Terrorism in America: All About Definitions

In examining terrorism, it is always interesting to see who defines what and how they define it. After all, definitions make all the difference. The 1995 Oklahoma City bombing is widely accepted as a case of domestic terrorism. Similarly, the 2009 Fort Hood shooting is generally considered domestic terrorism. Sunday's shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin is stirring debate - the dividing lines between crime, hate crime, and terrorism.

From a foreign policy end, America is always worried about the leaders of minority and majority ethnic groups stirring hatred and inciting possible violence that could lead to war, or what we call these days low-level civil conflict. Meanwhile at home, we value our freedom of speech, even if that means that one group is allowed to express their hatred of another group. Perhaps America should look inward and examine itself within a foreign policy lens.

The potential for home-grown terrorism has existed for a long time. The Turner Diaries is one example of literature around for years (the specious Protocols of the Elders of Zion being another) that illustrates that the concerns America has when a Sunni-Shia clashes in the oil-rich eastern provinces of Saudi Arabia are reflective of concerns regarding violence and terrorism at home. America is no different in its subtexts; the impressive part being its ability to consistently move on, perhaps with the victims of terrorism and hate crimes being so subsumed by its high murder rate (both gun related and otherwise).

A scary thought within all this is perhaps the failure of basic cultural education - that it may be possible for a man with blind hatred and ambition to commit an act of terrorism against one group cannot distinguish it from an entirely different population. This incident speaks volumes about how globalization may be bringing the world closer in many facets, but perhaps not in the most important: understanding of one another.

Regardless of the definition one chooses to apply for terrorism, there has always been one overarching standard: you know it when you see it. In Wisconsin, we saw terrorism.