I read the news today, oh boy

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Astrogirl
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Re: I read the news today, oh boy

Post by Astrogirl »

But don't you know, white people can't be terrorists.
Microaggression? Microaggression!

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Kaharz
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Re: I read the news today, oh boy

Post by Kaharz »

Terrorism is the use of violence to try to force political* change. So Timothy McVeigh committed an act of terrorism when he bombed the federal building in Oklahoma City. He was politically motivated. The teenagers who shot up Columbine High School were not terrorists because they were motivated by revenge. There is of course room to argue either way in a lot of cases of mass public violence.

*For a fairly broad definition of 'political'
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GUTCHUCKER
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Re: I read the news today, oh boy

Post by GUTCHUCKER »

Isn't terrorism the wilful creation of terror through violence? Your description sounds more like the definition of war to me.
I agree with Astro's sarcastic assessment of the situation, as they literally say in the article that
"The attack does not appear to have been culturally motivated, therefore not linked to terrorism."
Is that racist?
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Liriodendron_fagotti
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Re: I read the news today, oh boy

Post by Liriodendron_fagotti »

I would say yes.
Continual disappointment is the spice of life.

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Astrogirl
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Re: I read the news today, oh boy

Post by Astrogirl »

Terrorism is defined as political violence.

And yes, war is just terrorism with a bigger budget.
Microaggression? Microaggression!

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GUTCHUCKER
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Re: I read the news today, oh boy

Post by GUTCHUCKER »

Just for the record, that is almost exactly what I did not just say and I don't agree.
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Kaharz
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Re: I read the news today, oh boy

Post by Kaharz »

GUTCHUCKER wrote:Isn't terrorism the wilful creation of terror through violence? Your description sounds more like the definition of war to me.
Yea, that is why I said, "There is of course room to argue either way in a lot of cases of mass public violence." I'd generally call terrorism any act of mass and/or public violence with a political goal that is not committed by a state, whether that state is recognized or not. I consider 'state sponsored terrorism' to just be acts of war. Acts of terror also usually target the general public, while acts of war often target the general public, infrastructure and military. This is just my opinion though. I don't think there is a right or wrong opinion. Whether something is terrorism or not is going to depend very much on the views of the person you ask and I don't think there is anything wrong with that. It isn't a concrete concept. A lot of people would consider anything done by say the Islamic State to be terrorism because they are not a recognized sovereign nation state and therefore can not engage in 'official' warfare. I personally think that is not true. But that is just me.

As far as "white people can't be terrorists," that is definitely becoming a view in the US and probably some other countries. That wasn't the case not too long ago though. Many acts of terrorism on US soil before 2001 were committed by white citizens. And of course you have IRA/PIRA, Basque separatists, Red Brigades, and probably a bunch of stuff I don't know about. Many of those groups were often considered terrorists or to have committed acts of terrorism.
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Astrogirl
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Re: I read the news today, oh boy

Post by Astrogirl »

GUTCHUCKER wrote:Just for the record, that is almost exactly what I did not just say and I don't agree.
Yes, I was disagreeing with you.
Microaggression? Microaggression!

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Kaharz
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Re: I read the news today, oh boy

Post by Kaharz »

Kaharz wrote:I don't need a title. I have no avatar or tagline either. I am unique in my lack of personal identifiers.

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Lethal Interjection
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Re: I read the news today, oh boy

Post by Lethal Interjection »

This is pretty baffling to me. From what I've read nothing indicates terrorism. And nothing indicates drugs or anything else nefarious. Yet it is hard to believe that such a tunnel isn't for nefarious purposes.

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Re: I read the news today, oh boy

Post by Liriodendron_fagotti »

Digging is fun, man.
Continual disappointment is the spice of life.

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Kaharz
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Re: I read the news today, oh boy

Post by Kaharz »

Lethal Interjection wrote:This is pretty baffling to me. From what I've read nothing indicates terrorism. And nothing indicates drugs or anything else nefarious. Yet it is hard to believe that such a tunnel isn't for nefarious purposes.
They just really wanted to make sure they could get into the Pan Am games for free. Also, digging tunnels is cool.
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Re: I read the news today, oh boy

Post by Liriodendron_fagotti »

Respect the Robot
I did a triple-take when I saw this to make sure it wasn't a satire site or April 1st yet.
"There are certain drivers who don't respect the traffic police. But with the robot it will be different," taxi driver Poro Zidane told AFP. "We should respect the robot."
The video can't be embedded, but here it is.
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Astrogirl
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Re: I read the news today, oh boy

Post by Astrogirl »

If it's not a killer robot shooting lasers from its eyes, why would it get more respect?
Microaggression? Microaggression!

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Sahan
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Re: I read the news today, oh boy

Post by Sahan »

Destructicus wrote: Alt text:
"I wonder if chemists feel bad that they're always left out of these sorts of jokes."

Since when is chemistry not a science?

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