Killing for the Sake of Infamy: The Herostratos Syndrome and What to Do about it

The Herostratos syndrome affects some people who perpetrate odious attacks for the sake of infamy. We suggest that this sheds some useful light to explain the wave of mass killing going on in Europe and North America, including school shootings and Jihadist terrorism, within a game-theoretic framework. The analysis points out that policies aimed at countering this type of violence should focus on trivializing these attacks and reducing the publicity that they get in the media

Der "Memplex" Terrorismus

Der Beitrag basiert auf einem kulturwissenschaftlichen und mediologischen Ansatz, der die Mem-Theorie für die Terrorismusforschung nutzbar macht. Aus der Perspektive der Memetik lässt sich in der Nachfolge von Richard Dawkins sowie Susan Blackmore dann von einem "Memplex" sprechen, wenn eine Vernetzung von "Replikatoren" - Informationen, Institutionen, Medien und Akteuren - so effizient funktioniert, dass davon ein ganzes sozio-kulturelles Umfeld betroffen ist. Dies trifft im Fall von terroristischen Anschlägen und bei der Kommunikation über Terrorismus in besonderem Maße zu. Die Akte terroristischer Gewalt in der jüngsten Geschichte zeugen vom Einfluss memetischer Faktoren. Dazu zählen neben den Anschlägen selbst auch ihre mediatisierte Formen in Bildern, Texten und audiovisuellen Berichten, die zu einem Großteil im Internet Verbreitung finden. Für die Memetik ebenfalls relevant sind die ideologischen Hintergründe, die terroristische Handlungen motivieren und kommentieren. Die Transformation des Terrorismusbegriffs und seine Viralität, d. h. seine Verbreitung durch Texte und Bilder, sind memetisch erklärbar. Die Konstruktion des Memplex Terrorismus soll deshalb folgend anhand einiger Replikatoren analysiert werden. Ausgehend von den terroristischen Anschlägen des 11. September 2001 werden Beispiele einer populären Rezeptionsgeschichte des Terrorismusbegriffs aufgezeigt und bildwissenschaftlich sowie kulturhistorisch verglichen

Der „Memplex“ Terrorismus

Der Beitrag basiert auf einem kulturwissenschaftlichen und mediologischen Ansatz, der die Mem-Theorie für die Terrorismusforschung nutzbar macht. Aus der Perspektive der Memetik lässt sich in der Nachfolge von Richard Dawkins sowie Susan Blackmore dann von einem „Memplex“ sprechen, wenn eine Vernetzung von „Replikatoren“ – Informationen, Institutionen, Medien und Akteuren – so effizient funktioniert, dass davon ein ganzes sozio-kulturelles Umfeld betroffen ist. Dies trifft im Fall von terroristischen Anschlägen und bei der Kommunikation über Terrorismus in besonderem Maße zu. Die Akte terroristischer Gewalt in der jüngsten Geschichte zeugen vom Einfluss memetischer Faktoren. Dazu zählen neben den Anschlägen selbst auch ihre mediatisierte Formen in Bildern, Texten und audiovisuellen Berichten, die zu einem Großteil im Internet Verbreitung finden. Für die Memetik ebenfalls relevant sind die ideologischen Hintergründe, die terroristische Handlungen motivieren und kommentieren. Die Transformation des Terrorismusbegriffs und seine Viralität, d. h. seine Verbreitung durch Texte und Bilder, sind memetisch erklärbar. Die Konstruktion des Memplex Terrorismus soll deshalb folgend anhand einiger Replikatoren analysiert werden. Ausgehend von den terroristischen Anschlägen des 11. September 2001 werden Beispiele einer populären Rezeptionsgeschichte des Terrorismusbegriffs aufgezeigt und bildwissenschaftlich sowie kulturhistorisch verglichen

Ochrona zabytkowego dziedzictwa kulturowego przed zagrożeniami wynikającymi z działalności terrorystycznej (część II)

