A good study of most any subject requires formalism and consistency. Lacking clear definitions, we have difficulty in expressing our ideas or building frameworks of those ideas. Professor Noam Chomsky of MIT certainly understands the need for rigorous standards in the use of words. This book compiles four different essays by Chomsky on the subject of terrorism- two essays come from the 1980s, while two more came from 2001.
Chomsky uses a differing definition of terrorism than such writers as Walter Laqueur or Graham Allison. Lacqueur defined terrorism in his 1999 book 'The New Terrorism' as actions taken by states or nonstate actors whose main effect is psychological rather than physical. Lacqueur did not, however, deliniate strict boundaries of the differences between ‘terrorism’, ‘psychological warfare’ and ‘insurgency’. Of course, we all know terrorism when we see it, but it remains unspoken that terrorism is essentially a perjorative term applying to psychological warfare efforts or insurgencies which are not favored by a certain group, in this case, the United States of America.
Chomsky, on the other hand, defines two types of terrorism- one is ‘state terrorism’- the use of coercive violence by a state-level actor on a second party. A second type of terrorism is the type highlighted by Laqueur. In his essays, he highlights the differing treatment given by various high-level media sources in the United States and Israel to conflicts around the Middle East, Central Asia, and Latin America. Dr. Chomsky pays particular attention to the New York Times and Washington Post, as well as magazines such as Newsweek and non-American newspapers such as the Jerusalem Times. In the sense that every individual makes decisions on the basis of information gathered secondhand from media sources, the topic of how much heed to pay to news reports is one that every individual should consider – without a modicum of skepticism, any reader is at the mercy of the sources that he chooses.
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