• waz@feddit.uk
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      4 days ago

      Que? Terrorists didn’t exist before ‘01? The IRA being the most famous organisation probably in English speaking territories through the 70s and into the 00s wouldn’t be part of their history being from earth? I’m confused

      • jaybone@lemmy.zip
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        4 days ago

        Maybe they are young? It certainly existed before 01. But it was after 9/11 that it became a buzzword that was over applied constantly.

        Like some guy shoots up his office? Terrorism? No he’s just a nut. Traditionally terrorism had some kind of political or social component to it.

        • Thebeardedsinglemalt@lemmy.world
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          4 days ago

          Of course it did. After 2001 every white nutball used terrorist as a synonym for pretty much any male from the middle east.

          But then again the rightwingers who show up in masks with guns to harass gay pride events, or who were sending threats and intimidating poll workers in 2020 and 2024 would simply be called patriots by the same group of white nut balls.

      • 𞋴𝛂𝛋𝛆@lemmy.world
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        4 days ago

        I recall the IRA was framed differently from within the USA. It was a religious thing. Like some kind of continuation of the American Revolution, or some insanity like that. It also probably justified US meddling elsewhere in the world to similar effect. Gaddafi’s supply of arms is exactly the same kind of thing as the US did in many other places. So labeling that activity terrorist in the media might be politically inconvenient in the USA. It is only terrorism if you’re the country on the receiving end, freedom fighters on the other, and political calculus from outside.