W przekazie medialnym oraz w dyskusjach o terroryzmie toczących się w wielu krajach (w tym w Polsce) zagrożenia dla dziedzictwa kulturowego, choć obecne, to wciąż nie są, jak się wydaje, należycie wyeksponowane. A przecież przypadki celowego i cynicznego unicestwiania zabytkowych dóbr dziedzictwa kultury o wyjątkowej wartości – czy to w warunkach konfliktów zbrojnych, czy to wskutek aktów terrorystycznych – zdarzały się w przeszłości, mają miejsce obecnie i niestety będą się powtarzać. O ile w sytuacji konfliktów zbrojnych w ujęciu prawa międzynarodowego publicznego istnieje wszak nadzieja, że będą one rozgrywać się w cywilizowany sposób, ze świadomością towarzyszącą stronom konfliktu, iż obowiązują i funkcjonują rożne regulacje międzynarodowoprawne, które należy respektować, o tyle w przypadku działalności terrorystycznej – fanatycznej, nieobliczalnej i nieprzewidywalnej – nadzieja taka jest płonna. Wypada przyjrzeć się rozwiązaniom służącym ochronie dóbr kultury i przeciwdziałaniu terroryzmowi, aby zorientować się, jaka jest jakość i efektywność mechanizmów stworzonych po to, by chronić zabytkowe dziedzictwo kulturowe w kontekście wyzwania, które stanowi współczesny terroryzm. Opracowanie podzielone zostało na dwie części. W pierwszej z nich podjęto próbę charakterystyki współczesnej konfrontacji państw z terroryzmem w kontekście zagrożeń generowanych przez to zjawisko w stosunku do zabytkowych dóbr kultury. Zaprezentowano instrumenty prawa międzynarodowego publicznego i prawa europejskiego, które mogłyby być w tej konfrontacji wykorzystane. W drugiej części opracowania zawarte zaś zostały rozważania odnoszące się do podłoża motywacyjnego aktów terrorystycznych skierowanych przeciwko dziedzictwu kulturowemu, potencjalnych zagrożeń terrorystycznych dla zabytkowych dóbr kultury oraz ich skutków, a także dotyczące skuteczności rozwiązań prawnych mających na celu ochronę dziedzictwa kulturowego i działań faktycznych, realizowanych przez służby państwowe odpowiedzialne za zapewnienie bezpieczeństwa i porządku publicznego, jak również przez inne podmioty, na których spoczywa obowiązek dbałości o dziedzictwo kulturowe (w tym zabytkowe) oraz odpowiedzialność za zachowanie tego dziedzictwa dla przyszłych pokoleń.Either in information transmitted by the mass media or discussions concerning the phenomenon of terrorism which take place in many countries (including Poland), in the mainstream of reflections on the activity of organized terrorist groups or so-called ‘lone-wolf’ terrorists, there are no expressly exposed dangers to the cultural heritage, including historical monuments. But cases in which exceptionally valuable historical heritage goods are intentionally and cynically annihilated in military conflicts or in consequence of acts of terrorism took place in the past, exist nowadays, and, unfortunately, will appear in the future. As far as in military conflicts – in the meaning present in public international law – there is a hope that such conflicts are civilized and their subjects respect different international law regulations and customs. Such hope in the case of fanatical, incalculable, and unpredictable terrorist activity is rather vain. It is worth looking at solutions concerning the protection of cultural heritage goods and the counteracting of terrorism, to get to know better the quality and effectiveness of mechanisms created in order to protect the historical cultural heritage in the context of the challenge which is contemporary terrorism. The paper is divided into two parts. In the first one there is contained the characteristics of the contemporary confrontation of states with terrorism in the context of dangers stemming from this phenomenon and threatening to historical cultural goods. In this part of the paper there are presented, among other matters, instruments of public international law as well as European Union law which could be applied in the mentioned confrontation. The second part of the paper contains considerations relating to the motivational basis for terrorist acts against historical cultural goods and their consequences, the effectiveness of legal solutions protecting the cultural heritage, and practical actions of state agencies responsible for ensuring safety and public order, as well as other subjects having a duty to care for the cultural heritage (including historical monuments) and responsible for the preservation of this heritage for future generations

Radicalization of Islam or Peddling Radicalism? Lessons from the French Experience

A simple game-theoretic model is used to end the sterile intellectual trench war between those who analyze each instance of a community’s radicalization process as a self-contained phenomenon and those who prefer to embed such episodes within a more encompassing social framework. In the model, two groups labeled “Islamic” and “Nativists” are competing using radicalization as a tool to enlarge their share of the limelight in the media. Exogenous shocks are then shown to entail both idiosyncratic responses and interactions between the two groups. The French “radicalized decade” 2011-2020, which witnessed both the Bataclan highly lethal Jihadist attack in 2015 and the populist gilets jaunes massive uprising from 2018 to the COVID-related lockdown in 2020, among other radicalization events, is used to put some of the model’s insight to work. A simple extension of the model is used to shed some light on the emerging Islamo-Leftist and Lefto-Populist tacit collusions, which suggest that the radical left is somehow breaking apart, thus probably boosting in fact the collective radicalization process

A OBSOLESCÊNCIA DA HUMANIDADE: A tragédia nuclear a partir de Günther Anders e Katsuhiro Otomo

