| Home | Articles | Blog | Reviews | Spoken | Books | Biographical | Middle East Forum | About this site | Mailing List |
Oh fercryin' out loud!
Reader comment on item: [Beslan Atrocity:] They're Terrorists - Not Activists
Submitted by Anonymous Coward (Australia), Sep 8, 2004 at 01:58
"Terrorist" has become a catch-all for anyone and any group whose actions we disapprove of.When you jump on the label-'em-a-terrorist bandwagon you delegitimise a group's raison d'etre. Of course, not all groups have legitimate or reputable methods, but to tar them all with the same brush lends none of them credence.
The ANC were a terrorist organisation. So were the PLO. So were George Washington & his boys back in the day.
The truism has become trite now, but one man's terrorist really IS another man's freedom fighter.
Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".
<< Previous Comment Next Comment >>
Reader comments (175) on this item
 |
 |
Title | Commenter | Date | Thread |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pakistan News... [8 words] | Pakistan News | Apr 28, 2011 06:39 | 184635 | ||
| Silence is a weapon too - Reply [133 words] | Slim | Sep 4, 2005 09:12 | 25469 | ||
| Silence is a weapon too [194 words] | James.R.Edwards | Aug 25, 2005 09:01 | 25097 | ||
| BBC's discovery of Terrorism [156 words] | Rob James | Jul 11, 2005 18:09 | 23361 | ||
| Civilian casualties [96 words] | Cheryl Young | Nov 12, 2004 23:39 | 18354 | ||
| Interesting but ironic [101 words] | Jasper Ines | Oct 20, 2004 07:55 | 17815 | ||
| Fears [479 words] | Joanne Cottone | Oct 13, 2004 08:38 | 17625 | ||
| "Freedom fighters"? Even they refer to themselves as "terrorists"! [200 words] | alvin_day | Oct 4, 2004 22:08 | 17518 | ||
| A courageous voice speaking out [117 words] | Bhupendra Bharti | Oct 2, 2004 07:48 | 17496 | ||
| Terror is terror [34 words] | Treek | Oct 1, 2004 16:51 | 17491 | ||
| Use the T-Word [289 words] | Raphael Cohen-Almagor | Sep 30, 2004 11:36 | 17478 | ||
| "Freedom Fighters" in Nicaragua? [118 words] | John Keagan | Sep 30, 2004 01:39 | 17471 | ||
| NPR's Al Qaeda "Officials" [62 words] | John | Sep 27, 2004 14:15 | 17407 | ||
| Intention [50 words] | Dave | Sep 20, 2004 09:04 | 17041 | ||
| Savages? [221 words] | Samuel P. Panuccio | Sep 20, 2004 03:44 | 17040 | ||
| Terrorism defined [87 words] | David | Sep 19, 2004 11:26 | 17029 | ||
| One man's terrorist [51 words] | Jerry Normoyle | Sep 18, 2004 00:26 | 17022 | ||
| Politcal Correctness Gone Berserk [87 words] | Margaret Broomfield | Sep 17, 2004 10:40 | 17016 | ||
| Canadian PC Media [146 words] | Jeff Bercovitch | Sep 16, 2004 19:47 | 17013 | ||
| Islam is THE problem [103 words] | Hari Iyer | Sep 16, 2004 01:10 | 16998 | ||
 Thank you for your Ignorance [218 words] | Kiran | Mar 7, 2009 02:47 | 16998 | ||
| Thank you, Daniel [15 words] | Maria Ivanova | Sep 15, 2004 12:56 | 16990 | ||
| The Marxist Paradigm [357 words] | Diane Wolff | Sep 15, 2004 10:13 | 16984 | ||
| Author is an obscurantist [8 words] | Andre | May 22, 2013 02:28 | 16984 | ||
| Terrorism is a tactic, not a movement [114 words] w/response from Daniel Pipes | Bill Keane | Sep 15, 2004 03:28 | 16975 | ||
| Another idea, a term, but not for the terrorists as such [33 words] | Nancy Sutherlan | Sep 14, 2004 19:45 | 16963 | ||
| My thoughts exactly [35 words] | Phaedra Bagration | Sep 14, 2004 18:44 | 16957 | ||
