4 ms·
Terrorism implies a political agenda. Killing a lot of people doesn't automatically make you a terrorist.
by Thriptic 9y ago
Terrorism implies a political agenda. Killing a lot of people doesn't automatically make you a terrorist.
- pmoriarty 9y agoThe definition of terrorism is a very slippery and politically charged one. The US military has killed orders of magnitude more people for political reasons (such as getting rid of Saddam Hussein, "liberating" various countries, preventing the spread of Communism, or "bringing democracy") than all the acts traditionally designated as "terrorism" put together. Does that make the US military a terrorist organization?
- maxerickson 9y agoMight makes right.
- Thriptic 9y agoNo because they're a nation state. Terrorism is when a non state actor attacks civilian targets for political reasons. A nation state attacking civilians in another country is either war or a police action depending on context.
- pmoriarty 9y ago"A nation state attacking civilians in another country is either war or a police action depending on context." So the same action is called by different names depending on who does it? Quite the double standard.
- Thriptic 9y ago> So the same action is called by different names depending on who does it? Exactly. "Terrorism" is just a label to describe the parties involved, not a value judgement. A death is a death whether it's from guerilla warfare, a mass shooting, terrorism, an accident, or a full scale war.
- pmoriarty 9y agoWell, if "terrorism" is just a label, then it shouldn't matter if war is labeled terrorism on a larger scale.
- Thriptic 9y agoI don't see what you gain by doing so other than producing more emotion which isn't particularly helpful. We already have way too much emotion surrounding this word. A nebulous definition makes the problem of terrorism harder to bound and develop strategies to deal with.