[WikiEN-l] Sep 11

[John C. Penta]

----- Original Message -----
From: Ray Saintonge <saintonge at 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