The Aftermath 911
...f cults that have much in common despite differing ideologies. In March 1997, Americans were shocked when thirty-nine members of the cult known as Heaven’s Gate were discovered in a mass suicide in an affluent San Diego suburb (Bruni, 1997). As in earlier instances of mass murder and suicide, these were linked to the charismatic appeal of deranged leaders who were believed to possess supernatural powers. The history of David Koresh and the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, follows the same pattern. The more convinced members were of the leader’s power, the more isolated they felt from the rest of society. A collective paranoia developed as they perceived themselves to be targets of society’s hate. In both cases these feelings led to acts of irrational violence (Niebuhr, 1995).” (Kornblum et al. 499-500) One of the major aspects in the US decisions to do what we did came from the religious aspect of it all, more focused on the al Qaeda than anything else. “That so many terrorist individuals and groups are motivated by extreme religious beliefs and feelings is one of the chief ironies of the present war on terrorism. All the major religions seek peace and understanding among people throughout the world. Yet we see in the case of domestic terrorists that many are members of radical Christian groups, and al Qaeda and other contemporary Islamic terrorist groups espouse various forms of fundamentalist Islam – even though, as numerous Islamic leaders have pointed out, terrorism violates the basic foundations of Islamic law. But in his analysis of the contributions of religious radicalism to contemporary terrorism, sociologist Amitai Etziono notes that.” (Kornblum et al. 500) Terrorism has a HUGE impact on society. We all tend to buckle down and get really scared. Ma...