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Is Rhetoric About Terrorism The Problem?
Oxblog’s Patrick Porter writes:
After 9/11, Bush should not have called America’s campaign against terrorism a war. This is the view of a range of some powerful minds, from historians John Mueller and Michael Howard to ethicist Michael Walzer, from pundit James Fallows to several of my colleagues.
So its probably a hard task to disagree. However. I would respectfully argue that for all the problems that come with the term, it is a war.
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One Response to “Is Rhetoric About Terrorism The Problem?”
Very interesting.
What I note in this case, as in all debates, no matter the level of erudition, is that everyone presents a self-contained argument, encompassing every aspect of the subject. World views are always exclusionary: either A is true or B is true, but never both A and B, mixed in different proportions
That approach may actually serve well as a starting point, but I’m always disappointed when that’s where a discussion ends: with separate presentations having no meeting points.
As a reader, I’m glad to be able to do what those in a discussion won’t. I can learn that even opposing arguemtns can each contain an amount of insight and wisdom
This era of Islamic fundamentalism and warfare by terror will be analysed and re-analysed for decades, even centuries. The West is having to deal with something entirely foreign to it, as represented by Al Queda. I’m not surprised that we are still in the first stages of learning how to deal with it, both mentally and in battle.
This was a good lesson along the way.