Speaking of which, can anyone explain why the wikipedia page on Christian Terrorism completely fails to mention either the IRA or Northern Irish Protestant Militias. They would seem to be to textbook examples of 20th century christian terrorism and not even mentioned in the talk page?
(reply #10 to this thread):
(reply #18 to this thread):
OP began: “Attacks like the one yesterday at Planned Parenthood are terrorism just the same as any Islamist attack.” That suggests a fundamental parity between clinic bombing and Islamic terrorism. The body count provides clear-sighted, incontrovertible proof that Islamic terrorism is so vastly more of a threat that comparison with clinic bombing is stupid.
And were I to categorize victims in your manner, children such as the 8 victims of 9/11 aged 2-11 would be the saddest cases.
Probably because it was a nationalist and socio-economic struggle, not a religious one. No one was fighting for “religious freedom” or trying to convert anyone else. The IRA wanted out of Great Britain, and unified Irish Republic.
The Palestinians want their own socio economic nation separate from Israel, yet all of their terrorism is lumped under “islamic terrorism”. Palestinians dont want to convert Jewish people, they just want their own nation, just like the Northern Irish catholics. How is this not a double standard? Protestant vs Catholic terrorism is still Christian Terrorism, just like Sunni vs Shia terrorism is still Islamic Terrorism.
No, it’s not.
So why is there such a big fuss about [del]The Temple Mount[/del] al-Ḥaram al-Qudsī al-Šarīf? There are both nationalistic and religious motivations on both sides of the conflict. It needn’t be one or the other.
The Wikipedia page on Islamic Terrorism lists Palestine vs Israel terrorism, while the wikipedia page on Christian Terrorism completely fails to mention Northern Ireland / IRA. How is this not a double standard? Both are nationalist / socio economic struggles.
I’d be really surprised if this guy turned out to be characterized as a “terrorist” in any way. More likely than not, he’s just a poor, disenfranchised, delusional whacko who finally reached the end of his rope and decided to try going out with a bang (no pun intended.) Planned Parenthood just happened to be a convenient target his sick mind was somehow conflicted with.
You:
Can’t the people of Colorado mourn too? Can’t they complain about terrorism too? Who the hell are you to say that’s “exploitation?”
His act clearly fit the definition of terrorism. Being a “poor, disenfranchised, delusional whacko” doesn’t change that. Plenty of Muslim terrorists are poor, disenfranchised, delusional whackos too.
But you could say the same about many “Muslim” terrorist acts too. They involve conflict between religious groups that aren’t necessarily motivated by religion.
The difficult point there is that the nationalist/unionist divide ~roughly~ correlated with religious affiliation. The socioeconomic divide less roughly. The historic basis for all this was real religious wars, banners of which are literally still carried. In the modern era, “civil rights” in NI meant rights for Catholics. So there was an element of a religious-freedom cause. And of course Loyalist militias, in particular, were known to murder Catholic civilians for no reason beyond their religious identity.
Wikipedia is not the final arbiter of this, but if you take the time to read that page, it does go into the multi-faceted causes of terrorism in the Muslim and Arabic world. However, it would not be inaccurate to call acts of terrorism by The Islamic Joihad Movement in Palestine acts of “Islamic Terrorism”. Islamist ideology is part of the mix in that region, even if it’s not the sole or even primary motivation of most of the people committing acts of terror.
BTW, you should feel free to edit that wikipedia page if you like. Go ahead and delete Palestinian violence from “Islamic Terrorism” and/or add “IRA violence” to “Christian Terrorism”.
Nitpick all you want but trying to claim that the NI/UK conflict had no christian terrorist justification while the Palestinian / Israel one is Islamic is a double standard. If I search for more than 10 minutes on google I’m sure I can find a statement by the IRA or protestant militias giving a religious justification for their actions.
Go for it.
Time’s up!
nm
Sorry I changed my mind. Why should it matter if its Political Terrorism or Religious Terrorism? Both should be condemned. Blowing up innocent people because you want freedom from the UK is just as morally repulsive as blowing up innocent people because they are the wrong religion or because they go to an abortion clinic.
Pretty sure when I was growing up there were political ‘terrorists’ and religious 'fanatics.
Then 9/11 came along and the neo cons started throwing around labels to suit. Just a recollection.
This particular act feels more like fanaticism to me. But it is of course just a label.
I guess now we also get a lot more ‘war crimes’ labelling - mostly political leaders.