That word , 'Terrorist'

[silasm0]

Has that word, 'terrorist' ever been used in history before? I read in history books that there were anarchists before, but I never found any terrorists before. Can anyone come up with an explanation?

[Edwin]

Ok, let's tread very carefully here as this board has a strict "No politics" rule.

Here's an interesting background to the word "terrorism":-

The term "terrorism" comes from Latin terrere, "to frighten" via the French word terrorisme,[4] which is often associated with the regime de la terreur, the Reign of Terror of the revolutionary government in France from 1793 to 1794. A leader in the French revolution, Maximilien Robespierre, proclaimed in 1794, “Terror is nothing other than justice, prompt, severe, inflexible; it is therefore an emanation of virtue; it is not so much a special principle as it is a consequence of the general principle of democracy applied to our country's most urgent needs.”[5] The Committee of Public Safety agents that enforced the policies of "The Terror" were referred to as "Terrorists."[6] The English word "terrorism" was first recorded in English dictionaries in 1798 as meaning "systematic use of terror as a policy."[4] The term appeared earlier in English in newspapers, such as a 1795 use of the term in The Times.

More on this here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definition_of_terrorism

Again, remember the NO POLITICS and NO RELIGION rules

[JRobert]

I think Edwin's reference nails it. The anarchist seeks to overthrow (government or order) by violence; the terrorist seeks to create chaos via fear. One targets the state; the other targets the populace.

[DrStrabismus]

Originally Posted by JRobert

I think Edwin's reference nails it. The anarchist seeks to overthrow (government or order) by violence; the terrorist seeks to create chaos via fear. One targets the state; the other targets the populace.

Not really, anarchism is a political philosophy, terrorism is a means to an end.

[rmns2bseen]

One person's terrorist is another person's freedom fighter. This topic is unavoidably political.

[Bamb0]

Lets try and keep it calm though.. We have a nice quiet atmosphere here and we are all mature and should be able to discuss things w/o them blowing up right?

[bingy]

...and without them blowing us up.

[Bamb0]

Welcome to EMD....

I hope you like it here

[janusz]

Originally Posted by rmns2bseen

One person's terrorist is another person's freedom fighter. This topic is unavoidably political.

No, it isn't, as long as it's kept purely on the linguistic level, without ever discussing whether any particular person or organisation is one or the other.

[rmns2bseen]

Originally Posted by janusz

No, it isn't, as long as it's kept purely on the linguistic level, without ever discussing whether any particular person or organisation is one or the other.

Yeah, but keeping on a purely linguistic level is a fantasy. The participants in the Boston Tea Party, from the perspective of some British of the time, were terrorists. From the perspective of pro-independence Americans of the time, they were freedom fighters. Patriots.

[drew]

One have to be good at rhetoric to talk only formally about such sensitive matters. It feels like politics or ideology very easily. I fail to but ok me not good at rhetorics or spin.

I like that EMD has as little of politics as possible. such get nasty very fast.

They have presidental fight in US now and for several month more. Such could fill pages of threads. So we better stop writing, gets out of hand.

And besides, to use that word will target us as a hate site would it not. How subtle we try it could get misunderstood as implicit connotation to something else. I'm skeptical to all this. Would it not be best we delete the thread to not get EMD in trouble? I'm a pessimist when it comes to internet and security.

I hope I am wrong though.

[rmns2bseen]

Originally Posted by drew

One have to be good at rhetoric to talk only formally about such sensitive matters. It feels like politics or ideology very easily. I fail to but ok me not good at rhetorics or spin.

I like that EMD has as little of politics as possible. such get nasty very fast.

I agree. I also frequent forums where free-wheeling political discussions take place. But it's understood from the outset that these are going to happen, and there is a large number of participants. Hard feelings get soothed over pretty fast.

One thing I like about this particular site is that it generally focuses like a laser beam on e-mail. Controversies and heated discussions are limited to that (and to other things tech-related).

[drew]

The only "religious " fights we have here is about the pseudo religious love for Linux or Fastmail. But that is most likely taboo to admit. Such is holy.