And They Manage Not To Use The Word "Terrorist" At All!

[CapnAwesome]

It's funny how both sides of the politically ally both complain that not enough people are labeled as terrorists. Right wing people started this crap and now the left wing decided that it's also good to label every mass killer as a terrorist. I'm old enough to remember when nobody considered any mass shooter to be a terrorist. Considering that you get special prosecutorial powers and special detaining powers against terrorists, I can see the appeal for those in charge. Why everyday citizens what more people to be labeled as terrorists is beyond me. I think we'd be better off using the label, and the additional powers that go with it in as limited a manner as possible or getting rid of it and the 'war on terror' altogether. Once that was a popular idea, now even good well meaning left wing people want to expand the war on terror.

Its a frightening world.

I think the issue is that the label "terrorist" is slung about in an inequitable manner, with it being far more likely to be hung on Muslim murderers rather than non-Muslims here. It's not that people "want more people to be labeled as terrorists", it's that people want the term to be applied fairly.

I think people have not thought it through though. There are very real world consequences to the label of terrorism. Terrorists can be detained indefinitely, their travel can be restricted just based on suspicions, politicians of various stripes want to shut down terrorist websites, and so on and so forth. People concerned about civil liberties should be in favor of a very strict limited view of who is a terrorist, especially with Trump in the office. In fact 10 years ago the normal dialog on Atheist forums and in left wing groups was that a war on terror was unnecessary and irrational. Now instead your see the argument that more people need to be labeled as terrorists and in fact I almost never see the former argument at all.

If you are concerned about the fairness of it, you can easily make the argument that some Muslim attacks are not terrorism. Either that argument is too hard to make, or the Authoritarianism that has obviously taken hold of the right has also taken hold of the left as well.

Personally I would never sacrifice a single civil liberty in the name of fairness of labeling, which seems irrelevant at the best.