Nonviolent Protest and Resistance Privileged

[abaris]

I think you're missing the obvious point that he's making, which is that the suicide bomber has made the justification inside his own head.

It's really not that difficult to understand, unless you're really trying hard not to. Justification, like most any other human thought process, is subjective, not objective.

There's another point to consider. When is an insurgent a freedom fighter, something to support, and when are they terrorists. I've seen some posts on the IRA as of late. Bad terrorists obviously, according to the OP. The Resistance in France during German occupation, I think hardly anyone would call them terrorists. Yet what's the real difference. Both are or were fighting for independence against what they considered an occupying force.

By the way, we had the same kind of narrative with the Mujahedins in Afghanistan against the Soviets. Not one of our media called them terrorists. They all were galant fighters. Yet once the Soviets were gone and they were still the same, fighting against what they considered a threat - us - they instantly turned into terrorists.