Sacramento State Professor Warns Terrorists Are After Fear, Not Massive Body Count
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A Sacramento State professor and expert on terrorism watched the attacks in Belgium on Thursday. And he told CBS13, as a nation we don't understand enough about the terrorists' message.
"As a human being, I'm saddened by it and horrified like any other person," said Dr. David Zuckerman. "But as a terrorism scholar, I'm not surprised."
Each spring, he teaches his signature class called "Communication and Terrorism."
"We look at terrorism as a communication event," he said. "We look at the way that governments discuss terrorism and we look at the communication with the terrorists themselves."
The attacks aren't surprising to Dr. Zuckerman based on what happened last November in France.
"The Paris attackers came from Belgium from the Molenbeek district," he said. "It's the most densely populated part of Brussels. It's of course sad, but Europe is no stranger to terror attacks. They've happened there for decades."
The Fulbright Scholar spent time in Brussels in 2014 as a teacher for NATO. His last trip to the city was two years ago in February.
"I flew into Brussels, and into the airport that was hit today, and took a train out of the airport that was hit today," he said.
As part of his lesson plan at Sacramento State, he examines the messages from various terrorist groups around the world. He says the terrorists' goal is not to murder millions of people; it's to frighten them with their message and to bring about change by scaring people into giving in.
"The best thing that we can do, as citizens, is be educated and allow our security services and police to do their job," he said. "I'm saddened by what I saw on the news happening in Brussels. I think that probably there will be more of this to come, sadly."