# What would be the response to a "peaceful" terrorist organization? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 9, 2017, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-response-to-a-peaceful-terrorist-organization/776752 "2017-01-09T20:02:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-response-to-a-peaceful-terrorist-organization/776752/21 "2017-01-10T02:39:54Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Well, he’s more peaceful than one who shoots me and mine before taking my wallet. Yeah, and the guys with $4B is “more poor” than the guys with $5B. That doesn’t make the guy with $4B poor. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-response-to-a-peaceful-terrorist-organization/776752/22 "2017-01-10T02:48:12Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Yeah, and the guys with $4B is “more poor” than the guys with $5B. That doesn’t make the guy with $4B poor. Well, yeah – and the guy with all of $4 to his name is “less poor” than the one with $3. But can we do a continuum, where Guy A is poor, and Guy C is rich, and there’s some dollar amount where some Guy B in the middle isn’t rich but isn’t poor? ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-response-to-a-peaceful-terrorist-organization/776752/23 "2017-01-10T02:53:04Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > See, I was figuring that _actual violence_ is the opposite of ‘peaceful’. I mean, granted, I get that “not threatening anybody” is more peaceful than “making threats”; but I figured “making threats” is more peaceful than “actually delivering on those threats”. Given the challenge in the OP, it seemed like an arguable way to do it: terrorizing people without actually killing anybody or breaking anything. No, I disagree. If I make a threat and succeed in bullying someone into submission, that doesn’t make the a more peaceful person than I would have been had my victim resisted, and I had to follow through on my threat to get what I wanted. I’m the same person in both cases, with the same attitudes and the same values and the same willingness to resort to force. And in both cases, if we apply this thinking to a political situation, I would be a terrorist. Bomb scares are terrorist actions just as much as actual bombings are. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-response-to-a-peaceful-terrorist-organization/776752/24 "2017-01-10T03:08:15Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > No, I disagree. If I make a threat and succeed in bullying someone into submission, that doesn’t make the a more peaceful person than I would have been had my victim resisted, and I had to follow through on my threat to get what I wanted. I’m the same person in both cases, with the same attitudes and the same values and the same willingness to resort to force. But what if you’re bluffing? What if you _wouldn’t_ follow through on your threat? > [@](#): > > And in both cases, if we apply this thinking to a political situation, I would be a terrorist. Bomb scares are terrorist actions just as much as actual bombings are. Oh, I agree that both actions involve terrorizing people as, well, a terrorist; that’s sort of my point. But my _other_ point is, one uses terror without actually causing any injuries, which is bad; and the other uses terror while mutilating a bunch of people and killing lots of others – which seems different, in some small but significant way. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-response-to-a-peaceful-terrorist-organization/776752/25 "2017-01-10T03:17:55Z")
If you’re willing to follow through on your threat, whether you do or not is a matter of circumstance; it doesn’t tell me anything fundamental about you and in particular about whether you are a violent person. If you’re just bluffing - you’ll threaten, but in the end will back down rather than follow through - then I’d say yes, you are a less violent persons than the one who would follow through, but still a violent person, since the threat it itself a form of violence. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-response-to-a-peaceful-terrorist-organization/776752/26 "2017-01-10T04:18:59Z")
I’m envisioning people setting off explosive belts, except instead of ball bearings and nails they’re filled with glitter. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-response-to-a-peaceful-terrorist-organization/776752/27 "2017-01-10T04:23:23Z")
A plane flies over a city, dropping [del]bombs[/del] _“Could’ve Bombed Ya!”_ pamphlets… ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-response-to-a-peaceful-terrorist-organization/776752/28 "2017-01-10T06:11:43Z")
> [@Corry\_El](#): > > Seems to mean virulently anti-US/anti-Western pan-Islamic political movement, not ‘peaceful terrorists’. Much better put, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![DarkFire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/34f0e0/32.png) [@DarkFire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarkFire)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-response-to-a-peaceful-terrorist-organization/776752/29 "2017-01-10T15:07:27Z")
What would probably happen is that some other nation (be it the USA, the EU, Russia, China or a neighbor whose power is eroding) will react at some point. So yes, eventually their ideology will interfer with someone else’s plans and they are stopped. Probably based on ‘undermining sovereignty in our country’ or something like that. First you get some economic sanctions, then other types, maybe a bloccade if we’re really serious along with threats and we’ll keep ramping it up from there. Let’s say they’re really persistent in their peaceful protests against the rest of the world, yes someone will find a reason to attack them. Especially if they keep expanding. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-response-to-a-peaceful-terrorist-organization/776752.md?page=1)