Personal Political
Define Terrorism
Friday, February 19, 2010
A Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson called the crash a "criminal act."
Stack wrote in his suicide note: "I saw it written once that the definition of insanity is repeating the same process over and over and expecting the outcome to suddenly be different. I am finally ready to stop this insanity. Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man, let's try something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well."
Was this a political act? A man who martyred himself to create a socio-political outcome? Certainly it was criminal, but was it terrorism?
"Terrorism is the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion." -- Wikipedia
"terrorist • noun a person who uses violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims." -- OED
Yet: Daniel Rattner/Former CIA says "We have to be very careful about how we quantify and qualify using the term terrorism in today's world because of the reaction it causes."
Was it not terrorism simply because it was not a Muslim? Because he was an American? Because he seemed to agree with people who are on TV every night? Why was this not terrorism? Perhaps it was simply a murder suicide?
