[extropy-chat] Alert for Suspicious Farmers' Almanacs

[Adrian Tymes]

--- Mike Lorrey <mlorrey at yahoo.com> wrote:
> --- Adrian Tymes <wingcat at pacbell.net> wrote:
> > Terrorism has a definition.
> > http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=terrorism
> > cites Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary,
> 1998
> > version:
> > 
> > > The act of terrorizing, or state of being
> > > terrorized; a mode of government by terror or
> > > intimidation.
> 
> This is an irrelevant definition. The only important
> one is that
> defined in the Geneva Conventions:

Terrorism, and its definition, have changed over the
years.

> a) engaging in acts of violence or threats of
> violence against
> civilians, while,
> b) not wearing a uniform that distinguishes the
> combatant from a
> civilian, and/or,
> c) seeking shelter in civilian communities or
> facilities (except for
> seeking health care in hospitals).

Hmm.  You know, technically, President Bush and
certain members of his Cabinet (and some members of
Congress)...
a) make speeches that could be interpreted as threats
of violence (by police, uniformed or otherwise)
against civilians (by threatening that the civilians
could be labelled "terrorists", "illegal combatants",
or whatever else would incite others to take away
their rights by potentially violent means),
b) more often than not, do not wear uniforms while
making these speeches (unless business suits are
"uniforms"; they definitely don't typically classify
people as combatants), and
c) seek to be in civilian communities and facilities a
fair amount of the time (unless the Secret Service, by
following the President et al around, automatically
makes wherever they are a non-civilian community or
facilitiy for the duration of their presence).

> Conversely, the actions of the ATF and FBI against
> the Davidian
> compound in Waco were terrorism because the ATF
> initiated violence.
> While Koresh violated unconstitutional laws, he did
> not preach the
> overthrow of any government, he only predicted what
> did happen, would
> happen.

As has been pointed out, the ATF and FBI were wearing
uniforms at the time.  The same argument applies to
all uniformed police officers.  One could very well
argue that the police, at least while in uniform, are
closer to military status legally than most
civilians.  (And note that on-duty police usually do
not seek shelter in civilian facilities; they may do
business there, but they're on duty, going where their
duty calls them to be.  They "seek shelter" in marked
cars and buildings designated as police stations.)