A Thought for a Thursday

I'm a bit indisposed today, so I am only up for a short post.

With that in mind, a quick thought: after 9/11 it's particularly important not to be promiscuous in our use of the word "terrorist". I was reading the other day about a radical environmental group that burned down several unoccupied homes that had just been erected somewhere. Maybe it was some endangered species habitat; I really don't remember. Anyway, the media referred to the wrongdoers as eco-terrorists.

They are not terrorists. They are vandals. They are arsonists. They are presumably felons. But terrorists are people who try to create, you know, terror. They are not people who make clear their intention not to harm or kill another human being.

We musn't allow the right wing to get away with this formulation.

That is all.