Reductio ad absurdum is getting a workout in here…
This whole jaunt down terrorism lane began with defining white supremacy groups as “despicable, but technically not terrorists.” Fine. I understand the legal meaning not matching layman terminology (I deal with measure definitions professionally and totally get that --and the disconnect with the vernacular).
Back to that definition thing. You’re right, it is important. So is the context (your point, I gather?). Citizens are absolutely free to define terrorism as they wish --they aren’t the ones setting off bombs, but they are the ones feeling the terror. Governments are accountable to how they define terrorism and how they respond.
The USA has a big ol’ counter-terrorism hammer and what they see as a nail has changed a bit since 9-11 (example here). Defining what constitutes terrorism is a moving and broadening target. Even friendly countries have a hard time finding commonality. The situation is, to me, nearly as absurd as your “aggressive dog as a terrorist” scenario and harkens back to a time when “commie” was a catch-all for state-sponsored fuckery.
White supremacy does’t aim to be al-qaeda, effecting change through reprehensible violence, because no one will listen unless you scream.
They aim to be the Taliban, controlling a population using violence, fear and religion because when you are weak it makes you feel strong to make others feel weak.
Al-qaeda are terrorists, White supremacists and the Taliban are oppressionists. They are all assholes.
And what race are you? Because if you’re a born-in-the-USA Euro-American, the fact that you didn’t notice it happening around you doesn’t mean it didn’t.
It may not be overt and it’s doubtlessly much less pronounced than a generation or two ago, but minorities still comprise far less than their share of top military officers. Fewer than 1 in 10 American Generals are non-white.
You’re absolutly right. To be fair though, I am exactly the type of person people like complaining to, and they complained loudly and often about alot of things. As a leader I think the best you can do is to try to maintain an environment where these things arn’t encouraged to happen. I was an NCO, not a general. I really never dealt with problems that concerned more than a hundred people at a time, given that over the course of 9 years that number adds up to thousands of distinct individuals.
I work with teenagers in my current career that approach me on a pretty regular basis considering enlistment. I have a pretty set speal I go through about why it isn’t at all for everyone. Race wouldn’t occour to me as a reason to not enlist.
I have a list of people on facebook that would be better suited to talk about this issue than I am. I would be happy to invite them into the discussion.
While your technical definition is accurate, I strongly disagree with your conclusions. To say White Supremacists"…aren’t terrorizing the public at large…" is flatly wrong. Such a statement implies that the minorities being threatened are somehow not part of the “public at large”, and I take extreme issue with that. Frankly, it sounds like exactly the kind of moral justification the supremacists themselves use to dodge the moral weight of their statements and actions. I’m a middle-class white guy, but if my black neighbor had a cross burned on his lawn, I would feel quite terrorized also. Even though it wouldn’t mean the same direct threat to me & my family, it is a direct threat to my neighborhood, my community, and my own moral standards of how human beings ought to treat each other.
Make no mistake - white supremacists are terrorists. They are a threat to everyone.
There have been supremacists throughout history. But here we have people wanting to place special labels on white supremacists while ignoring the fact that they come in all colors, racists and religions. Sometimes they hold political positions and will use those positions. The Egyptians and Romans thousands of years ago, for instance. Just as late as Sen, Byrd we had people that had belonged to the KKK in our government. Now we have an administration that will not bring any charges or will dismiss any charges against the New Black Panthers even though members of their group have intimidated and called for blacks to kill whites. If you listen to Farrakhan you can tell he is a supremacist.
We have been making progress and I don’t think there will ever be a time where some people don’t feel superior to others. But the less attention they get the faster they will fade.