| "they're terrorists" [41 words] | Steven Jacoby | Sep 14, 2004 06:36 | 16938 | ||
| Islamist origins? [36 words] | Jake Morrison | Sep 14, 2004 04:19 | 16936 | ||
| World journalists in Dhimmitude [79 words] | Bhupendra Bharti | Sep 13, 2004 12:20 | 16927 | ||
| Euphemism [28 words] | Edward Short | Sep 13, 2004 11:24 | 16923 | ||
| Both ways [111 words] | Malik Muhammad | Sep 12, 2004 23:44 | 16918 | ||
| Well done [8 words] | Tsahi Niv | Sep 12, 2004 15:42 | 16913 | ||
| Major Media: Non commital buzzwords [59 words] | Mark | Sep 11, 2004 22:09 | 16908 | ||
| Maalot School - Beslan article redaction by AP [623 words] | Mitch | Sep 11, 2004 10:36 | 16902 | ||
| Bravo! [1 words] | George Kun | Sep 11, 2004 09:32 | 16900 | ||
| How true [126 words] | Patrick Watkins | Sep 10, 2004 21:42 | 16897 | ||
| Algeria...a real catastrophe [51 words] | George | Sep 10, 2004 20:40 | 16895 | ||
| Activists, Indeed. [52 words] | Barry Miller | Sep 10, 2004 17:37 | 16894 | ||
| Another term [13 words] | Lawrence Shuman | Sep 10, 2004 17:07 | 16893 | ||
| Post article openswith the work "terrorists" [12 words] | R. Roistacher | Sep 10, 2004 16:22 | 16892 | ||
| Point of View [87 words] | Max Edison | Sep 10, 2004 14:19 | 16890 | ||
| It's murder, even if the excuse is political. [18 words] | Judith Rachmani | Sep 10, 2004 13:30 | 16889 | ||
| Terrorism is terrorism. Period. [67 words] | Marcos Berenstein | Sep 10, 2004 08:25 | 16885 | ||
| Euphemisms for Terrorism [26 words] | Arlinda DeAngelis | Sep 10, 2004 00:01 | 16883 | ||
| Perp(etrator)s [952 words] | Ethel C. Fenig | Sep 9, 2004 23:48 | 16882 | ||
| Gee, how come it's not terrorism when YOU bomb THEM? [74 words] | Hugh Dillon | Sep 9, 2004 19:46 | 16880 | ||
| Horror on both sides [63 words] | Zhivago | Sep 9, 2004 19:20 | 16879 | ||
| So you would define as terrorist anyone the Israelis shoot? [106 words] | Samuel | Sep 9, 2004 19:17 | 16878 | ||
| Who followed the links? [110 words] | soren velice | Sep 9, 2004 19:03 | 16877 | ||
| What is Jemaah Islamiyah? [134 words] | John Sharpe | Sep 9, 2004 18:22 | 16876 | ||
| terrorism = (new) communism [95 words] | Sadia | Sep 9, 2004 18:12 | 16875 | ||
| Freedom fighters [25 words] | Tom Strini | Sep 9, 2004 15:30 | 16872 | ||
| Thank you [22 words] | Louis M. Steinberg | Sep 9, 2004 13:22 | 16869 | ||
| There are other terrorists, too. [94 words] | Peter J. Herz | Sep 9, 2004 12:58 | 16868 | ||
| Homicide Bombers: Let's call them what they are... [149 words] | R. Williams | Sep 9, 2004 11:28 | 16866 | ||
| True Leaders Do Not Shirk Verbal or Physical Combat [183 words] | Joe Feig | Sep 9, 2004 11:01 | 16865 | ||
| What would you call the Iran Contras? [74 words] | J. | Sep 9, 2004 09:58 | 16864 | ||
| "Terrorism" is not the clearest word itself [134 words] | Kirby | Sep 9, 2004 09:29 | 16863 | ||
| A commenter misses the point [70 words] | Aubie Arrow | Sep 9, 2004 09:02 | 16862 | ||
| The Western Press Misleads Its Readers [334 words] | Lawrence I. Gould | Sep 9, 2004 08:53 | 16860 | |
| Victims or terrorists? A matter of semantics, perhaps? [110 words] | P. Oakley | Sep 9, 2004 07:33 | 16859 | ||
| PC and Terrorism [341 words] | J.T Fiddes | Sep 9, 2004 07:23 | 16858 | ||
| Newton's apple at last [175 words] | PC | Sep 9, 2004 05:34 | 16857 | ||
| More political correctness [112 words] | Toby Beck | Sep 9, 2004 04:50 | 16856 | ||
