One man's terrorist...

This administration, like many before it, has manipulated all-encompassing and ill-defined buzz words for use as propaganda to forward a militant agenda. Critics have exhausted the subject (See/hear "War Made Easy" by Norman Solomon), though still not to the point where the American public immediately recognizes the spin. The drum-beating against Iran must not be another case in point.

I won't belabor the point or make any Orwell references. But I just find it an interesting anecdote that even Thesaurus.com can demonstrate the dangerous ambiguity of the word "terrorist."

Main Entry: anarchist
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: insurgent
Synonyms: agitator, insurgent, insurrectionist, malcontent, mutineer, nihilist, rebel, revolter, revolutionary, terrorist
Antonyms: loyalist

Demonized and misunderstood (Chomsky identifies as an anarchist). Also interesting that "revolutionary" is a synonym. The Founders would be terrorists by this definition.

Main Entry: dictator
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: ruler
Synonyms: absolutist, adviser, autocrat, baron, boss, caesar, caliph, chief, commander, czar, despot, disciplinarian, duce, emir, fascist, kaiser, lama, leader, lord, magnate, martinet, master, mogul, oligarch, oppressor, overlord, rajah, ringleader, sachem, shah, sheik, slave driver, strongman, sultan, taskmaster, terrorist, tycoon, tyrant, usurper

Suprisingly suggests the suppressed notion of state directed terrorism.

Main Entry: enemy
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: foe
Synonyms: adversary, agent, antagonist, archenemy, asperser, assailant, assassin, attacker, backbiter, bad guy, bandit, betrayer, calumniator, competitor, contender, criminal, crip, defamer, defiler, detractor, disputant, emulator, falsifier, fifth column*, foe, guerrilla, informer, inquisitor, invader, meat, murderer, opponent, opposition, other side*, prosecutor, rebel, revolutionary, rival, saboteur, seditionist, slanderer, spy, terrorist, traducer, traitor, vilifier, villain
Antonyms: ally, benefactor, friend, supporter

The broadest possible definition, and the one we know all too well--you're with us, or you're against us.

Bill Moyers eloquently expressed indignation over this language appropriation:

Day after day, the egalitarian creed of our Declaration of Independence is trampled underfoot by hired experts and sloganeers, who speak of the "death tax," "the ownership society," "the culture of life," "the liberal assault on God and family," "compassionate conservatism," "weak on terrorism," "the end of history," "the clash of civilizations," "no child left behind." They have even managed to turn the escalation of a failed war into a "surge," as if it were a current of electricity through a wire, instead of blood spurting from the ruptured vein of a soldier.

Soj's DKos diary takes us through a 200 year history of "terrorism."

My point here is obviously that at one time or another all of these things occurred and were (or still are) supported by people using the rhetoric that anyone who opposes it is aiding the enemy or being unpatriotic.

I used the word "terrorist" because that's the current name for the "bad guys". At various other times in history the "bad guys" were known as "Communists", "Socialists", "labor agitators", "Japanese Americans", "German Americans", "British", "Indians", "traitors" and a variety of other terms.