Terrorism

Ha, a new post so soon after saying I wouldn't be doing many more posts this summer. Still, this is something that has been really annoying.

Looking up the word "terrorism", the first definition that popped up was:

1. the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, esp. for political purposes.

Okay, so that seems simple enough, right? Now, I don't like getting political, but I think I'm going to have to. No matter how you feel about abortion, I think you should believe it is wrong that Dr. George Tiller was murdered a short time ago. He provided late abortions, and was one of three doctors in the US who did, and for what he did, was shot by a radical anti-abortion agent. Now, whatever my personal beliefs about abortion, I believe murder, for any cause, is wrong. If I believed that Tiller was murdering babies (which I don't), that would be wrong, but it doesn't make it right to kill him. Especially since the law is on his side. Now, let's look at that word again: terrorism. Since September 11, 2001, there has been a lot of talk about terrorism. The radical Al Qaeda members and other groups from the Middle East have tried to intimidate the US and the West in general, in order to further their own agendas. The current look of "terrorist" in our minds is a robed, turban-wearing, Arabic man, with a beard, who uses suicide bombs to kill innocent people in order to get into heaven and have lots of virgins waiting. But, that isn't the only terrorist around. There are also home-grown terrorists. The radical anti-abortion people used violence in this case, and lots of threats in others, to intimidate and coerce the pro-choice movement into stopping giving abortions to women who do not want to have children. Very simply, what they are doing is terrorism. They are terrorizing the men and women who, obeying the law, have been providing their services in performing abortions. Basically, the radical anti-abortion movement are terrorists, in using threats and violence to get their way and terrorizing people who have different beliefs. Whether or not you believe that abortion is wrong or right, at least try and see that murder and terrorism aren't the best way to get what you want.