International Terrorism and the American Dream: A Dialectical Fairytale
Today’s framing of terrorism in the international system is part of our contemporary dreamworlds of mass consumption set against images of the American Dream. These dreamworlds provide the hegemonic discourses of a European universalist foreign policy that kills huge numbers of innocent non-combatan...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
2016-06-01
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| Series: | Relaciones Internacionales |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://revistas.uam.es/relacionesinternacionales/article/view/5312 |
| _version_ | 1797967302845530112 |
|---|---|
| author | Carlton Dwayne FLOYD Thomas Ehrlich REIFER |
| author_facet | Carlton Dwayne FLOYD Thomas Ehrlich REIFER |
| author_sort | Carlton Dwayne FLOYD |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Today’s framing of terrorism in the international system is part of our contemporary dreamworlds of mass consumption set against images of the American Dream. These dreamworlds provide the hegemonic discourses of a European universalist foreign policy that kills huge numbers of innocent non-combatants for political purposes, acts of terrorism, while denying that such acts constitute terrorism. The violence used is represented as a necessary and shared sacrifice for the American Dream, suggesting a unity, otherwise lacking, supposedly in “self-defense” against terrorism. In reality, what is being consumed are not actions against terrorism and aggressive war, but aggressive war and terrorism themselves masquerading as a defense of the imagined communities of the nation and “the West”. The focus of this article is especially on media and Hollywood films, including social media. The work draws on both world-systems analysis, international relations scholars, and theorists of culture, media and communication to analyze the uses of terrorism today. Simultaneously the article draws on critical theorists and public intellectuals, from Edward Said to Judith Butler to Pope Francis, to critique the binary Orientalist oppositions of today’s pan-European discourses on international terrorism, in ways that expose their complexities and realities, historically and currently. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T02:29:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-630bb707e42743518c62da320bfaf55f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1699-3950 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T02:29:05Z |
| publishDate | 2016-06-01 |
| publisher | Universidad Autónoma de Madrid |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Relaciones Internacionales |
| spelling | doaj.art-630bb707e42743518c62da320bfaf55f2023-01-02T21:51:02ZengUniversidad Autónoma de MadridRelaciones Internacionales1699-39502016-06-013233574844International Terrorism and the American Dream: A Dialectical FairytaleCarlton Dwayne FLOYDThomas Ehrlich REIFERToday’s framing of terrorism in the international system is part of our contemporary dreamworlds of mass consumption set against images of the American Dream. These dreamworlds provide the hegemonic discourses of a European universalist foreign policy that kills huge numbers of innocent non-combatants for political purposes, acts of terrorism, while denying that such acts constitute terrorism. The violence used is represented as a necessary and shared sacrifice for the American Dream, suggesting a unity, otherwise lacking, supposedly in “self-defense” against terrorism. In reality, what is being consumed are not actions against terrorism and aggressive war, but aggressive war and terrorism themselves masquerading as a defense of the imagined communities of the nation and “the West”. The focus of this article is especially on media and Hollywood films, including social media. The work draws on both world-systems analysis, international relations scholars, and theorists of culture, media and communication to analyze the uses of terrorism today. Simultaneously the article draws on critical theorists and public intellectuals, from Edward Said to Judith Butler to Pope Francis, to critique the binary Orientalist oppositions of today’s pan-European discourses on international terrorism, in ways that expose their complexities and realities, historically and currently.https://revistas.uam.es/relacionesinternacionales/article/view/5312terrorismeuropean universalismdreamworldsfairytalesamerican dream |
| spellingShingle | Carlton Dwayne FLOYD Thomas Ehrlich REIFER International Terrorism and the American Dream: A Dialectical Fairytale Relaciones Internacionales terrorism european universalism dreamworlds fairytales american dream |
| title | International Terrorism and the American Dream: A Dialectical Fairytale |
| title_full | International Terrorism and the American Dream: A Dialectical Fairytale |
| title_fullStr | International Terrorism and the American Dream: A Dialectical Fairytale |
| title_full_unstemmed | International Terrorism and the American Dream: A Dialectical Fairytale |
| title_short | International Terrorism and the American Dream: A Dialectical Fairytale |
| title_sort | international terrorism and the american dream a dialectical fairytale |
| topic | terrorism european universalism dreamworlds fairytales american dream |
| url | https://revistas.uam.es/relacionesinternacionales/article/view/5312 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT carltondwaynefloyd internationalterrorismandtheamericandreamadialecticalfairytale AT thomasehrlichreifer internationalterrorismandtheamericandreamadialecticalfairytale |