Terrorism

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Terrorism is defined by The Free Dictionary as "the calculated use of violence (or threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature; this is done through intimindation or coercion or instilling fear."

In 1982 it was identified by Edward Abbey as meaning "deadly violence—for a political and/or economic purpose—carried out against people and other living things, and is usually conducted by governments against their own citizens (as at Kent State, or in Vietnam, or in Poland, or in most of Latin America right now), or by corporate entities such as J. Paul Getty, Exxon, Mobil Oil, etc etc., against the land and all creatures that depend upon the land for life and livelihood." [1]

"In the sublime days before 11 September 2001, when the powerful were routinely attacking and terrorising the weak, and those dying were black or brown-skinned non-people living in faraway places such as Zaire and Guatemala, there was no terrorism. When the weak attacked the powerful, spectacularly on 9/11, there was terrorism."—John Pilger American Terrorist also [2]

"Terrorism does not spring full-grown from the head of a beast. It grows out of popular discontent, and in this case allied with religious fanaticism. We can do little to alter how people affiliate religiously. But we can do something about helping to ameliorate the discontent."—Bernard Weiner

"It is absurd to suppose that a human being sitting around suddenly stands up and says: 'You know, I hate freedom. I think I'll go blow myself up'."—Charley Reese

Terrorism is a methodology. Is it also an ideology?

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