Is Terrorism And Extremism Really A Bad Thing?
It may sound like a ridiculous question, and I'd normally be inclined to agree with you, but not today.
You see, we when we think of "Terrorism" we think of Shootings, stabbings, bombings, etc, against innocent, or mostly innocent complacent individuals that do not really deserve to die or be harmed.
When we think of "Extremism" we think of people who are radical in their beliefs, often religious, and which demand to force their ideology onto others and more-so dictate how they live their lives.
But is that all there is to Terrorism and Extremism?
No way!
Sure, we can agree that killing innocent people is bad, or hurting them, and thus many "Terrorist" groups such as ISIS, or this splinter/fork of ISIS, Boko Haram, are bad and shouldn't be doing much of the things they do.
While I will likely go into that later in another post, I will leave that be for now. Innocent people shouldn't be hurt or killed, ideally, and purposely doing so is unredeemable.
But I'd like to talk about a different type of "Terrorist" and "Extremist" today. One that is not fueled by national pride, religion, or any sort of controlling desires, but instead one that is fueled by compassion.
Yuh-oh, how could making someone afraid or hurting another person/entity be compassionate?!
Huh, why are there masked friends holding cute bunnies?
Meet the ALF, the #1 domestic Terrorist group in the USA. Many of their members have went away for many years, many well over a decade, doing one thing and one thing only: Putting their life on the line to save another life. They've burned down animal testing facilities, smashed hundreds of computers, rescued thousands of small rodents, rescued a few monkeys, dozens of cows, pigs, and the list goes on.
Oh wait, did I forget? They also rescued dozens of beagles and cute puppy's from animal testing facilities!
So have they killed anybody, hurt anybody, threatened the lives of innocent people? No, there's never been a single death or injury attributed to them (aside from financial/property). They respect all life.
So, back to the question: Is terrorism and extremism really a bad thing?
You tell me. Do you think it's bad to be extremely passionate about something you believe in, and stand up for what is right, even putting your safety on the line to stop oppression?
And for the big question, if you're still not convinced, look at this last picture and answer my final two questions to you, silently in your head or in the comments down below.
Would it be wrong to be an extremist when it comes to banning slavery?
Would it be wrong to damage the slave owners property (not slaves) or otherwise terrorize them, even downright assaulting them directly?
I for one say no, it is not wrong to hurt someone who is hurting others if there is no other way to stop them and they refuse to change.
I say screw that slave masters feelings, his slaves are NOT his slaves and they are NOT property for him to own.
He SHOULD be afraid, and anyone making that slave master afraid is doing so rightfully so and deserves nothing more than some hard earned appreciation.
The government and the Capitalist will call anything that threatens their hegemony or the status quo that they built up terrorism as to try to rally support against and justify further abuses against those they oppress.
I, for one, support my radical, terroristic, Extremist, masked brothers and sisters in the good fight to a better world and a better place for the ones you love, from Rojava and their struggles against Asaad and ISIS to the ALF and their struggles against the cruel animal neo-slavery industry, to even some of my anarchists who express their feelings through smashing property and making corporate wallets scream.
You're all heroes.
Disclaimer: I am not undermining the events that happened during slavery, if you're one to think that; and if you do think that I'd seriously encourage you to tell me why you're undermining the animal holocaust and general mistreatment of them, not to mention other things I have mentioned.
As always, raw, unscripted, unplanned, no proof-reads, just what my hands decided to place into the story box today.
Picture 1: http://www.newsweek.com/boko-haram-isis-nigeria-554112
PIctures 2 and 3: http://www.animalliberationfront.com/
Picture 4: http://sites.austincc.edu/caddis/slavery/
Slight correction, the definition of terrorism, correctly applied, shows us that the number one terrorist group in the U.S.A. is the federal government. Using fear to make political change is the ONLY thing that politicians do.
Exactly, that was going to be something I'll probably end up discussing another time.
