Discussion: Terrorism, Israel, Hamas, etc

[Lingyis]

ssj12 said:

Lingyis said:
well, just a reminder, back in the days, say the 19th century, "first-world" countries were often called imperialists.

we've seen great progress since then. not to say that there aren't underhanded activities by powers like US, UK or France that undermine small governments in places like Africa and South America, but things have changed a lot. indeed, we witnessed it in the almost-universal hate towards bush's foreign policies.

in my mind, terrorism pretty much has to mean the destructive action of a group of minority against the establishment. that means, in my book, a lot of things would qualify for terrorism, but when a major power commits "terrorism", i would categorize that as imperialism.

as far as enemies are concerned, i agree with you. the bottom line is, history is written by the winner. it has always been the case, and it will continue to be the case.

While it is/can be destructive, there a meaning behind the attacks something that most people in the attacked nations seem to tune out. Most of the time it isnt as extreme as Osama wants but more of a statement of that actions within a nation doesnt comply with the way we want the nation to be or how a nation feels it should be treated.

One of Hamas's reasons for attacking Israel is because they feel mistreated which is true. Israel treats them like crap. Israel has stated they only hired the Palistinians as basically slaves or low level workers. They are not even willing to give the the chance to better themselves.

 

 

i'm not saying there's not a meaning behind attacks.  indeed, the palestinian cause on many levels is essentially a resistance movement, which has occurred throughout history.  just so happens that back then people didn't really have modern weapons to cause the destruction they are capable of today.

on the flip side, israel is in itself also a resistance movement.  how would a country feel when it is surrounded by nothing but enemies?  it's just that it's been victorious over and over again, thanks in no small part to the united states of course, but that's a different story.  and again, on the flip side, without US support, israel certainly would have been wiped off the middle east map decades ago.

just so happens that "terrorism" these days are so heavily linked to religious fundamentalism.  although thankfully, we're seeing the term increasingly being used for activists' actions as well, thus bringing to the public a broader awareness of the term.