----- Original Message -----
From: Ray Saintonge <saintonge(a)telus.net>
Date: Friday, January 16, 2004 5:13 am
Subject: Re: [WikiEN-l] Sep 11
> Ray Saintonge wrote:
> >Daniel Mayer wrote:
> >> by definition governments cannot commit terrorism.
> >
> >We are far from unanimity about that element in the definition.
>
> Granted this part of the definition is disputed (I would not
> characterize the
> dispute the way you do - IMO it is not as disputed as you let on),
> but the
> intent to cause terror in a civilian population is not. Nor is the
> fact that
> few people in the English-speaking world call the 9/11 attacks
> terrorist acts
> (what English speakers say is relevant to naming conventions).
OK, this makes me sick.
If 9/11 wasn't terrorism, WHAT IS? Does terrorism only occur if it's NOT directed against Americans or Israelis?
What the hell is wrong with you people?
> >Terrorism by government is no less atrocious. Destroying the
> >homes of innocent Palestinians is done with the intent of
> >terrorizing them even when the troops are careful to make
> >sure that there is no-one in the house when it is blown-up.
>
> This is a practice I find abhorrent but I would not call it
> terrorism (esp
> when it directed at people who somehow aided suicide bombers or
> were the
> family of the suicide bombers - terrorism is directed toward a
> much larger
> population which causes general fear for *everybody* in that
> population).
<growls> Must we bring the Palestinians into EVERYTHING?
> >Of course, a country that depends on the application of massive
> >force to achieve victory finds it difficult to comprehend why
> small
> >groups of people would ever want to continue to use their meagre
> >weapons to secure their freedom.. Perhaps the way to prevent
> >them from engaging in terrorist acts would be to give them
> >something to lose.
>
> No argument from me here. The U.S. could save billions on military
> spending
> and terrorism security if they invested in ways to stomp-out the
> root causes
> of terrorism - poverty and its close cousin ignorance.
Somehow I doubt a middle-class twenty-something, or a middle-class mom-turned-suicide-bomber, is really hit by poverty or ignorance.
Try another one.
> >Ahh! then our common name naming convention depends on who
> >is taking the "terrorist" action.
>
> No - it depends on how English speakers use the English language.
Precisely.
Now, pardon me while I vomit at this unique expression of human foolishness.
John