One problem is that the distinction between war and terrorism is blurry. What's the difference between dropping a bomb from 8000 feet that will definitely kill civilians and driving a bomb into a government building?
Another problem is one of ideological perspective. It seems that whoever you are, whatever you do is NOT terrorism. And whatever those you do not like do is terrorism. In the scholarly literature on terrorism, the famous and oft-quoted phrase for this is "One person's terrorist is another person's freedom fighter."
This second issue has jumped out to me in the news recently. Meet the new face of terrorism:
This is Derek Stansberry, a former Air Force intelligence officer who today made a bomb threat on an airplane and caused a diversion of a flight from Paris to Atlanta. Now Standberry may not be a terrorist, since the details of the case are vague at this time. But bomb threats on airplanes sure raise some questions.
His story caught my attention because he was trained in San Angelo, TX (my current residence) and because he seems to be part of a trend of recent terrorists who do not fit that stereotype of brown, Muslim, towel-head. The trend of white, American terrorists includes gun-rights advocates picking the tenth anniversary of Timothy McVeigh killing hundreds in Oklahoma City as the day to hold a national protest (scary!), the Hutaree militia raided by the FBI and found to be heavily armed and insisting their members "be ready to kill" government officials, people showing up at Tea Party rallies with assault rifles and saying democracy requires bloodshed, a massive surge in militia membership and gun purchases since Obama has been elected, and a man crashing a plane into the Austin, TX IRS building as a protest against taxes.
Andrew Stack, the plane pilot, made such statements as “I have had all I can stand. I choose not to keep looking over my shoulder at ‘Big Brother’ while he strips my carcass.” And, “Nothing changes unless there is a body count.”
Once again, all of these examples come from predominately white American citizens. They engage in the same tactics (crashing planes into buildings, making threats for political reasons, organizing against the official government) that most of the scholars and government officials use as definitions of terrorism. They stand out as examples of why it is so hard to define terrorism. Indeed, many in the media, especially on the right, are very reticent to call these people terrorists.
The media deserves some of the blame for this trend. These acts are certainly signs of an overheated and ridiculous atmosphere of anger and fear. An atmosphere perpetuated by so-called 'freedom-fighters" and terrorists" alike. In fact, Stack's act was not called terrorism and was actually justified by many on the right in this country. Indeed, the right-wing media deserves much of the blame, and to me it is no surprise that the new face of terrorism is the same as the face of the right--middle class, white males with just enough education to be dangerous because their brains are really driven by hate and fear.
Indeed, the new face of terrorism is the old face of freedom fighters. Muslim radicals and right-wing fundamentalists share a lot more than they will ever admit. Sure, the differences are there, and they matter. But what they share is more enlightening.
And what do they share, you might ask?
They share a certain totalizing frame, very different ideologies, of course, but the same frame. Each side:
1) Sees the other as complete evil.
2) Excludes any possible compromise or discourse.
3) Subscribes to a "you are with us or against us mentality"
4) Justifies violence as a response to the evil other.
5) Fuels their followers with a hefty dose of fear and anger.
6) Insists on conspiracy theories over logic.
7) Promotes terrorism as the solution when their side loses.
This is a classic case of the cycle of violence. Jesus, Buddha, and Ghandi all warned us that violence begets violence. Jesus saw that the only solution was forgiveness, was the refusal to judge, was turning the other cheek. If the other side is pure evil and violence is a must, then those violent acts will cause those others to think the same about us. (scholars often call it blowback). Under such conditions the cycle will never stop.
In short, those freedom fighters will keep generating more terrorists, and those terrorists will keep generating more freedom fighters. Until we can't distinguish the freedom from the terror for all the blood and guts. In fact, the new (white) face of terror isn't so new. It's a cycle that has been going on for too long now. We really need to stop the anger, stop the fear, stop the cycle, and begin the healing, begin the forgiveness, and begin the peace.
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