| Euphanisms have their place [161 words] | RJ Kennedy | Sep 9, 2004 02:53 | 16855 | ||
| By any other name.... [164 words] | Matt Fyffe | Sep 9, 2004 01:09 | 16851 | ||
| I Was Just Following Orders [72 words] | Jim J | Sep 8, 2004 23:54 | 16850 | ||
| Let's be fair [23 words] | Alan Rutkowski | Sep 8, 2004 21:28 | 16849 | ||
| Right on target! [11 words] | Robert Gelber | Sep 8, 2004 21:12 | 16848 | ||
| Leftist Media [98 words] | Samuel Karpov | Sep 8, 2004 20:55 | 16847 | ||
| 'Militant' now means 'terrorist' [90 words] | Howard Pielet | Sep 8, 2004 20:13 | 16846 | ||
| Terrorists [2 words] | Walter D'Ull | Sep 8, 2004 19:46 | 16845 | ||
| My Favorite Term [6 words] | Katie | Sep 8, 2004 19:22 | 16844 | ||
| Chechyna [154 words] | Harrison | Sep 8, 2004 18:58 | 16843 | ||
| A Terrorist By Any Other Name... [113 words] | Sheldon Taft | Sep 8, 2004 17:47 | 16840 | ||
| Semantics are not important [70 words] | paulina | Sep 8, 2004 17:32 | 16839 | ||
| Civilization at Risk [544 words] | Jim Stoll | Sep 8, 2004 17:23 | 16838 | ||
| proper definitions [362 words] | Nick | Sep 8, 2004 17:22 | 16837 | ||
| No sympathy for terrorists [43 words] | Dick Short | Sep 8, 2004 16:47 | 16836 | ||
| It's "Gang" on Radio New Zealand [49 words] | Josh Duthie | Sep 8, 2004 16:42 | 16835 | ||
| Terror is graphic [34 words] | Tom Perrin | Sep 8, 2004 16:31 | 16834 | ||
| Strategic bombing [92 words] | Konrad | Sep 8, 2004 16:30 | 16833 | ||
| On the use of language [62 words] | Paul E Price | Sep 8, 2004 16:29 | 16832 | ||
| If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it is a mallard [69 words] | Raghu Desikan | Sep 8, 2004 15:39 | 16830 | ||
| Flawed Reasoning [88 words] | Justin Lannoye | Sep 8, 2004 15:26 | 16829 | ||
| "Commentaries,yours." [111 words] | Mr. Sandy Haaz | Sep 8, 2004 15:17 | 16828 | ||
| They're Terrorists- Not activists [216 words] | Ken Kinrich | Sep 8, 2004 15:14 | 16827 | ||
| They cannot sanitize this [143 words] | Martin Kalaydjian | Sep 8, 2004 14:39 | 16826 | ||
| George Washington, Terrorist [146 words] | Scott Ryan | Sep 8, 2004 14:25 | 16825 | ||
| Defining terrorism [110 words] | Bjorn Merker | Sep 8, 2004 14:18 | 16824 | ||
| 1 | Reporting vs. storytelling [270 words] | Rick Darby | Sep 8, 2004 13:59 | 16823 | |
| Tyranny - wherever - is still tyranny. [220 words] | Texposé | Sep 8, 2004 13:51 | 16822 | ||
| Obfuscation [38 words] | John Maloney | Sep 8, 2004 13:38 | 16820 | ||
| Calling a Spade a Black Upside-Down Heart With a Tail [120 words] | Marci Mays | Sep 8, 2004 13:36 | 16819 | |
| Is "Terrorist" really just a description? [142 words] | Arti Persaud | Sep 8, 2004 13:30 | 16818 | ||
| Terrorism = non-financial impersonal mayhem upon civilians [361 words] | Jason Jungreis | Sep 8, 2004 13:11 | 16816 | ||
| Re comment: "Who Gets To Choose?" [32 words] | Rob Arsenault | Sep 8, 2004 12:56 | 16815 | ||
| K. I. S. S. ITS ABOUT "WORDS" [91 words] | Bob Breslauer | Sep 8, 2004 12:46 | 16814 | ||
| The Terrorism Scale [253 words] | David Guy | Sep 8, 2004 12:40 | 16812 | |
| What's the complaint?? [22 words] | Judy Stein | Sep 8, 2004 12:23 | 16811 | ||
| Its murder, even if the motive is political. [110 words] | Lawrence M. Dubin | Sep 8, 2004 11:57 | 16810 | ||
| Finally! [20 words] | Zachary Carlin | Sep 8, 2004 11:54 | 16809 | ||
| What is Terrorism [113 words] | rhona hotchkiss | Sep 8, 2004 11:31 | 16808 | ||
| The real enemy [43 words] | Ross Cox | Sep 8, 2004 10:50 | 16805 | ||
