posted
Why does the current Administration call the suicide bombers in Israel "homicide bombers"? Isn't that sort of redundent? How do they plan to differentiate between remote bombings (where the weapon is left in a trash can or such, and detonated by remote control or timer while the builder/operator is a safe distance away) and a suicide bombing (where the builder/operator straps the weapon to himself and walks into a grocery store and blows him/herself up)?
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
I think they're being referred to as "homicide" rather than "suicide" because of the fact that homicide is the primary goal of their actions, and suicide is simply a side-effect. It's an attempt (albeit a pretty lame one) to deny the slimebags even the recognition or acknowledgement of their suicide.
-------------------- "The best defense is not a good offense. The best defense is a terrifyingly accurate and devastatingly powerful offense, with multiply-overlapping kill zones and time-on-target artillery strikes." -- Laurence, Archangel of the Sword
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Well, if a homicide bomber straps bombs to other people, a suicide bomber would blow himself up in the privacy of his own home. So, really, they're homicide/suicide bombers. Or homo-suicide bombers, but that'll just make people laugh.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
I bet Ari Fleischer thinks he's brilliant for coming up with that one. Absolutely brilliant. The fact that's it's an absolutely stupid term (as even Rob acknowleged) seems to have been quietly forgotten.
-------------------- "I was surprised by the matter-of-factness of Kafka's narration, and the subtle humor present as a result." (Sizer 2005)
Registered: Mar 1999
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Saltah'na
Chinese Canadian, or 75% Commie Bastard.
Member # 33
posted
quote:Originally posted by TSN: Well, if a homicide bomber straps bombs to other people, a suicide bomber would blow himself up in the privacy of his own home. So, really, they're homicide/suicide bombers. Or homo-suicide bombers, but that'll just make people laugh.
It's nice to die laughing.....
-------------------- "And slowly, you come to realize, it's all as it should be, you can only do so much. If you're game enough, you could place your trust in me. For the love of life, there's a tradeoff, we could lose it all but we'll go down fighting...." - David Sylvian FreeSpace 2, the greatest space sim of all time, now remastered!
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
"suicide" bomber, though, puts the focus on the perpetrator's death, rather than the deaths of the (generally) innocent people he/she takes with him/her, which is where the focus SHOULD be.
At least "homicide" bomber puts the focus where it should be. These people are murderers, not martyrs.
Of course, I still prefer calling them "murderous idiot" bombers, but that's too much of a mouthful for your everyday coiffed newsanchor.
-------------------- "The best defense is not a good offense. The best defense is a terrifyingly accurate and devastatingly powerful offense, with multiply-overlapping kill zones and time-on-target artillery strikes." -- Laurence, Archangel of the Sword
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Weird. And there I just was, posting on the dangers of PC terminology.
I don't condone what these people do. But the use of the term "Homicide Bomber" is actually a nice neat way to avoid some of the central issues here. We have got a situation where young people, many of them you guys' age or younger, who sometimes have had quite normal upbringings, yet feel required - by their religious beliefs, by the situation in the Middle East, by seeing no way out of the current cycle of hatred between Arab & Jew, whatever their reasons are - to blow themselves up and take as many of their enemy with them as they can.
That's a pretty powerful statement. And now you're trying to put spin on it so it's something else, something less threatening. Americans aren't good with suicide. Vietnam? Just a few monks setting themselves on fire, nothing to worry about. WWII? Maybe those Jap pilots just can't fly their planes very well.
Anyway, the suicide bomber phenomenon isn't going to go away just by calling them homicide bombers.
posted
Actually, something just occurred to me. A lesson was learnt from the Kamikaze pilots. It's something that was already known from the bloody island-to-island fighting, but it acted as a timely reminder - that invading Japan would be a costly affair. So we nuked them instead.
-------------------- "George Washington said, 'I cannot tell a lie.' Richard Nixon said, 'I cannot tell the truth.' Bill Clinton said, 'I cannot tell the difference.'"
-- comedian TOM SMOTHERS, from his latest stage act with brother DICK SMOTHERS.
Registered: Jan 2000
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posted
Now you know I didn't say that. Well, actually, it's not so much whether they should, but instead whether they would. Fortunately the Palestinians live right next door and a new Jewish settlement is being established on their land next Tuesday.
"'suicide' bomber, though, puts the focus on the perpetrator's death, rather than the deaths of the (generally) innocent people he/she takes with him/her, which is where the focus SHOULD be."
I would argue w/ that. The use of the word "suicide" points out that the people are killing themselves. The use of the word "bomber" points out that they're blowing up other people (or things, since it doesn't specify), too. If you say "homicide bomber", it sounds like they're doing nothing but bombing other people.
"These people are murderers, not martyrs."
Certainly looks to me like they're both.
[ June 25, 2002, 19:42: Message edited by: TSN ]
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Rather dated news, though. And you didn't even mention how, shortly after the White House switched to this term, Fox News jumped on it too. How's that for your international commie...er...right wing conspiracy?
Registered: Mar 1999
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