There is no terrorism without terror.
If Bill Ayers was a "terrorist", who was terrorized?
I'm not defending him. Bombing public buildings is wrong, and even trying to do it when no people will get hurt is risky -- you might mess up and become a murderer.
But that's not the same as terrorism. Terrorism is about sowing fear: after 9/11, people were afraid to ride in airplanes or go up in tall buildings. That's terrorism: people feeling actual terror, which is, after all, part of the point (if you're a terrorist).
Did anyone walk the streets trembling because of this stuff in the 1960s and early 1970s? I don't get the feeling they were.
I'm not defending him. Bombing public buildings is wrong, and even trying to do it when no people will get hurt is risky -- you might mess up and become a murderer.
But that's not the same as terrorism. Terrorism is about sowing fear: after 9/11, people were afraid to ride in airplanes or go up in tall buildings. That's terrorism: people feeling actual terror, which is, after all, part of the point (if you're a terrorist).
Did anyone walk the streets trembling because of this stuff in the 1960s and early 1970s? I don't get the feeling they were.




