ABSTRACT
All too o…en, our Heroic mythologies have a quality of perversity. ey inspire noble deeds, but they also sponsor malevolent ideologies. ese malevolent ideologies are the province of the Demonic Hero: a dark Œgure, who must “destroy the world in order to save it” (Li…on, 1999). We have seen this Œgure emerge in the discourse of terrorism and counterterrorism. But it is also prevalent in genocide and state terror. Like terrorism, genocide and state terror are o…en grounded in extremist philosophies.* Propaganda is laced with hate and paranoia: An “Evil Other” (Frankfurter, 2006) is inŒltrating the State. Sadism is aroused and unleashed in ordinary citizens. Innocents are marginalized and branded by the State (Foucault, 1979). en they are eliminated. Collectivities collaborate in atrocity and accede to atrocity (Cohen, 2001). Denial is simultaneous to violence (see Grand, 2000). is denial operates according to language rules (Arendt, 1963) and double-speak (Orwell, 1949). In this discourse, “an all encompassing death would create an all encompassing virtue” (Li…on, 1999, p. 198).