| Amen! [98 words] | Jasonn | Sep 8, 2004 10:33 | 16804 | ||
| Another term [11 words] | William Papke | Sep 8, 2004 10:32 | 16803 | ||
| But almost every article also uses TERRORIST [151 words] | Brian Houston | Sep 8, 2004 10:32 | 16802 | ||
| Political Correctness and the war on Terror [240 words] | Rick Moran | Sep 8, 2004 10:02 | 16801 | ||
| Who gets to choose? [76 words] | Robert Day | Sep 8, 2004 09:53 | 16799 | ||
| Desperados? [42 words] | Aubie Arrow | Sep 8, 2004 09:48 | 16798 | ||
| Call them Mujihadeen instead of terrorists [124 words] | Dennis | Sep 8, 2004 09:16 | 16796 | ||
| Terrorists and "freedom fighters" [303 words] | Tom Martin | Sep 8, 2004 09:14 | 16795 | ||
| EMET [36 words] | Esther Elbaz | Sep 8, 2004 09:10 | 16794 | ||
| This misses the point [166 words] | Rich Taylor | Sep 8, 2004 07:00 | 16790 | ||
| TERRORIST AS SOCIAL TORTURERS [131 words] | Alan Roberts | Sep 8, 2004 06:53 | 16789 | ||
| Terrorists or freedom fighters? [129 words] | Sue Vogel | Sep 8, 2004 05:46 | 16787 | ||
| Once again careful documentation and proof of a reality so many sense [159 words] | Shalom Freedman | Sep 8, 2004 05:07 | 16784 | ||
| Call them murderers [37 words] | Ramesh Raghuvanshi | Sep 8, 2004 04:07 | 16781 | ||
| Thank You [16 words] | Jack Wynn | Sep 8, 2004 03:51 | 16778 | ||
| Terrorists, bandits, assassins, criminals [79 words] | Octavio Johanson | Sep 8, 2004 03:48 | 16777 | ||
| One man's freedom fighter, Is another man's terrorist. [104 words] | Charles Edward Frith | Sep 8, 2004 03:11 | 16775 | ||
| A Spade's a spade - dig? [132 words] | Tony Mora | Sep 8, 2004 03:03 | 16774 | ||
| Euphemisms for terrorist [129 words] | Melvyn Rosenstein | Sep 8, 2004 02:57 | 16773 | ||
| A Miasma of Words [104 words] | Jon Miller | Sep 8, 2004 02:35 | 16772 | ||
 Oh fercryin' out loud! [86 words] | Anonymous Coward | Sep 8, 2004 01:58 | 16771 | ||
| A term more destructive than terrorist [228 words] | Gilbert Simons | Sep 8, 2004 00:45 | 16770 | ||
| A Word With Ways [85 words] | Lisa Nyberg | Sep 8, 2004 00:06 | 16769 | ||
| NY Times Guilty on 9/1/04 [104 words] | Reena Seltzer | Sep 7, 2004 23:34 | 16768 | ||
| More euphemisms [48 words] | Harry Barton | Sep 7, 2004 23:11 | 16766 | ||
| Jihadists [69 words] | Tim Roberts | Sep 7, 2004 22:53 | 16765 | ||
| Misnomers [33 words] | Malia Taylor | Sep 7, 2004 21:41 | 16763 | ||
| Canada's coverage: how do you know? [464 words] | Greg Hannigan | Sep 7, 2004 21:29 | 16762 | ||
| Even the UN used the word "terrorist" [41 words] | CHINGCHING | Sep 7, 2004 21:20 | 16761 | ||
| Euphemisms in France [20 words] | Tzvi Tamari | Sep 7, 2004 21:02 | 16760 | ||
| Excellent Article [20 words] | Bob Ruggill | Sep 7, 2004 21:01 | 16759 | ||
| Selective sensitivity [128 words] | Paul M. | Sep 7, 2004 20:15 | 16757 | ||
| Euphemisms and action [201 words] | Dr. Bill Hayes | Sep 7, 2004 19:54 | 16755 | ||
| Euphemisms are for the Morally and Intellectually Braindead [102 words] | Jeremy Dan Freedman | Sep 7, 2004 19:39 | 16754 | ||
| Terrorism [70 words] | S Fineman | Sep 7, 2004 19:27 | 16753 | ||
| terrorist euphemisms [25 words] | Bruce Kauffman | Sep 7, 2004 19:01 | 16751 | ||
| Mainstream Press Bias [185 words] | Michael Levine | Sep 7, 2004 18:59 | 16750 | ||
| 1 | The meaning of "Terrorism" [105 words] | Alan Green | Sep 7, 2004 18:49 | 16749 | |
