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What is Terrorism? On 16 April a tragic incident occurred in Blacksburg, Virginia, USA at Virginia Tech University. Usually Blacksburg is a sleepy scenic college town nestled in the hills of Southern Virginia. I’ve been to Blacksburg as my son attended Radford University which is next door to Virginia Tech.On the morning of 16 April as students were beginning to wake up and start a normal day of classes a gunman entered one of the co-ed residential dormitories shortly after 0700 hours and began shooting. Many students did not understand what exactly was happening and chaos reigned. Somehow this gunman managed to leave the dormitory and while the University was beginning to comprehend the incident which had taken place the gunman struck again….2 hours later. Circa 1000 hours he then entered one of the Engineering Department classrooms where he continued to wreck more havoc, destruction and death, ultimately killing himself. At last count 32 individuals have died from this senseless tragic incident. More remain in hospitals fighting for their lives. And hundreds remain in shock still unable to comprehend what has happened to their peaceful University.According to news reports the gunman has been identified as a South Korean student attending the University on a student visa. This student will go down in history as causing the most number of fatalities in an attack against an American educational institution.Yet to my surprise at least, I have not seen a news report in which he is referred to as a terrorist. In my view, his actions certainly appear to those of a terrorist whose intent was to purposely kill the innocent.Why is it that labels are quickly attached to some groups and not others? Why is the phrase “islamic terrorists” bandied about so causally yet when you look at the various incidents in the United States where a gunman has purposely killed innocents at schools, universities, shopping malls, post offices or the sniper of 2002 in the Washington, DC area..these people have been referred to as mentally unstable and/or deranged. I am just one small voice who enjoys blogging on the internet but if you ask me, the actions of this student at Virginia Tech certainly met the qualifications of terrorist. 8:43 AM - 4 Comments – 0 Kudos – Add Comment – Edit - Remove |
Filed under: America, islam, politics, religion, Saudi Arabia, terrorism
No, terrorism – by modern definition – requires a political agenda. The V. Tech rampage was just the action of a nutjob.
I agree with you but also believe that the actions of the “nutjob” in regards to Virginia Tech also managed to spark the fear of terror into many.
Not in too many; Americans are kind of numb to that sort of thing.
Numb perhaps until they themselves are in a “situation.”
If you view the other posts I have written which have the category of terrorism, you will see some comments I wrote in regards to an international book project initiated by Saudi Arabia on understanding terrorism. The book contains a compilation of papers from known analysts, authors, etc., from around the globe who write their definition of terrorism, the causes and remedies. While I tend to think that it is a collection of too many papers with repetitive words it is a good initiative on the part of KSA and worth reading (at ones own pace).