Yesterday afternoon, some coward blew up bombs on a crowded Boston street near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. At this point three people have died and over 100 were injured. It was a horrific ending to what should have been a triumphant moment for these runners, their families, and their friends. So far President Obama has stopped short of calling it terrorism. Others suspect it’s terrorism and some are even speculating that it’s domestic terrorism.
I am aghast that anyone could think it’s anything but terrorism.
Wikitionary defines terrorism as:
The deliberate commission of an act of violence to create an emotional response through the suffering of the victims in the furtherance of a political or social agenda.
Yeah, I know I should never quote a wiki but it’s a good definition.
I would say that murdering innocents is always considered terrorism. Any time some disturbed person goes on a deadly shooting rampage, it’s terrorism. Any time an American with a chip on his shoulder detonates an explosive-laden truck near a crowded federal building, it’s terrorism. Any time some coward leaves backpacks on a crowded Boston street to kill innocent people, it’s terrorism.
There is no such thing as “domestic terrorism.” It’s terrorism. If someone kills someone I love, I’m not inclined to treat them differently based on where they live: it won’t bring my loved one back. Whether a foreigner with a twisted sense of justice blows someone up or a fellow American with a twisted sense of justice blows someone up doesn’t matter. They are both killers and both cowards.
They way to defeat terrorism is to go on living and refused to be cowed by these cowardly attacks. That, and do all you can to bring the bastards to justice.
For myself, I think the way to “defeat terrorism” is to stop calling it terrorism and call it what it really is: crime, murder, assault. By calling it terrorism, we elevate the perpetrators rather than treating them like the common criminals they are. I would much rather insult them by refusing to give them the satisfaction of calling them terrorists. Terrorism is generally done to make a point. The murder and mayhem are simply a byproduct of them trying to call attention to their cause. So my response is to simply ignore their cause and focus on their actions. There are already laws on the books for murder, assault with a deadly weapon (a bomb), etc.. There’s no need to complicate it. Perhaps if we didn’t focus on the terrorism aspect of it people might get the message that terrorism doesn’t do what they want it to (bring notice to their cause) and would stop doing it.
Totally agree, Tanner!
I agree with both of you, but I find it telling that Americans generally consider things like the bombing in Boston as terrorism (or not), but have no compunction whatsoever about murdering kids in Pakistan with drone missiles on the secret say-so of the President. In my mind, there’s no difference.