[Aj12]

Terrorism, its been dominating the media and huge parts of society for pretty much the last decade if not longer. But has the word become meaningless? The September 11 attacks on the twin towers tend to sum up what most people think of terrorism and this was the attack that kicked off the War on Terror that led to the invasion of two countries as well as more secret activities in others such as drone strikes. This has caused somewhat of a debate over what counts as terrorism, can states carry out terror attacks and do military operations that cause collateral damage (or to put it bluntly kill civilians) count as terrorism.

The problem is complicated by the fact that terrorism has no widely agreed upon definition. The UN attempted to classify it but failed, it in many ways becomes a word of propaganda with one side declaring a side in a conflict terrorists and the other freedom fighters, Syria Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan are all great examples of this.

If I was gong to offer up a definition I'd say an violent attack launched by any state or non state actor with its primary aim to kill and damage as many civilians as possible for political aims. The attacks being aimed against primarily civilians seems to be something that should make a terrorist attack stand out.Some other definitions.

So what are you're thoughts on terrorism? On the word and how its applied in the media and by states. Is it meaningless or can it be defined, is it just a word used by politicians to influence our perceptions of a conflict one way or the other? What do you define as terrorism or a terrorist attack?

Thoughts?

[DeathByBSOD]

(Original post by Aj12)
Terrorism, its been dominating the media and huge parts of society for pretty much the last decade if not longer. But has the word become meaningless? The September 11 attacks on the twin towers tend to sum up what most people think of terrorism and this was the attack that kicked off the War on Terror that led to the invasion of two countries as well as more secret activities in others such as drone strikes. This has caused somewhat of a debate over what counts as terrorism, can states carry out terror attacks and do military operations that cause collateral damage (or to put it bluntly kill civilians) count as terrorism.

The problem is complicated by the fact that terrorism has no widely agreed upon definition. The UN attempted to classify it but failed, it in many ways becomes a word of propaganda with one side declaring a side in a conflict terrorists and the other freedom fighters, Syria Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan are all great examples of this.

If I was gong to offer up a definition I'd say an violent attack launched by any state or non state actor with its primary aim to kill and damage as many civilians as possible for political aims. The attacks being aimed against primarily civilians seems to be something that should make a terrorist attack stand out.Some other definitions.

So what are you're thoughts on terrorism? On the word and how its applied in the media and by states. Is it meaningless or can it be defined, is it just a word used by politicians to influence our perceptions of a conflict one way or the other? What do you define as terrorism or a terrorist attack?

Thoughts?

In this day and age, taken from the net:

Terrorism: Pronouced ˈterərɪzəm,

Manipulation of any person or group of persons fear (the emotion of terror, hence TERRORism) in order to gain obedience/forceful agreement, or accomplish a certian objective.
The United States media constantly throws propaganda of how everyone in the middle east is evil and embeds the word 'terrorist' into everyone's minds from the day they are born as 'evil'. Then they use it to scare us into allowing them to bomb millions of innocent lives to ashes in the Middle East, then take over for whatever purpose.

BUT WAIT! I think I've hit something here:

...embeds the word 'terrorist' into children's minds as 'evil'. Then they use it to scare us into allowing them to...

Hmm, let's break that down into something simpler:

...use fear to manipulate the people into allowing them to...

Oh my gosh! Wouldn't that make the United States the terrorists!? How ironic!

[Highlander03]

It differs from nation to nation. Perhaps most of the middleeast deem the west to be terrorists and vice versa. Imo i would deem it as any means or actions that instill terror into an individual or people. Stepping out of the propaganda spewed by a lot of nations, to classify one as a terrorist you would have to carry out an act as described above. The extent of which one can be a terrorist applies hugely to the USA. They have directly and indirectly been responsible for the murder of hundreds of thousands of lives and destroyed millions in the process. To disagree with me would be idiotic and foolish. History is evident of this. There are of coursr other examples such as Saddham and the kurdish massacres, however to this day and age America remain the most significant terrorist imo.

This was posted from The Student Room's Android App on my GT-I9100

[Kiss]

You know some might say that terrorism is simply a word created by schemers who are too scared to realise the meaning or justifications behind it.

[Aj12]

Bump


This was posted from The Student Room's Android App on my LT18i