Desde 1945 estamos em uma era nuclear. O evento da bomba nuclear não trouxe apenas implicações de ordem militar, mas também de ordem técnica e filosófica. A partir de um exemplo de ficção - Akira - queremos, neste artigo, explorar as implicações de um desastre nuclear sob dois pontos de vista: do ponto de vista dos desafios éticos - repensando a relação meio-fim a partir da técnica e tecnologia e, após, do ponto de vista das condições de possibilidade da própria ética, na medida em que se trata, por um lado, da sobrevivência da espécie humana e, por outro lado, das condições necessárias e suficientes para uma vida que mereça ser vivida. Tendo como referências Günter Anders, Martin Heidegger e Hannah Arendt, autores que viveram e refletiram acerca do que significava viver em uma era nuclear, buscamos, através da ficção, oferecer um exemplo de articulação entre a pesquisa científica, a problematização filosófica e a prática de ensino de filosofia, tendo a escola como espaço privilegiado de atuação.Since 1945, we are in a nuclear age. The nuclear bomb event brought not only military implications, but also technical and philosophical implications. From a fiction - Akira - we want, in this article, to explore the implications of a nuclear disaster from two points of view: from the point of view of the ethical challenges - rethinking the mean-ending relation from technique and technology and, after that, from the point of view of the possibility conditions of ethics itself, the survival of the human species and, on the other hand, the necessary and sufficient conditions for a life that deserves to be lived. Having as references Günter Anders, Martin Heidegger and Hannah Arendt, authors who lived and reflected on what it meant to live in a nuclear age, we sought, through fiction, to offer an example of an articulation between scientific research, philosophical problematization and the practice of teaching philosophy, with the school as a privileged space of action

Radicalization of Islam or Peddling Radicalism? Lessons from the French Experience

A simple game-theoretic model is used to end the sterile intellectual trench war between those who analyze each instance of a community’s radicalization process as a self-contained phenomenon and those who prefer to embed such episodes within a more encompassing social framework. In the model, two groups labeled “Islamic” and “Nativists” are competing using radicalization as a tool to enlarge their share of the limelight in the media. Exogenous shocks are then shown to entail both idiosyncratic responses and interactions between the two groups. The French “radicalized decade” 2011-2020, which witnessed both the Bataclan highly lethal Jihadist attack in 2015 and the populist gilets jaunes massive uprising from 2018 to the COVID-related lockdown in 2020, among other radicalization events, is used to put some of the model’s insight to work. A simple extension of the model is used to shed some light on the emerging Islamo-Leftist and Lefto-Populist tacit collusions, which suggest that the radical left is somehow breaking apart, thus probably boosting in fact the collective radicalization process

Vojmil Rabadan on theatre in Marulić journal

Vojmil Rabadan (Split, 1909. – Zagreb, 1988.) u hrvatskoj je kulturi 20. stoljeća ostavio traga ne samo kao dramatičar, dramaturg, kazališni redatelj i prevoditelj, književni i glazbeni kritičar, nego i kao kazališni kritičar i teatrolog. U zreloj životnoj dobi, od 1974. do 1983. godine, Rabadan je u časopisu Marulić objavljivao opsežne članke o kazalištu, od kojih se u znatnom dijelu teatrološki bavio odabranim temama povezujući prošlost i suvremenost hrvatske drame i glumišta; velik dio posvećivao je kazališnoj kritici, a napisao je i više članaka u obljetničkim prigodama o pojedinim kazališnim osobama. U svojim člancima u Maruliću Rabadan je tematizirao teatrologiju kao disciplinu, doticao se kazališnih pitanja toga vremena i afirmirao se kao dobar poznavatelj kazališta i teatrolog čiji cjelovit prinos povijesti hrvatskoga kazališta tek valja istražiti.Vojmil Rabadan (Split, 1909 – Zagreb, 1988) left a significant mark on Croatian culture not only as a playwright, dramaturge, stage director and translator, literary and music critic, but as a theatre critic and theatre scholar as well. In his mature years, from 1974 till 1983, Rabadan published a series of extensive articles on theatre in Marulić journal, dedicating a significant number of the articles to scholarly analysis of chosen theatre topics in which he related the past and present of Croatian drama and theatre; in a noteworthy part of the articles Rabadan considered the subject of theatre criticism, and some of the articles celebrated the anniversaries of prominent theatre artists. In numerous articles published in Marulić journal Rabadan deliberated on theatre studies as a discipline, discussed key theatre issues of the day, and proved himself a well-informed theatre person and scholar whose comprehensive contribution to Croatian theatre history is yet to be studied