Defining Terrorism
In class, we talked whether things needed to be defined in absolute terms or just recognized on a case by case example to know the truth about them. An interesting depiction of how this plays out in today's world is global efforts to combat terrorism. While many countries clearly define terrorism in their domestic statues, there is no working international definition of terrorism. Thus people in different countries view different things as terrorism. This has had drastic effects on the modern world. The greatest effect of this is the fact that international powers cannot get on the same page about terrorism, which is necessary as terrorists are not known to abide by international borders. In this area, at least, a consensus is needed on what the essence of terrorism, not just what acts qualify as terrorism. There are plenty of ways that a want to be dictator could frame legitimate resistance to their rule as terrorism and use that to justify oppression of these groups in the eyes of the world. Furthermore, a clear definition of terrorism would help to put pressure on groups that fall in the category of terrorist but are not recognized as such for various reasons.
I think your point about the word "terrorism" being manipulated by political authority to arbitrarily (or corruptly and intentionally) encompass some groups and not others is very interesting. It seems like a clear international definition is needed.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very good way to connect the text to everyday things that are super important!
ReplyDeleteIn today's world I think there's a big uproar over what to do about terrorism. Should immigration be more strict or less strict? Should we bomb terrorists or leave world matters alone? Should we remain passive or aggressive?
Do you think by defining terrorism it would unite the world as a whole? Or do you think we'd continue to turn people away because of fear and prejudices?