What is a Terrorist?
On September 11, 2001 several people hijacked jet planes and rammed them in to he World Trade Buildings in New York City. The incident resulted in the death of thousands of human beings. Most of us wonder – why someone would do something like this to innocent human beings? In the words of a song from the play South Pacific, “You have to be carefully taught.” To put it bluntly, the people that did these dastardly and cowardly deeds functioned with a learned belief system that encouraged them to do so. They will, no doubt, be lauded by their co-conspirators as heroes for their “noble” act (it was noble from their point of view). Like most people that seek to harm others, the terrorist has a “god complex.” The terrorist is an ardent blame placer. They believe profoundly in hierarchy. In their minds they preside at the top of that hierarchy. They believe they have “god like” authority vested in them. Terrorists are fascists. They believe they alone posses characteristics deserving life. Th
October 2, 2003 Terrorist: The word explodes in our consciousness with a visceral blow. Lurking right behind these nine letters are thoughts and images so vivid, so unbearable that our skin creeps. Terrorists: they who on 9/11 caused beautiful, precious human beings to leap to their deaths, they who buried bright young lives under a thundering avalanche of rubble, they who murdered innocent people, causing their flesh to become hot, unbearably hot, their clothes and hair to burn, their skin and lungs to singe. Then, screaming in agony, these innocents were roasted to death. Who does not hate a terrorist? The oddity: We hate them yet there is considerable confusion regarding who and what one is. A common definition: The terrorist is an individual acting outside the norms of law. He or she acts violently. He or she sows terror. The terrorist kills innocent civilians in order to spread chaos and fear. Look at individual cases and this neat definition quickly evaporates. The 1985 hijacking
Terrorist. It’s a word that sends chills up the spines of most people. The term is pejorative. It is an insult of the highest degree. Calling someone’s actions “terrorism” and the person a terrorist by extension, is as serious a charge that can be laid against someone in this day and age. It has the same connotation as “child molester” or “baby killer.” A terrorist has done something that offends the conscience and whose intent is to terrorize, frighten, harass and otherwise molest innocent people. The intent is usually key to calling someone a terrorist. A murderer certainly strikes fear into the hearts of his or her victims — a serial killer may inflict these acts with the intent of causing fear and terror. However, serial killers do their horrible acts for selfish gratification. Almost without exception, a terrorist feels that he or she is working for some higher aim. Many people associate terrorists almost exclusively with religious fanaticism, but this is not an accurate picture.
