ABSTRACT
Violence is, sadly, a perpetual and ever-present characteristic of human society. Yet it is shrouded in mystery. Society teaches its inhabitants to understand violence in particular ways that accomplish specific functions relating to the shaping of power. Arrangements that specify who is permitted to use force legitimately and who is not determine the structures of hierarchies. Those who are allowed to use violence are provided a key means to maintain control over people and institutions. Propagandists employ deep myth to present arguments that support the legitimacy or illegitimacy of the violence perpetrated by specific kinds of persons. The fundamental myths centred on the notions of Self and Other are made the frameworks for interpreting who carries out ‘good’ and ‘bad’ violence. Our era’s dominant discourses have used this binary scheme to pit the Western Self against the Muslim Other. The mainstream media, largely adhering to the interpretations of events offered by societal elites, are drawing on the polarizing tendencies of myth to shape the public understanding of terrorism. They seem to disregard completely another aspect of the myths of Self and Other that present them as fundamentally interconnected with each other.
