# Terrorists = Legion of Doom?!?! **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 12, 2001, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorists-legion-of-doom/87032 "2001-10-12T13:30:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kingpengvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorists-legion-of-doom/87032/1 "2001-10-12T13:30:27Z")
At the risk of sounding insensitive to the victims of these horrible acts, I am finding that the Rhetoric from the whitehouse is starting to sound a little silly. Calling the terrorists “evil doers” and Thugs or Bin Laden as the “Evil one” seems almost to turn these people into cartoon supervillians. What they did was despicable and evil however I believe that to reduce them into two dimensional characters we make the mistake of not trying to understand these people. Once you know your enemy you can defeat them. Or Am I just being too critical? ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorists-legion-of-doom/87032/2 "2001-10-12T14:35:56Z")
I think the administration is just trying to send a “words of one syllable” message not only to Americans, but also to the rest of the world, to the effect that there are no gray areas here, that we’re not willing to “deal”, to “rationalize”, to “get these people some help” instead of sending in the 10th Mountain Division to slam them up against the wall. They’re especially trying to get the word out to the Islamic world that what these people did was really really bad, and that _that’s_ why we’re bombing Afghanistan–it’s not merely out of a misplaced and badly outdated Yankee running dog imperialism. It’s hard to misconstrue or mistranslate the word “evil”. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorists-legion-of-doom/87032/3 "2001-10-12T14:47:04Z")
I agree with you, sometimes it sounds a little odd; but that because we are so used to seeing evil acts “explained” as DDG says. We’re become conditioned to dismiss the ideas of right and wrong. It’s also an intentional rhetoric designed to galvanize support. It puts the appeasement crowd on the defensive. Do they say either: “They’re not evil” – who would believe them? or “They’re evil but we shouldn’t kill them.” – which makes them look like cowards. I also think it’s calling a spade a spade. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorists-legion-of-doom/87032/4 "2001-10-12T16:52:43Z")
Man, and I thought this was going to be a thread about defining the old “Legion of Doom” hacker group as terrorists. Dang. They were, of course. But I was still going to get all ‘old school’ on you all. ---
**Author:** ![kingpengvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorists-legion-of-doom/87032/5 "2001-10-12T17:20:15Z")
Sorry Jonathan… I was just using it to make reference to the Cartoon supervillian line in my OP. ---
**Author:** ![Wumpus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8c91f0/32.png) [@Wumpus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wumpus)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorists-legion-of-doom/87032/6 "2001-10-12T17:45:09Z")
It does make the terrorists sound like supervillians. Then again, they’re acting like supervillians. Before Sept. 11, the only place you could see such acts of elaborate, visually spectacular, stupendously evil, and ultimately pointless violence was in the comics or the movies. No wonder the president and the media are drawing their vocabulary from the pulps. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2001, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorists-legion-of-doom/87032/7 "2001-10-13T16:00:25Z")
Wumpus wrote: > [@](#): > > Before Sept. 11, the only place you could see such acts of elaborate, visually spectacular, stupendously evil, and ultimately pointless violence was in the comics or the movies. [American Life Turns Into Bad Jerry Bruckheimer Movie](http://www.theonion.com/onion3734/american_life_turns_into.html) ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2001, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorists-legion-of-doom/87032/8 "2001-10-13T21:38:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Duck Duck Goose \* > **I think the administration is just trying to send a “words of one syllable” message not only to Americans, but also to the rest of the world, to the effect that there are no gray areas here** And here I thought it was because using one-syllable words was the only way to get George through one of those speeches! 😃 (Am I the only one who was woefully unimpressed with Thursday’s press conference? And people say Gore’s speaking manner was wooden…) ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2001, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorists-legion-of-doom/87032/9 "2001-10-13T23:08:18Z")
Actually, Gore would be a more appropriate leader, if we were to cast the terrorists in the role of the Legion of Doom. After all, Al Gore **does** bear a striking resemblance to a certain mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper…