Philosophy
Kerry wanted to have a discussion about whether Joseph Stack's suicide bombing of the IRS building in Austin last week constituted a terrorist attack. This is a semantic question (although do NOT think that this means it is trivial), what exactly do we mean by "an act of terrorism"?
The case in favor of it would be based on what we call an ostensive definition -- that is, defining a word X by pointing at clear examples that satisfy the sense of X and saying that "this and everything like it are X." We can point to the events of 9/11 and the attack in Oklahoma City as clear examples of terrorism and argue that there are important similarities with this example. In the Austin and 9/11 cases, you have individuals who had great antipathy for the policies of the American government and then used airplanes as weapons against notable buildings associated with the government in an attempt to cause death and destruction. Like the Oklahoma City case, it was someone tied to violent radicals on the American right who see themselves as the sole owners of "real America" and who see the democratic process as a threat when it does not give them what they want. We see these people charged by fringe and not so fringe conservative elements who preach hate and violence. Oklahoma City was clearly designed by these folks to send a message to the government by attacking a prominent federal building. This happened in this case as well. On these grounds, there does seem to be a case that this is terrorism in the way these other cases are.
The case against calling it terrorism is in the intent. It seems to be a necessary condition of an act of terrorism to cause terror, fear of a continuing wave of retributive attacks if a policy direction is not changed. the bombing of abortion clinics and the Atlanta Olympic Games by Eric Rudolph, for example, would be clear home-grown terrorism of this sort. The Austin case, however, did not seem to be designed to cause fear of death, but death itself. It seemed to be less associated with a centralized plan to undermine confidence in the government's ability to keep its citizens safe, than an attempt to murder federal employees because Stack did not like the mission of the agency. This was someone who was clearly connected with the violent rhetoric of the right, but it is not clear that this is part of a coordinated effort to create an atmosphere of fear. One might be able to argue that it was treason, that it was an act of war in a sense, but according to this line, one wouldn't call it terrorism.
To be honest, I don't know which is right. What do you think? Was it an act of terrorism?
- Just Asking
The second most horrendous act of terrorism in the United States was committed by Christian nationalists who intentionally planted their bomb at the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City knowing full well that the facility had a daycare center. And...
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- Poisoning The Well With The Enemy's Propaganda
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Philosophy
Teabag Terrorism?
Kerry wanted to have a discussion about whether Joseph Stack's suicide bombing of the IRS building in Austin last week constituted a terrorist attack. This is a semantic question (although do NOT think that this means it is trivial), what exactly do we mean by "an act of terrorism"?
The case in favor of it would be based on what we call an ostensive definition -- that is, defining a word X by pointing at clear examples that satisfy the sense of X and saying that "this and everything like it are X." We can point to the events of 9/11 and the attack in Oklahoma City as clear examples of terrorism and argue that there are important similarities with this example. In the Austin and 9/11 cases, you have individuals who had great antipathy for the policies of the American government and then used airplanes as weapons against notable buildings associated with the government in an attempt to cause death and destruction. Like the Oklahoma City case, it was someone tied to violent radicals on the American right who see themselves as the sole owners of "real America" and who see the democratic process as a threat when it does not give them what they want. We see these people charged by fringe and not so fringe conservative elements who preach hate and violence. Oklahoma City was clearly designed by these folks to send a message to the government by attacking a prominent federal building. This happened in this case as well. On these grounds, there does seem to be a case that this is terrorism in the way these other cases are.
The case against calling it terrorism is in the intent. It seems to be a necessary condition of an act of terrorism to cause terror, fear of a continuing wave of retributive attacks if a policy direction is not changed. the bombing of abortion clinics and the Atlanta Olympic Games by Eric Rudolph, for example, would be clear home-grown terrorism of this sort. The Austin case, however, did not seem to be designed to cause fear of death, but death itself. It seemed to be less associated with a centralized plan to undermine confidence in the government's ability to keep its citizens safe, than an attempt to murder federal employees because Stack did not like the mission of the agency. This was someone who was clearly connected with the violent rhetoric of the right, but it is not clear that this is part of a coordinated effort to create an atmosphere of fear. One might be able to argue that it was treason, that it was an act of war in a sense, but according to this line, one wouldn't call it terrorism.
To be honest, I don't know which is right. What do you think? Was it an act of terrorism?
- Just Asking
The second most horrendous act of terrorism in the United States was committed by Christian nationalists who intentionally planted their bomb at the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City knowing full well that the facility had a daycare center. And...
- Pre-emptive Slavery: A Modest Reductio
Richard Cohen has written a column asking that we have an open-minded fair consideration of torture. sure, he admits, Cheney has been a liar. But what if he was right? If Cheney is right, then let the debate begin: What to do about enhanced interrogation...
- Poisoning The Well With The Enemy's Propaganda
Fascinating quotation from one of the President's speeches from last week: "You do not create terrorism by fighting terrorism. If that ever becomes the mind-set of the policymakers in Washington, it means we'll go back to the old days of waiting...
- The First Galactic Empire Of America
In Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, we see the story of how the Republic is transformed into the Galactic Empire. Setting the tone for the next three movies of the original Star Wars series, this epic movie contains the story that answers all the questions...
- Color-coded Terror Warnings
Japan is keeping theirs. "Color-coded terror warnings to be gone by April 27" by Eileen Sullivan January 26th, 2011 The Associated Press By the end of April, terror threats to the U.S. will no longer be described in shades of green, blue, yellow, orange...