| Ah, so [86 words] | Gary Greer | Sep 7, 2004 18:38 | 16748 | ||
| Another One [7 words] | Greg | Sep 7, 2004 18:36 | 16747 | ||
| Definition of terrorism [40 words] | Brian Anderson | Sep 7, 2004 18:28 | 16746 | ||
| Euphemisms for terrorist [139 words] | Bob Alexander | Sep 7, 2004 17:29 | 16745 | ||
| Semantics - execution and assassination [214 words] | Peter Samuel | Sep 7, 2004 17:19 | 16744 | ||
| Language usage determines the way we think [86 words] | Bernard Kesten | Sep 7, 2004 16:57 | 16741 | ||
| The Right Word Is Important [46 words] | Patrick Barron | Sep 7, 2004 16:40 | 16739 | ||
| The BBC sinks to a new low [36 words] | Shedon Schorer | Sep 7, 2004 16:28 | 16738 | ||
| Definition of terrorist [45 words] | Nathaniel Barr | Sep 7, 2004 16:09 | 16736 | ||
| Not only weakness, but sheer stupidity [23 words] | George Plescov | Sep 7, 2004 16:08 | 16735 | ||
| Another home run [27 words] | Frank Magnani | Sep 7, 2004 16:04 | 16734 | ||
| Militants and Terrorists [298 words] | David Harris | Sep 7, 2004 15:31 | 16732 | ||
| Job well done [153 words] | John W. McGinley | Sep 7, 2004 15:14 | 16730 | ||
| "Terrorists" [99 words] | Walter Rogoff | Sep 7, 2004 14:52 | 16727 | ||
| getting real! [23 words] | M. Martin | Sep 7, 2004 14:39 | 16726 | ||
| Euphemisms: a humdinger [68 words] | Allan Grant | Sep 7, 2004 14:20 | 16724 | ||
| Call them what they are. [16 words] | Allan Grafman | Sep 7, 2004 14:09 | 16723 | ||
| Let's be a little more specific... [43 words] | Tobias Moyer | Sep 7, 2004 13:54 | 16722 | ||
| Baffled! [266 words] | Bryan Taplits | Sep 7, 2004 13:35 | 16721 | ||
| Failure to call a duck a duck [244 words] | Donald W. Bales | Sep 7, 2004 13:30 | 16720 | ||
| What's in a word? [45 words] | Michael Elvin | Sep 7, 2004 13:29 | 16719 | ||
| They're Terrorist Not Activists [87 words] | Lisa MIchelson | Sep 7, 2004 13:29 | 16718 | ||
| Down with synonyms [138 words] | Michael Elvin | Sep 7, 2004 13:22 | 16717 | ||
| Call things as they are [281 words] | Jean Ouellette | Sep 7, 2004 13:21 | 16716 | ||
| Correction of term [43 words] | Marsha Livson | Sep 7, 2004 13:18 | 16715 | ||
| Even "terrorist" is a euphumism -- they're "Muslim aggressors" [202 words] | Maureen Cote | Sep 7, 2004 13:12 | 16714 | ||
| IDF demolishes house of militant who carried out terror attack near Itamar [175 words] | Mladen Andrijasevic | Sep 7, 2004 13:11 | 16713 | ||
| We're fighting Islamists, not terrorism!! [156 words] | Commander Roger Johnson | Sep 7, 2004 13:08 | 16712 | ||
| Islamist terrorists by any other name is wrong. [40 words] | bob fink | Sep 7, 2004 13:04 | 16711 | ||
| Terrorists~~not activists [26 words] | R.Wilson | Sep 7, 2004 12:54 | 16710 | ||
| The t word; the M word [35 words] | Ethel C. Fenig | Sep 7, 2004 12:35 | 16709 | ||
| Definition of terror [34 words] | Yirmeyahu Ben-David, Paqid 16, The Netzarim | Sep 7, 2004 12:07 | 16708 |
Latest Articles
Follow Daniel Pipes
All materials by Daniel Pipes on this site: © 1968-2024 Daniel Pipes. daniel.pipes@gmail.com and @DanielPipes
Support Daniel Pipes' work with a tax-deductible donation to the Middle East Forum.Daniel J. Pipes
(The MEF is a publicly supported, nonprofit organization under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code.
Contributions are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Tax-ID 23-774-9796, approved Apr. 27, 1998.
For more information, view our IRS letter of determination.)