this post was submitted on 13 Jun 2024
66 points (72.3% liked)

World News

38979 readers
2879 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Cethin@lemmy.zip 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I don't agree with them but this:

But they are still terrorists, right?

That's a loaded question.

Terrorism: the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.

The first part that needs to be dealt with is "unlawful." Who's laws? The issue is states get to arbitrarily define terrorism. If a state does terrorism, they get to say it's something else.

Second: "violence and intimidation... in the pursuit of political aims." OK, so all militaries do this part. That's the point of a military. If this part is wrong then all states are wrong.

OK, so essentially the issue is defining "terrorism" as a bad thing. It isn't necessarily. It's using the means of the state against a state. That is all. It can be bad, but so can the actions of a state. It can also be good. If only states are allowed to use violence then they will use violence to suppress voices they disagree with, and there's nothing that can be done about it.

We've got to stop using the term terrorism. It's a term of the media. It isn't useful in a real discussion. It is a term used to drive hatred and fear even if the ones using it are the ones on the receiving end of most of the violence. The media will never use the word to refer to state actions that they agree with. Stop using their language.

[–] OccamsRazer@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago

I guess it comes down to whether the laws are just or unjust, if the state that makes the laws is good or bad. When you have a clash of cultures that are not compatible with each other, or different states with incompatible ideas, there will be a winner and a loser, where the winner makes the laws and therefore determines what constitutes "terrorism". But just because one culture won, doesn't mean that it is just or good. It could be the good guys in charge, or just as easily the bad guys. It depends not so much on good or bad, but on military power. So how do you know when it's the good guys in charge? If the "bad guys" of today, the "terrorists", were in charge instead and you and I were on the other end of the power dynamic, would it be a better world? Would we be resorting to violence against citizens and against the state in order to further our political cause? Hard to say. Most of us would probably assimilate into their culture, but certainly some of us would be the new resistance, the new terrorists, killing innocents because we believed that strongly in our cause.

But this is all based on the assumption that laws and power dynamics will always exist, that they are in fact necessary. Someone will always be in charge, and others will wish they were, and will be willing to resort to violence to get the power or to break the laws. Do you envision a world where power dynamics and laws don't exist? I can't see it.