, a drive to maximize a sense of power. The criminal feels an enhancement of power in the form of self-glorification (the achievement of name recognition) or self-aggrandizement (the demonstration of capacity for destruction through accomplishment of a flaunting act that will live in infamy). Herostratic violence may be perpetrated by a person acting alone or in conjunction with others who may or may not share his thirst for fame. The aim of the crime is to cause the public to experience panic, distress, insecurity, or loss of confidence. A famous person, property, or institution is often chosen as victim or target. As the Roman essayist Valerius Maximus observed in his discussion of searchers after negative fame, a killer may hope, by his attack, to absorb the celebrity of his prey-to be known, for example, as the man who assassinated Philip of Macedon. The same mechanism operates in arsonists and other destroyers of well-known monuments, such as the Temple of Artemis. A feeling of loneliness, alienation, mediocrity, and failure may trigger an envy directed against those perceived to be more successful or prestigious. Envy is exacerbated by an ambitious, competitive spirit and the conviction that avenues to success are unfairly blocked. The Herostratic criminal may be afflicted by self-destructive compulsions: to confess; to taunt or to more overtly aid the police who pursue him; and to commit suicide or suffer death either in the course of the crime or by execution. Since his ultimate goal is glory, the remnant of the criminal s life becomes contemptible as a value in itself; it is a pawn to be traded for accomplishment of his motive. Herostratic violence may acquire a sacrilegious dimension when the criminal strikes a religious shrine or a secular target that has iconic significance. The craving for fame may combine with other motives, personal and/or ideological, in inducing a criminal act.
In November 2001, Ego-net, a German Web site commenting on the age-old phenomenon of terrorism, referred to Herostratos as the first terrorist who entered history. 1 This claim appears to be justified because the nature of the crime at Ephesus satisfies most of the criteria of the definition of terrorism espoused by a leading expert on modern terrorist activity, Walter Laqueur, who has written in the wake of the attack on the World Trade Center, Over the centuries, terrorism has appeared in many guises. It is not an ideology or a political doctrine, but rather a method-the substate application of violence or the threat of violence to sow panic and bring about political change. 2 Laqueur s definition would fit perfectly the outrages of Herostratos and his followers, except that their need for self-glorification is satisfied by causing public panic or dismay, whether or not any of these criminals may also seek or avow a purpose to effect political change. In an earlier work, in fact, Lacqueur referred to Herostratos s motive as a common factor in the new terrorism: Many terrorist acts are committed by individuals following in the footsteps of Herostrat [ sic ], the citizen of Ephesus in ancient times who burned the local temple simply so that his name would be remembered forever. 3
In Terrorist Lives (1994), Maxwell Taylor and Ethel Quayle express their belief that a core element in any account of terrorism is that it involves the use of violence to achieve political ends. Yet their analysis of terrorist groups in Ireland, Europe, and the Middle East, based on interviews with their members, reveals significant convergences of modern terrorists motivations with those of the politically unaligned Herostratic criminal. The ideologically committed terrorists whom Taylor and Quayle have studied appear to act under the influence of a commitment even more fundamental than political allegiance-belief in the just-world phenomenon :
This is a widely recognised feature of our interpretation of the world as it impinges on us. We like to think that virtue is rewarded, that a hard working life should result in a comfortable retirement, that those who cheat or steal to our disadvantage are ultimately caught. . . . In one way, many terrorists and their supporters would claim that what they do is a response to an unjust world. . . .
The sense of a just world seems to lie at the very heart of the social and psychological response to political violence of both terrorists and their victims. 4
Taylor and Quayle theorize that the individual terrorist s justification for terrorism is . . . related at a fundamental psychological level to a sense of purpose and self-worth. This association leads them to come to grips with the unjust world:
It [terrorism] is, at least initially, a means to achieve something which is intrinsically desirable