Shifting the terror frame.
If you get as tired as I do of the whole "terrorist, terrorist, they want to kill us, can't be reasoned with.." line of thinking and the subtle racism found in to whom and how the "T word" is applied, maybe its time to shift the frame. If corporate interests are going to sic their boys in Washington on environmental activists and forest defenders and start flogging "Eco-Terrorism" around, (Rep. Scott McInnis [R-CO] is yapping about "These are hardened criminals. They are dangerous, they are well-funded, they are savvy, sophisticated and stealthy, and if their violence continues to escalate, its only a matter of time before their parade of terror results in a lost human life.", and James F. Jarboe's [FBI] schpiell to McInnis's "Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health" is worth a read too.), I think we need to be talking about acts of violence by Anti-Choice extremists and White Supremicist hater groups as well.
Which is why I was so glad to stumble upon this article (by fellow Hampshire College Alum Jenn Pozner), "The Terrorists Who Aren't in the News", focusing on media coverage of actis of violence against abortion providers.
Here's an excerpt:
On Sept. 11, 2006, the fifth anniversary of the terror attacks that devastated our nation, a man crashed his car into a building in Davenport, Iowa, hoping to blow it up and kill himself in the fire.
No national newspaper, magazine or network newscast reported this attempted suicide bombing, though an AP wire story was available. Cable news (save for MSNBC's Keith Olbermann) was silent about this latest act of terrorism in America.
Had the criminal, David McMenemy, been Arab or Muslim, this would have been headline news for weeks. But since his target was the Edgerton Women's Health Center, rather than, say, a bank or a police station, media have not called this terrorism -- even after three decades of extreme violence by anti-abortion fanatics, mostly fundamentalist Christians who believe they're fighting a holy war.
If were going to talk about terrorism, lets talk about all of it.
Which is why I was so glad to stumble upon this article (by fellow Hampshire College Alum Jenn Pozner), "The Terrorists Who Aren't in the News", focusing on media coverage of actis of violence against abortion providers.
Here's an excerpt:
On Sept. 11, 2006, the fifth anniversary of the terror attacks that devastated our nation, a man crashed his car into a building in Davenport, Iowa, hoping to blow it up and kill himself in the fire.
No national newspaper, magazine or network newscast reported this attempted suicide bombing, though an AP wire story was available. Cable news (save for MSNBC's Keith Olbermann) was silent about this latest act of terrorism in America.
Had the criminal, David McMenemy, been Arab or Muslim, this would have been headline news for weeks. But since his target was the Edgerton Women's Health Center, rather than, say, a bank or a police station, media have not called this terrorism -- even after three decades of extreme violence by anti-abortion fanatics, mostly fundamentalist Christians who believe they're fighting a holy war.
If were going to talk about terrorism, lets talk about all of it.
posted by andy at 10:48 AM
3 Comments:
There's a different kind of Eco-terrorism as well, the kind that I practice. I have been brutally terrorizing a small houseplant systematically for months now. Oh if plants could talk. But still my demands have not been met, and I continue. Who can stop me?
hehe, oh, and check this out - outrageous. how can anyone take these people seriously?
im worried about you ben. you are clearly well-funded (you have a job), savvy (college educated even), sophisticated (like all them NYC types) and stealthy (aka "skinny"), and if your violence continues to escalate, its only a matter of time before your parade of terror results in a dead houseplant.
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