Terrorism

Remember, remember, the fifth of November... in honour of the day, I was watching V for Vendetta. I won't summarise the movie here, but suffice to say that it focuses on the question of terrorism, one that I think it's wise to consider today, if at no other time.

We're all tired, I'm sure, of hearing that "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter", but it is certainly something we should all keep in mind. Terrorists, one would guess, cause terror — but whatever spin that terror is given, is it ever justified, even if the people on the receiving end are villainous beyond measure? Is physically violent terror any different from mentally-induced terror?

Most importantly, as Evey Hammond asks in V for Vendetta (and I'm paraphrasing), how is destroying a building meant to fix a country with a host of problems? And is asking a country to unite behind the destruction of the building any different than the government asking the country to unite in the face of a deadly pandemic?

So maybe we're all terrorists, establishment and anti-establishment alike. Because there's never going to be a "right" answer, as long as there are people on both sides of the divide. We can only make our voices heard and hope to achieve a solution that we can all live with, right?

In that vein, if you live in the US and are over 18, please, please go vote on Tuesday. It's the least you can do.