In The Looming Tower, Lawrence Wright argues that to understand how an event the magnitude of the attacks of September 11th, 2001 can take place, one has to consider hundreds of different plot lines that span decades, if not centuries. Some are featured prominently because of the strong effect they exert on others: Osama bin Laden’s rage and his status, Ayman al Zawahiri’s distrust and his radicalization, and Sayyid Qutb’s denouncing of the West. These factors attracted young men across the Middle East to a battle that most Americans were unaware of. Precedents and a narrow focus were set by warring in Afghanistan, suicide bombings across the Middle East, and the United States’ continued ignorance. The purpose of The Looming Tower is not to establish a…show more content… From this case, the monster arises as a mechanism to attain power. These men felt as though they had none. The world was growing and changing in ways they didn’t like but they were helpless to stop it. This explains the use of theories with secularization and modernization. Their meager attempts to make a difference were quickly extinguished by those with power, explaining the beginning of becoming the ‘other’ and discourse on what that meant. More than that, they were humiliated by those who held greater power, relating to theories of colonization. As additional power came to help them, they felt more and more helpless. Their persistence forced their removal from their homes, leaving them in small group, in foreign countries with almost nothing: certainly not power. In their isolation, they only had each other, further promoting alterity. That was true in prisons and in caves, where political discussions escalated opinions, but in these discussions they could only persuade one another. These men were desperate to assert some sort of power and that is how this monster took over. Unthinkable attempts at violence became more viable once they were craved power back over their lives, and saw no other
