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Terrorism in the Eye of the Beholder
There’s no
monopoly on
acts of horror
by
W illiam A. C ollins
Too many Americans
think the term "terrorism''
only applies to Muslims.
Christians, Jews, athe
ists, agnostics, Unitar
ians or Quakers who com
mit unspeakable acts of
horror often aren't deemed to be real
terrorists.
Consider what happened after
right-w ing N orw egian gunm an
Anders Breivik killed 77 people in
July. The first response from the
U.S. corporate press to this savage
bloodshed, including Washington
Post blogger and columnist Jenni-
fer Rubin, was that he must be a
Muslim, maybe one affiliated with
the al-Qaeda terrorist network,
When that assumption proved false,
he quickly became just another de-
ranged young man.
Why do so many Americans only
worry about Muslims? For starters,
there's a lot of oil, gas, and other
high-value resources in the Middle
East, Central Asia, and North Af
rica, where many Muslims
reside.
In the old days. Western
powers simply went in and
took whatever they wanted.
There was no United Na
tions or world press to de
mand fair play. The great
battles of the day were among those
powers themselves, rather than with
the natives who got trampled, colo-
nized, and enslaved.
For many years, the big struggles
were between colonial powers like
Britain, Spain and France. For much
ofthe 20th century, the Soviet Union
duked it out with the United States,
Times have changed. False con-
science has intruded. Beginning
around World War II, countries were
supposed to have a good reason
before invading or occupying other
P o r t Until (Observer
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nations. The United States, cur
rently a lone superpower, has be
come saddled with the bothersome
task of finding excuses for attacking
these oil-bearing lands, at least those
whose leaders we haven't already
bought off.
Paramount among the excuses
ior invasion is "terrorism." We used
it to justify our wars with Iraq and
Afghanistan, with Iran potentially
coming down the pike.
The m ore W ash in g to n can
equate terror with the residents of
those countries, the more public
acceptance it creates for assault
ing them.
This excuse works best if the
term "terror" remains pure and is
only attached to Muslims. Maybe
that's why it's not universally ap
plied to that Norwegian mass mur
derer or to Jared Lee Loughner, the
man who tried to assassinate Rep.
Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson and
managed to kill six bystanders in
stead.
Ever notice how many politi
cians and pundits refer to those
villains as "deranged," but not as
"terrorists"?
The "War on Terror" also gives
our government cover as it cracks
down on dissent within our bor
ders. Laws like the Patriot Act have
purposely multiplied opportunities
for harassing peaceful anti-war and
pro-environment groups without
recourse. The government is chan
neling George Orwell's 1984 when it
arrests people for giving "material
aid" to terrorists when they are just
trying to feed starving Palestinian
children or are organizing nonvio
lence training.
Be careful, therefore, when you
hear the term "terrorism" bandied
about.
A once-popular placard at anti
war marches satirically summed up
the problem. It asked "What's our
oil doing under their sand?"
OtherWords columnist William
A. Collins is a former state repre
sentative and a former mayor of
Norwalk, Conn.
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