| Spanky |
03-06-2005 08:59 PM |
If the thunder don't get ya then the lightning will
Quote:
Originally posted by taxwonk
I would think that an intelligent guy like you would realize how incredibly stupid the phrase "homicide bomber" sounds. It's even more transparent and pathetic than "freedom fries."
It's stupid shit like this that makes me wonder if the structuralists weren't at least partly right. Because if they were, and if these examples are the best we can do to define the Iraq construct, we're fucked for generations.
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I don't really understand what you were trying to say, but under the threat from being expelled by the conservative club, I don't like the phrase "homicide bomber" either. It is simply less acurate than "suicide bomber". A homicide bomber is anyone that throws a hand grenade and kills someone. It is important to use the term suicide bomber because it demonstrates that someone was willing to throw away their own life to complete the act. Not being able to use the phrase like suicide bomber smacks of political correctness. Can you imagine how absurd it would be if we had to call Kamikazi pilots from WWII homicide pilots instead of suicide pilots - or their missions homicide mission and not suicide mission. I think people don't like to use the term suicide bomber because it shows these people have conviction. They may be misguided and have totally twisted reasoning, but people only sacrifice themselves for a cause if they have deep conviction. If we forget how deep their conviction is, we run the risk of understimating them, and you never want to underestimate your opponent. This reminds of when Bill Maher lost his show for saying that the pilots of the planes on 9-11 were not cowards. He was right. They were evil and twisted etc. but they were not cowards. Conservatives find political correctness scary because you can be branded a racist sexist, etc even for stating the facts. You should always be able to tell the truth. It is when the truth becomes dangerous to speak, that our civil liberties are most under threat. These people are suicide bombers and we just have to deal with the fact that these people believe so strongly for what they are doing that they are willing to sacrifice their lives. |
