Is Terrorism Always Bad? – Tom L
The basis of this argument is from when I was in year 9 and we had a debate over whether suffragettes where terrorists or not, my memory recalls that I was debating against the statement and I lost the debate, so with this childhood trauma in mind, I will now proceed to show you how some cool things came from Terrorism. However, this is not me saying that everything founded by terrorism is great, just that some stuff was. Also, I do not condone acts of terrorism, so don’t try this at home.
The FBI define terrorism as ‘the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government’ Which is what the suffragettes did. One of the great suffragettes was Emmeline Pankhurst, who helped lead the campaign of bombing major infrastructure throughout 1912-1914. Emily Wilding Davison jumped in-font of the king’s horse and died from her injuries four days later. Both of these women have done unlawful acts of violence to coerce the government into giving women the right to vote. Now, rightly so, we treat both individuals like heroes, and we learn about the Suffragettes in school, showing how great things do come from terrorism.
Secondly, in June 1215 the Magna Carta was signed by King John, this basically meant that he even as a king was not above the law itself. The Barons who rebelled used force to get their way and intimidate King John into signing it. Nowadays people see the Magna Carta as the foundation of equality in the UK, however like the Suffragettes, the Barons had to use means of terrorism to get their way.
Nelson Mandela, although he believed in peaceful negotiations, was frustrated at its lack of progress, and thereby turned to supporting acts of violence in means to get equality in South Africa. This terrorism is seen now as a good thing in many regards, and it did bring about change, in 1994 he was elected president which shows you just how much terrorism can result in good outcomes.
In summary, I do not condone terrorism, I just believe that many great things have come about as a result of it, but I don’t like the Taliban.
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