Bruce Schneier Quotes

The real damage from terrorist attacks doesn't come from the explosion. The real damage is done after the explosion, by the victims, who repeatedly and determinedly attack themselves, giving over reason in favor of terror... Terrorism is about magnifying one mediagenic act of violence into one hundred billion acts of terrorized authoritarian idiocy.

I'm not for one second condoning the actions of terrorists at all, but I do think there's a kind of terrorism that the media carries out on its own citizens, certainly in this country - and it's fear.

The success of a terrorist operation depends almost entirely on the amount of publicity it receives.

Western media only intensified the climate of fear and insecurity...

I read the papers, and I watch the news a lot. I watch 'Dateline' and '48 Hours.' And I think we have a tendency to become terrified of one another, thinking that there is a serial killer that is on either side of you.

You know, I read the papers and I watch the news a lot. I watch 'Dateline' and '48 Hours'. And I think we have a tendency to become terrified of one another, thinking that there is a serial killer that is on either side of you.

Fundamentally, terrorism is about public relations.

Terrorism is a strategy of provocation.

Putting fear into people is the principal goal of terrorists, and they have been successful.

Thousands of trained killers are plotting to attack us, and this terrible knowledge requires us to act differently.

The media, the corporations, the politicians…have all done such a good job of scaring the American public, it’s come to the point where they don’t need to give any reason at all.

I think you have an enormous amount of fear and uncertainty in this country. And it's not just from San Bernardino or from Paris.

Journalists are bigger terrorists than terrorists themselves.

What the media are telling you to be afraid of are the wrong things. Fear is a necessary ingredient of our survival instincts.

Sensationalism dies quickly, fear is long-lived.

The success of terrorism anywhere breeds terrorism everywhere.

The challenge of terrorism is that they strike at vulnerability.

There are an awful lot of people making lots of money promoting fear. Their hot microphones have flamethrowers.

Every ideology and mode of belief can, if true, implement itself by using the resources of technology and above all those of the media without having to resort to violence. In other words, violence has become unnecessary. In fact things have got to the point where violence cannot be afforded.

The point of terrorism is to cause terror, sometimes to further a political goal and sometimes out of sheer hatred. The people terrorists kill are not the targets; they are collateral damage. And blowing up planes, trains, markets or buses is not the goal; those are just tactics. The real targets of terrorism are the rest of us: the billions of us who are not killed but are terrorized because of the killing. The real point of terrorism is not the act itself, but our reaction to the act. And we're doing exactly what the terrorists want.

The media can be a megaphone for terrorists to communicate their message. The media should put things in perspective and context and not instinctively do what the terrorists want the media to do.

Any time bombs are used against innocent civilians, it is an act of terror.

Terrorism is theater …. Terrorists want a lot of people watching, not a lot of people dead.

Beware the Four Horsemen of the Information Apocalypse: terrorists, drug dealers, kidnappers, and child pornographers. Seems like you can scare any public into allowing the government to do anything with those four.

I'm afraid of my mother's paranoia. The more she watches Fox News, the more afraid she gets.