Emotional-aesthetic sources of religious terrorism

This paper substantiates the idea that terrorism in digital age is mainly of religious character and has at least two aesthetic sources. Firstly, it’s the ability of modern technologies to convey audio and video information to wide layers of the population and, secondly, a general feeling, primarily aesthetic, promoting both the unity of the social community and the emergence of hatred towards people who are not members of it. In the first case, the readiness of modern media to transmit messages about terrible events that cause increased interest among the audience affects the manifestation of violence by communities that do not have the power to resist otherwise and therefore resort to terrorist attacks that are given an aesthetically expressive, performative, symbolic form. In the second case, if political activity, understood as a product of beauty, according to community members, is hindered by others, then violence against them increases, and the act of terror is perceived as a heroic act aimed at creating social order and harmony. It is concluded that there is a correlation between the emotional and aesthetic experience of basic cultural values (sacred), which contribute to the union of people, the opposition of members of this community to others, and the nature of power relations that affect the manifestation of violence.