On 22 Jul 2005 12:08:14 GMT, Ian Johnston wrote in
cCUlhtvFIYkV-pn2-Njxhc0urG6Qh@localhost, seen in uk.railway:
On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 16:42:03 UTC, Ross
wrote:

: Without extremists, there is no terrorism.

Isn't that because /we/ define terrorists as extremists? The
terrorists themselves may think that what they are doing is quite
reasonable.

Yes. After all, it's the difference between terrorists and freedom
fighters - it depends on which side you're looking at it from.

I think we *can* class the terrorists (and I'm not just talking about
Al Qaeda) as extremists because they are outside the mainstream of
their own espoused system, they have to distort ("interpret") the
teachings of the system they espouse to justify their actions and
their actions do harm (physical, political or other) to their own
people more than to their enemy.


It would be so much easier if they went around in capes
and black masks carrying spherical bombs with long fizzing fuses...

And wearing name badges showing the organisation to which they
belonged:-

[Al-Qaeda]
[Hi! I'm name]
[Let me help you to paradise]

Sorry, that's probably a bit sick.

--
Ross, Lincoln, UK

We're *not* afraid
http://www.werenotafraid.com