Aum Shinrikyo Essays

How did the Japanese cult, Aum Shinrikyo, Aum for short, utilize violence to their advantage to create a reputation that furthered their goals? An act of domestic terror in 1995, and all the smaller terroristic acts committed in the early 90s, by this cult is violence used to build a reputation for themselves. After trying to gain political legitimacy, and failing, cult leader Shoko Asahara turned to building up his credibility and reputation by using violence. The numbers of people involved in the

Aum Shinrikyo began in 1984 as a religious group combining both the Buddhist and Hindu beliefs and is also obsessed with the apocalypse. It was founded by Shoko Asahara, who professed himself to be both the first “enlightened one” and Christ. Aum, as it was often referred to, was officially recognized in Japan as a religious organization in 1989. Asahara chose a sizable universal following through writing books and speaking at universities. Most of his followers were from Japanese universities as

Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words in books can kill. The influence of literature is overlooked when it comes to violence. Movies and video games are usually blamed for this type of aggressiveness, but rarely does one point their finger towards a compilation of words on paper. It is forgotten that books hold an incredible power over the mind. Whether it is the power of imagination, the key to new thoughts and ideas, or the development of new emotions, reading can change a person. While

The Tokyo subway sarin attack was a act of domestic terrorism on March 20th, 1995 in Tokyo, japan by members of the cult Amu Shinrikyo. The cult members released sarin on three lines of the present-day Tokyo Metro during rush hour, killing 12 people, injuring 50 people and causing temporarily creating vision problems for nearly 5,000 others. (Foundation) The attack was directed against trains passing through the Kasumigaseki and Nagatacho lines, which is home to the Japanese government. Sarin also

“I was there. I saw it all. Immigrants, Muslims... Homosexuals, terrorists. Disease-ridden degenerates. They had to go.” As quoted from the dystopian political movie V for Vendetta directed by James McTeique, V believes he is not a terrorist and is a freedom fighter by referring the terrorists as degenerates. With a pursuit of dominant ideology along with government treating him as a huge threat, V is a heroic terrorist in view of his motivation and political affiliation, acts of violence, strategies

The Wasteland, written by T.S Eliot, was shortly written after Eliot read Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. Both authors uses symbols in their texts to create a connection to life, death, fear, and self-reflection. Conrad and Eliot both use the symbolism of water in their texts to create the meaning of life and death. In Heart of Darkness, the symbolism of water is used to create a new life. In the beginning of Heart of Darkness, Marlow asks if his “fellows remember… {when he] turned into a fresh-water

For the preliminary paper, we were asked to read Haruki Murakami’s short story “Super Frog Saves Tokyo”, which is about an ordinary loan collector, Katagiri, who finds a giant talking frog inside his apartment one night and tells Katagiri that they are going to save Tokyo from a destructive earthquake which will be caused by the Worm. This short story was written originally for GQ magazine, but was published later along with his other short stories in a book entitled “After the Quake”, published

This is not to say that terrorists are not able to build or obtain a nuclear weapon. In reality, many terrorist organizations would like very much to obtain a nuclear weapon, including Al Qaeda, Chechnya-based separatists, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Aum Shinrikyo (Graham & Dillon, 2010, p. 1). Osama bin laden issued a statement in 1998 declaring that “It is the duty of Muslims to prepare as much force as possible to terrorize the enemies of God” (Graham & Dillon, 2010, p.

the boys carrying out atrocious acts. Mob mentality also causes an individual to lose their critical thinking skills, which is seen within friend groups in real life, resulting in individuals going against their beliefs, it’s also seen in the Aum Shinrikyo cult, which resulted in the loss of several lives, and lastly, its shown in Lord of the Flies, as the boys blindly follow Jack’s instructions, and give in to the mob mentality. Finally, a danger of mob mentality includes the adrenaline rush, thrill

Botulism is a rare but serious paralytic illness caused by a nerve toxin mainly produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum.1 It is not a contagious disease, however the bacteria can enter the body through inhalation, ingestion or through a wound. Botulinum toxin produced by Clostridium botulinum is claimed to be one of the most poisonous substance to human as an estimation of one million people can be killed by using only one gram of crystallized Botulinum toxin.2 It has an effect on human nervous

In 1894, a cult following Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh contaminated salad bars in private restaurants with salmonella, infecting 751 people (Johnston). A decade later, members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult attempted to spray anthrax into the air from buildings in Tokyo, Japan (“History of Biowarfare”). In 2001, letters laced with anthrax were mailed to federal offices, causing five deaths and many more injuries (Johnston). Small bioterrorist

bomb in a factory, that factory will probably be evacuated. Operations will be shut down temporarily, even if no bomb is discovered. New Terrorism Since the end of the Cold War and especially in the wake of New York and Oklahoma City bombings and Aum Shinrikyo attacks in Japan (this had special WMD implications), there has been a dramatic shift in the perceived threat of the new terrorism. Although it is not yet the common tactic of most terrorist groups, but the potential makes the danger real as was

How inter-religious conflict has hurt people over time. As discussed earlier, while organized religions followers have provided some individual followers, they have also caused numerous and devastating losses for mankind over history and continuing today: benefits for many 1. Religions have shamelessly obstructed scientific truth while promoting despicable behavior (i.e. that genocide is acceptable, and little girls should not learn how to read, that an eye for an eye vengeance is acceptable, etc

New Religious movements are religious organizations that has developed over the past few centuries. In the 1ate 1960’s and 1970’s cults first emerged as harmless religious sectors. Cults are centered around new ideas and new beliefs. The leaders of cults tend to be more educated and have an alternative way of thinking and that is how NRM’s gain followers. Cults are currently known as new religious movements. Cults gained a lot of peoples’ interest by furthering the ideas that others did not want

During the 1940's humanity created a weapon that could vaporize and destroy all in its path. This one weapon was unlike any other utilizing an existing element that has for years only been known as just a lump of rock. Thanks for the many efforts of scientists most notably Albert Einstein the power of this seemingly unimportant rock became the most powerful weapon known to mankind. Throughout the many decades this weapon has made many impacts on the geological and political landscapes unlike anything

The fear element is what makes terrorism difficult to tackle. Once a community has been victimized by an attack, people become afraid that terrorism will repeat itself. Societies that fall prey to numerous terrorist attacks often develop a sense of resignation, going about their daily business despite any potential danger. For a community that experiences terrorism for the first time, or isolated incidents of terrorism, fear comes from another key element which is surprise. The various ways used