Enough of Political Correctness: Let's Call It What It Is!
Posted: Tuesday, April 07, 2009
by Nancy Daniels
Voice Dynamic
Last month Janet Napolitano, the newly-appointed Secretary of Homeland Security, was interviewed by the German magazine Der Spiegel. The interviewer stated that in her first statement to Congress as Secretary of Homeland Security, she never once mentioned the word terrorism. He asked her, "Does Islamist terrorism suddenly no longer pose a threat to your country?"
►Someone walking through an arid forest and dropping a lighted cigarette will possibly start a forest fire. This is stupidity. This is negligence. This is a man-caused disaster; but, this is not terrorism.
►Someone who falls asleep at the wheel of the vehicle will likely cause a deadly car accident. This is unfortunate. This is negligence. This is a man-caused disaster; but, this is not terrorism.
►Were I to try to put out an oil fire on my stove with water, it would be unfortunate. It would be stupid. It would be a man-caused disaster; but, it would not be terrorism.
In none of the above acts would I expect Homeland Security to be involved because none of these acts would have been intentional nor would they pose a threat to our country's security.
What happened on September 11th was intentional, was meant to take innocent life, and was designed to produce fear. While man-caused disasters and terrorism both produce destruction, devastation, and in many cases death, the intent is what differentiates the one from the other. What happened on 9/11 was far greater than disaster: it was terror.
If you look at the meaning of the word disaster and also its synonyms, i.e. calamity, catastrophe or cataclysm, the one word or phrase that points back to all four is misfortune or terrible misfortune. I never once regarded 9/11 as a terrible misfortune. I looked at it and was terrified, horrified, angry and frightened. I saw it for what it was – evil.
When our planes were hijacked for the purpose of intentionally killing thousands of innocent people, we called that terrorism. And, like it not, terrorism is evil. Any human being who intentionally and knowingly inspires fear in or causes harm to another human being is evil. And, terror is not something that just occurs by an extremist group. A parent who intentionally instills fear in a child and/or physically harms that child is evil.
I am angry that those in power are so concerned with political correctness that they are unwilling and unable in the words of Jack Bauer from 24, "to look evil in the eye and deal with it." Unfortunately, many of those in
As long as there are those intent upon the destruction of the infidel, evil will continue to rear its ugly head. Terror denotes fear and I find it frightening that Washington is unable to call it what it is.
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More commentsFantastic article, Nancy. It seems our new administration is trying to sugarcoat everything and appease those who want us dead. Scary stuff, and real.Your examples of man-made disasters compared to what is terrorism is spot on.Thank you Ken,The more I think about what is going on, the madder I get.Nancy
Nancy good job and yes you evidently can say it. You did an outstanding job. Now watch out you are attacking the president as well. After all he steers the ship.Thank you for commenting,Unfortunately, our 'captain' is steering us in the direction of a gigantic iceberg and, like the Titanic, I am afraid we are going to sink.Nancy
You are so totally right on target. And while Obama thinks that sitting down and talking rationally with these 'Terrorists', I hope he doesn't plan on turning his back on them in the process. Terrorists will be reasonable when Elephants can fly!Great article.SandraSandra,Thanks for making me smile. The problem, Sandra, is that there are a lot of people in this country who think elephants can fly.Nancy
Hi Nancy,Sounds to me like those in Washington are afraid to 'step on toes'. Instead of watching how nicely they say things they should be worried about the safety of our people.Thanks and well wishes,Deb V.Debra,Thank you for commenting. My fear is that when he decides to become concerned about our safety, it might be too late.Nancy
An absolutely excellent article Nancy. When I hear some ignorant crap like Janet Napolitano said, it just inspires me to call them terrorists more. Terror is their job. That is what they are out to do. They know they cannot destroy this country with a few deaths here and there, but if they can get us too frantic to function properly, we'll self destruct.Joel,Thank you...I can always count on you for some rooting! Now, if only we could do something about those darned pirates!NancyNancy, I can't help but believe they will regret the capture of the U.S. flag ship and their present action. France has just taken one ship from them although one hostage was killed and two of the pirates, but the bigger countries are tired of it and I believe some of them are going to suffer. It is time.Joel,You are right. Enough is enough. Basically we sit back and watch the pockets of these people scattered throughout the world dole out terror and we're afraid to call it what it is.NancyPS Happy Easter Joel!
Good article. Keep up the good work Nancy! Very nicely written.Chiradeep,Thank you and I wish you a Blessed Easter,Nancy
Excellent points, excellent article, thanks.Rev Michael Bresciani
Great article, i think a lot of people are scared to mention the word terrorism, they may think if they do not mention it, it might not happen. But just ignoring won't work, it is naivity.
Thank you for another great article. I too can't believe what is going on with the government and I hope that we the people can do something to change the direction things are going it. I'll have to check out the tea party too. Hopefully we the people will unite.Linda D
Hi Nancy.The whole issue of political correctness has been a thorn in my side for a long time. But to refuse to call a terrorist a terrorist really takes the cake. I also tend to take issue with the whole euphemism thing. All sugar coating things does is make us believe that things are better than they are. What's wrong with looking at the reality? If we did, we might just start fixing some of the things that are wrong.Great article! Well written! Thanks for your thoughts.Dianne
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