One Man's Terrorist

One man's "terrorist" is another man's "freedom fighter." Its all in how you look at something and the prejudice you bring to the topic. I'll let you know some of the ones I'm aware of through my travels and reading.

The one I find most annoying in the American media is the term Islamic or Muslim terrorist. It kind of sets the stage and is shorthand to the American reader for "bad guy." Less often seen in articles or heard on the radio or TV is Christian terrorist which might easily define members of the IRA or the Ulster Defense League in Northern Ireland. These are groups that, as the saying goes, are well liked by their friends.

The term "martyr" seems to have a different meaning for a sizable portion of our planet's citizens. I grew up thinking it was someone who died for their faith and didn't include suicide. Still, for others, making sure that you kill your enemy (God's enemy?) while killing yourself is a good thing - a ticket to heaven. We have also learned that the term "crusader" carries some emotional baggage that doesn't always have a positive spin.

During the American Revolution the people we call "patriots" were called "traitors" (or worse) in the mother country, Great Britain. We didn't fight fair (fair play is a very strong British trait) mostly because we couldn't - we didn't have the means or the wealth to train and organize a strong army and we had to find tactics that were successful. But we also couldn't lose because we were here, the British soldiers and their mercenaries were here under a sort of duress (defending the rightful orders of the King) and we wouldn't go away. You might draw some interesting conclusions with our own occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan and the people we call insurgents. Don't forget the patriots and the British were speaking the same language.

Americans who wished to remain British subjects during the Revolutionary War moved to Canada and were called "loyalists." During the Viet Nam war Americans who fled to Canada to avoid the military service were called "draft dodgers," "cowards" and etc. here, but were called something like asylum seekers or refugees or probably just Yankees by the Canadians.

During World War II many Americans left the US to join the Canadian armed forces, prior to our entry into the war - I don't know what we called them, but Charles Lindberg, a staunch supporter of the Nazi's and the German people, we called a "hero." You have to remember that most Europeans to this day wonder why we were so late in coming to their aid during this conflict. In Africa and much of Asia, World War II was looked at as a European Civil War and not really of much interest.

Being labeled a liberal or gay or an activist seems to be a bad thing to many people here and I'm not sure why. One could easily define Jesus Christ's ministry as a "liberal agenda." "Feminazi" is a term I've heard used by that great intellect Rush Limbaugh to describe a feminist, although we hear less of either these days.

You have rightly come to that question, "so what"? Be careful how you label people and exert a little effort into why someone thinks the way they do. A little dialogue and an open mind couldn't hurt.

(by Marc Adami, Guest Columnist)