From: VirgilT7@aol.com
Date: Fri Jul 03 1998 - 09:30:19 MDT
In a message dated 7/3/98 7:05:04 AM Eastern Daylight Time, mark@unicorn.com
writes:
<< Yes, that's right, terrorists are freedom fighters that the government
doesn't like... freedom fighters are terrorists who the government likes.>>
Funny, I thought that the government just called guerillas whom it liked
freedom fighters. I didn't realize that government-speak actually MADE them
freedom-fighters. Silly me. But then I didn't realize that the government
was the last word on the meanings and applications of, well, words.
<<Most terrorist groups (aside from those who are merely criminal, including
the ones run by governments to defame their opponents) see themselves as
freedom fighters, regardless of what the rest of the world may think. If
you ignore that, you'll never understand why they do what they do.>>
So what? I agree that terrorist organizations are run at the core by "true
believers."
<<>And one doesn't have to be
>an "oppressor" to favor the study and elimination of terrorist groups.
Really? If you don't oppress people or support groups who do, then what
reason do freedom fighters have to attack you? You, of course, support
the US government, one of the most hated and oppressive organisations on
the planet, so I'm not surprised you're worried about "terrorists".>>
Terrorists will only attack governments because they are oppressive? Are you
joking? Terrorists will attack the most minimal government because it is the
most minimal government. They will attack a government most protective of the
widest and most strict form of libertarianism precisely because it is so
protective of libertarianism. There will be individuals with a fanatical
opposition to society regardless of what kind of government that society has.
And there will be foreign governments in competition with this government, no
matter how closely it embraces your conception of individual rights. So to
talk of relying upon the rationality of terrorists strikes me as absurd at
best and dangerously myopic at worst.
Andrew
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