Devon's Power Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/paris-attacks-survivors-stories_5647688ce4b06037734952ed?ir=WorldPost&section=world

The article above discusses the bombings in Paris, that occurred late last week. It gives detailed description from a survivor's point of view of how violent the attacks really were and what it felt like to be there and experience an actual terrorist attack. Survivor's go into detail about how their normal Friday activities turned into a violent bloodbath creating mass panic and chaos. It highlights how gruesome and merciless the gunmen were.


After reading this article it greatly reminded me of our discussion about Fanon and the use of violence to gain power. I think this specifically relates to Fanon's idea that power means normalizing violence, which is exhibited in all terrorist organizations. This perpetuation of violence to gain power is not only illustrated from the terrorist's side but from the victim's side as well. The French government's response to the Islamic State's attack on its capital was to have a "merciless" response, showing that France needed to prove it was still a powerful nation through its ability to be even more violent than the attacks on France. It also shows how violence is effective because by creating all this panic and death through violence it brings all this attention to terrorists and gets their message across. I think this shows why violence is such a popular method in asserting power because it creates a statement that is hard to ignore and there are instant results. I think this also plays into Thucydides' discussion on the use of discursive power vs power of persuasion. We now tend to rely on violent discursive power to solve our conflicts instead of use our diplomatic power. This shows why nations across the world are being more militarized and are more likely to use violent action than peaceful inaction.