On 2/19/2010 10:52 PM, John Sessoms wrote:
From: "Bob W"
[...]
> > It just irks me that the way the government "defines" >
terrorism doesn't take into account individual acting > nutburgers.
His act is a terrorist act. His behavior is > terrorist behavior.
But because we can't link him to some > foreign ideology, he's not a
terrorist.
> > It walks like a duck. It quacks like a duck. But it ain't a duck?
>
'terrorism' and 'duck' are just labels. What matters is behaviour. If
someone deliberately flies a plane into a building why should anyone
give a
shit whether they're called terrorists, Jemimah Puddleduck or Zoltan the
Magnificent Mallard? It makes no difference to anything. They have
committed
a criminal act and if they survive they should be subject to the law
same as
any other alleged lawbreaker. Similarly, people plotting to commit
criminal
acts should be treated the same as others - the label 'terrorist' is
irrelevant. By the same principles, people arrested on suspicion
should be
tried fairly within a reasonable period of time, not just labelled
'terrorist' and stuck in Guantanamo Bay to rot forever.
I just think it's inconsistent to call one group of people who fly
planes into buildings on purpose as a political statement terrorists
and then turn around and say another person who does the same thing is
not a terrorist just because he couldn't kill as many innocent
bystanders or because he's only doing it because he's mad at the IRS.
If it's terrorism when a group of people murder innocent people to
make a political statement, it's terrorism when one person tries to
murder innocent people to make a political statement.
I'd hardly call the IRS a group of innocent people. It's an
unconstitutional organization, but has a lot of precedent behind it so
it's probably here to stay.
Especially when the labeling as terrorist, or not, appears to be for
the purpose of manipulating levels of public hysteria, both then and now.
--
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