From an interrogation on the representation of the terrorist acts in the press and the television, we examine the notions of barbarity, cruelty and sadism, both in the individual and collective field, from a psychoanalytic point of view. The new forms of the conflict and the destructiveness which marks the quotidian of our epoch, evoke an ample reflection on the nature, the relations, and even the paradoxes of the opposition between order and clutter. Order results from the necessity of domination over the world, and constitutes an inherent part of the search for a meaning for life. However, far from leading to harmony, it produces contestations, revolts and it needs to be "maintained", being confused with a "legitimate" violence.
terror; order; barbarity; cruelty; sadism