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Governments produce both deliberate and involuntary (and less conscious) narratives when countering terrorism. The thesis of this article is that such unintended messages can be much more powerful and consequential than is realized; in fact, they can completely contradict the intended official 'counter-narrative'. To substantiate this hypothesis, the author looks at the experience of the German Federal Republic in the 1970s and beyond when state and society were confronted with the Red Army Faction (RAF) and similar left-wing "revolutionaries" like those of the 2nd of June Movement or the Red Zora.