// begin rant
"War is terrorism." I see it on bumper stickers, posters, and protest placards everywhere. I love living in Seattle with so many independent and liberally minded people. In general, I side with the rest of the dirty hippies (but I'm a techno hippie I'll have you know). Being a male in the 18-25 yo range I am not particularly for either war or terrorism. But I think it is an incredible fallacy beyond semantics to equate the two.
War is *NOT* terrorism. Despite the paradox it presents- war is actually governed by a set of rules (the Geneva Convention) which tries to impart a little order and humanity on an otherwise choatic and inhumane act. Our country is even further restricted by public opinion, which is influence through media and technology in a way it was never before. Despite our arrogance, this means in general we have to play nicer than the rest of the world.
Terrorism is all about not playing by the rules. Soldiers wear uniforms and come from a country that is geographically identifiable. Terrorists have no geopolitical entity and in fact try to blend in with the innocent civilian population they are intent on inflicting terror upon. Terrorism makes no distinction between civilian and military targets- in general actually tend to prefer civilian.
There are legitimate cases for war- self-defense, stop genocide, etc. There is no such thing as legitimate terrorism.
// end rant
/me dons flame retardant suit.
"War is terrorism." I see it on bumper stickers, posters, and protest placards everywhere. I love living in Seattle with so many independent and liberally minded people. In general, I side with the rest of the dirty hippies (but I'm a techno hippie I'll have you know). Being a male in the 18-25 yo range I am not particularly for either war or terrorism. But I think it is an incredible fallacy beyond semantics to equate the two.
War is *NOT* terrorism. Despite the paradox it presents- war is actually governed by a set of rules (the Geneva Convention) which tries to impart a little order and humanity on an otherwise choatic and inhumane act. Our country is even further restricted by public opinion, which is influence through media and technology in a way it was never before. Despite our arrogance, this means in general we have to play nicer than the rest of the world.
Terrorism is all about not playing by the rules. Soldiers wear uniforms and come from a country that is geographically identifiable. Terrorists have no geopolitical entity and in fact try to blend in with the innocent civilian population they are intent on inflicting terror upon. Terrorism makes no distinction between civilian and military targets- in general actually tend to prefer civilian.
There are legitimate cases for war- self-defense, stop genocide, etc. There is no such thing as legitimate terrorism.
// end rant
/me dons flame retardant suit.
freckle:
has your tatoo come through yet!?!
nonservium:
Tomorrow (Tuesday) at 1pm. I can hardly wait. I just finished touching up the design. I widened the ribbons that form the celtic knot and then tightened down the white space. The negative space will eventually be filled in black and the ribbons shaded to look more 3D in their overlap. It looks much better now...and I can hardly wait till its inked on me.