Terrorism and Evan Parker Philosophy
Evan Parker
Philosophy 101: Ethics
What Is a Terrorist?
“A terrorist is one who sows terror,” says Elshtain. She means that the victims of terrorist attacks are subjected to terror, or great fear. The purpose of subjecting a group of people to such fear varies but usually aims to destroy the morale of a people in its attempt at some religious, political, or ideological goal. Crucial features of inducing terror are its randomness and its attack on civilians as opposed to combatants. This elicits fear in every person because they are afraid for their personal safety in their day to day lives, as opposed to fearing only for our soldiers. To determine who is a terrorist, we must ask who they are attacking. Do they mainly target combatants in the field or bases, do they try to destroy military equipment and are they open to negotiations? If so, we should not label them terrorists for simply being enemy combatants. However, if they are deliberately targeting noncombatants with the intention of killing as many civilians as possible, they are clearly terrorists. The author holds that there is a “nihilistic edge to terrorism” as their goals are for brutal destruction in some hope of ludicrous utopian goals. She also compares the training videos of our U.S. military with that of one Islamic radical terrorist group. The U.S. military training videos teach our soldiers to distinguish combatants from noncombatants, called the principle of discrimination, and to disobey illegal orders under the laws of war which have evolved from the just war tradition and have become international conventions and arrangements. The terrorist training video however, depicts the decapitation of enemies who had already been disarmed which is forbidden
by the laws of war and is morally reprehensible. They go on to convince these radicals that they are killing in the name of god, or Allah, and that the enemies fight for Satan. Central to her argument is that these extremists hate us for what
Philosophy 101: Ethics
What Is a Terrorist?
“A terrorist is one who sows terror,” says Elshtain. She means that the victims of terrorist attacks are subjected to terror, or great fear. The purpose of subjecting a group of people to such fear varies but usually aims to destroy the morale of a people in its attempt at some religious, political, or ideological goal. Crucial features of inducing terror are its randomness and its attack on civilians as opposed to combatants. This elicits fear in every person because they are afraid for their personal safety in their day to day lives, as opposed to fearing only for our soldiers. To determine who is a terrorist, we must ask who they are attacking. Do they mainly target combatants in the field or bases, do they try to destroy military equipment and are they open to negotiations? If so, we should not label them terrorists for simply being enemy combatants. However, if they are deliberately targeting noncombatants with the intention of killing as many civilians as possible, they are clearly terrorists. The author holds that there is a “nihilistic edge to terrorism” as their goals are for brutal destruction in some hope of ludicrous utopian goals. She also compares the training videos of our U.S. military with that of one Islamic radical terrorist group. The U.S. military training videos teach our soldiers to distinguish combatants from noncombatants, called the principle of discrimination, and to disobey illegal orders under the laws of war which have evolved from the just war tradition and have become international conventions and arrangements. The terrorist training video however, depicts the decapitation of enemies who had already been disarmed which is forbidden
by the laws of war and is morally reprehensible. They go on to convince these radicals that they are killing in the name of god, or Allah, and that the enemies fight for Satan. Central to her argument is that these extremists hate us for what