‘Eco-terrorism’: Arson v. satire 0

There's a lot of good stuff in Pat Morrison's op-ed on the overuse of the word "terrorism." Like this:

From the White House to the soccer pitch, "terrorist" has "cooties" and "your mother wears combat boots" flat beat as the top playground potty-mouth slur for the 21st century.

Who's surprised? The Bush administration has been scattering the word like ticker tape on a Manhattan parade. Old McDonald left the farm for the NSA, and now it's here a terrorist, there a terrorist, everywhere a terrorist.

I couldn't agree more about the politically driven cheapening of the word. But he also makes a good point about environmental activism:

Osama bin Laden has said that he fears mockery more than death. If eco-protesters want to do some real damage, they should give up arson and take up ridicule. Don't torch those SUVs; put a cardboard cutout of Bin Laden in the passenger seat of an H2, and one of Dubya in the driver's seat beside him, then alert the media.

Hm ... sounds like something I've heard before ...

(Some other good stuff on eco-terrorism from Renee Downing and Randy Serraglio.)

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