Monday, March 9, 2009

One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter?!

Author: Rover - roversterrain.blogspot.com

Often, regrettably, the terms terrorist and freedom fighters (or rebels) are used interchangeably by many, but these two terms are very distinct and should only be used in the correct context. For instance when discussing terrorism in Sri Lanka, major human rights agencies (like Human Rights Watc), ceasefire monitors (Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission) and international media (like BBC, AFP, REUTERS ect.) use these terms randomly, confusing the public about what terrorism actually is. Furthermore, a jaded cliché of those who justify terrorism (eg. MIA – Maya Arulpragasam) is “one man’s terrorist is another man’s’ freedom fighter”, a clear indication that they do not distinguish the two terms.

Confused public is a major problem, especially in democracies; since the democratic process depends heavily on how well informed the public and the representatives of the public are, to address crucial issues in governance. In other words, rule of the people, by the people, for the people is disrupted when the people are misinformed.

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