The biggest terrorists are the very ones claiming others are terrorists (typically), and usually those who are labeled as terrorists are simply freedom fighters and rebels who fight for the people rather than the state.
I remember back during the last major Gaza bombing from Israel bb said something along the lines of every death they cause through bombings is justified, as everybody killed was a terrorist or would become one.
While Hamas is labeled as the terrorist group, and they are not the best, the real terrorist is the Israeli government.
The governments have always been the true terrorists.
The term terrorism originated with the French revolution and it's original meaning was government by terror.
Now isn't that ironic; I forgot about that.
That's how every western government rules, and really essentially every single one does through the police, the "justice" system, the whole lot; all of what they've built up to separate you blaming the king, the capitalist elite, but rather yourself as you're told you're in a democracy and that the people chose these wretched behaviors and systems.
The democracy thing is a lie too, at least in the U.S.A.. We live in a constitutional republic. The founding fathers even warned about democracy being 'rule by the mob', which invariably ends in catastrophe almost as bad as pure communism.
Opps I accidentally categoriezed it as vegan primarily when it definitely should be one of the other three.
Silly me!
I'd see if you can delete it and repost it, not sure, there might be a button in edit or you can blank it all out and paste it into a new article, definitely great post btw!
There's no delete function thanks to the based block-chain, and editing it won't get rid of the post I believe, so I'll just leave it alone.
At least I didn't mis-tag it completely, but it's still a bit misleading. At least now I'll probably remember to pay attention to which tag is first.
I think there is a delete function, I have seen people delete comments. Yup a button appears next to the comment for a few minutes, next to delete.
This is a really great article with a very important theme telling us to question everything, thank you for sharing this and if you keep this kind of quality up you're going to find a nice follow on here.
Thanks mate, that's the plan; quality over quantity, even if other users advise to post more as then you have more exposure, I say screw exposure if you aren't providing value and making people really think.
Besides good quality means you attract good quality followers and friends, many of which are probably whales or similar.
You've got a great attitude, and I completely agree :D
I love the people who free animals from testing facilities. They are heroes. Actually, your VEGAN tag is what initially drew me to this post, as I am a vegan. Most of the great philosophers and other highly intelligent minds over the course of history have advocated treating animals well, and even being vegetarian/vegan. Even Benjamin Franklin gave up meat for a while.
I've noticed very smart people tend to be disproportionately vegan, as do wealthier folks tend to be.
Maybe it's due to education, or maybe the smarter you are the more likely you're going to actually care about things; from your body, to the planet, to simply finding it absurd to hurt somebody/something else when you don't need to.
Well, wealth has definitely been a come-and-go thing with me over the years. Sometimes I have it, and sometimes I'm scrounging under the seats of my car for change to go buy a vegan bean burrito at Taco Bell. :) It goes back and forth, but I can't stand to work for anyone else, so I have to go with the uncertainties and ups and downs of being an entrepreneur.
However, I AM educated. I have a Master's degree in Political Science, and used to teach college, before I got tired of working for someone else. I actually started out being vegetarian during my junior year of college, then went vegan in grad school.
My brother went vegan when working on his Ph.D., and my middle step-son, who always made fun of me for being "weird" because I was a vegan, went vegan himself in college. Maybe education does have something to do with it. It's an interesting thing to ponder.
I think it correlates nicely, but of course not everyone fits in that category.
Poor now, raised poor, always was poor, dropped out of school when I finished 5th grade and never really attended as a genuine student ever again.
But hey, I'm an obscurity, so that's understandable :^)
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This was such an interesting read. I had a good giggle at the ALF holding the bunnies~ I think labeling the ALF and other like-minded extremist groups as "Terrorists" may be exaggerating a tad bit; but they ARE labeled as such with the FBI.
Anywho, keep up the writing!!! :)
Thanks mate, I will~
I say the FBI are the real terrorists, they save 0 bunnies a year!