[pedonbio]

Sometimes smart people do stupid things. LBJ's War on Poverty.

Sometimes smart people do evil things. Nixon's War on (Some) Drugs.

Sometimes evil stupid people do evil stupid things. I'll let you fill in the blank.

[Hiram]

As soon as I saw the title to this thread I thought IRA.  They were indeed terrorists.  And what about the ETA?

[mofoapoo]

on a partial side note, do you guys think that they will ramp up their persecutions of Muslims/Arabs in the future?  The double standard being discussed in this thread doesn't seem as black and white...but it seems like it eventually will be.

[CarlTL]

Only if the wacky right (Glenn Beck and co) gain any power in the near future.

[CyberGump2]

History come full circle again... we make peace in one part of the world ... and war breaks out somewhere else.

The Muslim vs Christians / Jews war is nothing new we have been fighting each other in the name of religion/culture on and off now for nearly 700 years.

The fact is that the greatest threat to the western way of life today is seen as coming from Islamic extremists ...

The IRA were hated in the UK in the 1970s but with hindsight, even they look chivalrous compared to the 9/11 and 7/7 bombers , i.e the IRA would phone the authorities and warn of them that a bomb had been planted and tell them when it was due to go off.... hence the area could be evacuated
 

[Prophet_Tenebrae]

Guess we aren't talking about the IRA? Obviously, now guns have been traded for diplomacy and I doubt anyone thinks that's a bad thing. It's a good thing. A very good thing, in fact... but the USA has a big ol' blind spot when it comes to Ireland and terrorism.

So, in answer to the question - any hint of an Irish accent got you more than a glance at your passport in Britain for many years and is why we had rather strict security in airports... and why for over a decade London had the "wall of steel". So, Britain wasn't afraid to think white people might be terrorists. But we're pretty much past that and into the whole Muslim terrorist thing too.

[TheZookie007]

Here we go:

TPM: "Steve King To Conservatives: 'Implode' IRS Offices"

"Rep. Steve King (R-IA) told a crowd at CPAC on Saturday that he could "empathize" with the suicide bomber who last week attacked an IRS office in Austin, and encouraged his listeners to "implode" other IRS offices, according to a witness....

The staffer, who requested anonymity because she's not a communications specialist, said that King, an extreme right-winger with a reputation for eyebrow-raising rhetoric, appeared as a surprise guest speaker on an immigration panel at the conservative conference. During his closing remarks, King veered into a complaint about high taxes, and said he could "empathize" with the man who flew a plane into an IRS building last week.

During the question and answer session, the Media Matters staffer asked King to clarify his comment, reminding him of his sworn duty to protect the American people from all sworn enemies, foreign and domestic. In response, said the staffer, King gave a long and convoluted answer about having been personally audited by the IRS, and ended by saying he intended to hold a fundraiser to help people "implode" their local IRS office.

We've told you about other inappropriate responses to the bombing, which was carried out by Austin software developer Joe Stack, and in which one other person has so far died. But King's may take the cake...."

[PregNut]

Here's another good question: Why are non-white people never considered racists?

[TheZookie007]

Here's another good question: Why are non-white people never considered racists?

Because it was white people who set up the racial hierarchy in the first place, I guess.

[DruulEmpire]

PregNut, it's a question, but it's not a good one.  If you're only talking about whatever sliver of "The Media" you're aware of, I can't answer for that, but I personally will call a black (many of whom have been neighbors and coworkers) a racist.  In my experience, this stuff twists upon itself in absurdly ironic ways, like the time some haggling black customer told the Vietnamese family running my favorite corner store to "go back where you came from."  The trouble being, in the process of priding yourself on surely being a preciously rare white man addressing black racism, you can go overboard.  I love and admire my heavily Jewish neighborhood, but it was clear overhearing them as the election drew near that a few of them (Clinton loyalists to begin with) honestly believed Obama to be no more than Farrakhan in sheep's clothing.

I can say that Malcolm X was murdered by a dogma of black racism.  I can also say that Timothy McVeigh was a terrorist.

(*Druul takes this moment to check the contours of his head*)

Nope ... hasn't exploded yet.  

[Prophet_Tenebrae]

I think there's really just a white guilt thing about not wanting to assert that other ethnicities can be racist - especially if it's a different culture... just one of those things.

[mofoapoo]

The Muslim vs Christians / Jews war is nothing new we have been fighting each other in the name of religion/culture on and off now for nearly 700 years.

you can say that about almost any 2 groups.  There were long periods of peace.  Before the fall of the Ottoman Empire and WWI, Jews in Muslim nations were treated better than anywhere in the world.

The fact is that the greatest threat to the western way of life today is seen as coming from Islamic extremists ...

I completely disagree.  I think it's nations expanding their influences and corporate interests.  These 2 factors created modern Islamic extremists.  The Taliban and Al Quaeda had an increase in recruits during the war in Afghanistan and Iraq.  If the US and other nations that have historically exploited the region simply left these regions alone, extremist factions would simply dwindle and die off.

The IRA were hated in the UK in the 1970s but with hindsight, even they look chivalrous compared to the 9/11 and 7/7 bombers , i.e the IRA would phone the authorities and warn of them that a bomb had been planted and tell them when it was due to go off.... hence the area could be evacuated

Terrorism is terrorism.  The point of it is to instill fear.  As a lone guy, or a group, it's always terrorism.  Both groups wanted to create terror to get their agendas met.  You make a distinction, and you start moving down a slippery slope, especially when you say things like a certain type of extremism is going to destroy civilization.

[MaxBigfoot]

I think the topic question is incomplete.  It should be phrased, in my opinion, "Why are white people never considered terrorists, in countries whose populations are mostly white?".
Because I'm very sure there's some countries where white people are considered terrorists, or whatever those countries equivalent term is.

[Prophet_Tenebrae]

Quite mofoapoo - I don't really think the IRA are considered chivalrous because, guess what? Effective as it is, murdering people is generally a BAD THING.

They operated in a different way to the current brand of Islamic terrorists - which is to say, they did call in warnings and didn't seem to be too keen on blowing themselves up - but I'd imagine that knowing they had a sense of fair play is probably somewhat cold comfort to all the people that they murdered in cold blood. That's just a guess though - perhaps some people out there go "Well, they phoned in a warning - obviously my husband is still dead but they had a sense of fair play!"

If you wanted to be uber cynical, perhaps you could turn it around and say - hey, these Muslims terrorists might be murdering bastards who hate everything that the West stands for... but at least they're willing to man up and die for what they believe in and not just blow up a car like those Irish pussies.

Seems as rational as describing the IRA as chivalrous to me - because, y'know murderin' innocents is all kinds of that, right?

[TheZookie007]

I never did understand why the IRA would routinely let the authorities know that they'd placed a bomb somewhere. Sort of defeats the purpose of trying to have a random, unexpected attack, doesn't it?

And Max, I named this topic the way I did deliberately, if you go through my original post (and especially look at that cartoon) you get the sense I was going for. The immediate assumption being that in 2010 America, when you hear the word "terrorist" you are all too often expected to have the image of a non-white non-Christian male show up in your mind's eye, when as we all have been showing here, that just isn't always true.