(January 4, 2016 at 8:20 pm)Thumpalumpacus Wrote:Intimidation? I mean they haven't committed any violence. It's a peaceful protest, the only thing that makes it different from hippies sitting in in the redwoods is the guns. Even if you accept that, the comparison to ISIS is totally silly, actually kind of offensive. ISIS enslaves and beheads people. These guys haven't done anything like that.(January 4, 2016 at 7:01 pm)CapnAwesome Wrote: I don't know, comparing them to ISIS is pretty silly and obvious propaganda. They haven't done anything violent yet or terroristic yet. As for how they'd be treated if they were black, the black panthers did their marches armed quite frequently and weren't gunned down in mass. They were perceived as extremists, which they are, same with these guys. They are definitely extremists. But I don't think the idea that they'd be gunned down if they were black is backed up by much. A lone black man has a lot to fear from the cops, an armed group of them has less. That's just a silly statement that ignores the history (and modern times actually)
The OED defines terrorism as the use of violence or intimidation to achieve political goals.
They have committed a terrorist act, by definition.
That's aside from the point I was making though, which is that if the guys were Muslims or Black they would be killed. Now I can't speak for being Muslim, but Black protesters have done pretty similar armed demonstrations and not being massacred, as was implied in the first post. So I just think it's factually wrong to say that.