Tag Archives: Vera Zasulich

terror: sheer, irrational madness

…Even more distinctive of modern terrorism, asĀ  opposed to its origins, is the random nature of its violence. Earlier terrorists usually had some specific and comprehensible grievance against their victims. Quite often the attack was in retaliation for the acts … Continue reading

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madness alone is truly terrifying

or so said Joseph Conrad. The terrorists… …In nineteenth-century usage, however, attacks on the official establishment were conventionally terms acts of terror, and their perpetrators were ipso facto terrorists. Underlying the verbal convention lay a common pool of genuine fear: … Continue reading

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terrorism: getting to the verbal convention

…A comparison of two famous acts of terrorism underscores the difference, and at the same time illuminates its nature. The first case is that of Vera Zasulich, an idealistic young Russian socialist who, in January, 1878, shot and seriously wounded … Continue reading

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