why is “murder” worse than “execution”? If you’ll notice, all the rabble rousers are saying Michael Brown was “executed”. Which implies he was sentenced and killed by the police officer.
Mr. Foley was executed. ISIS pronounced his sentence, and carried it out. No PC is involved.
And, the mail message sent to me said:
Re: James Foley execution video staged: experts From XXXXXXXX | 08/25/2014 11:17:43 AM PDT replied
tarheelswamprat: They are NOT committed by “militants”; they are done by terrorists.
What terrorist acts have they committed? Seems to me they are a militant group that executes prisoners. I see them killing civilians because they want the civilians dead, not that they are trying to instill “terror” to gain anything.
Doesn’t make them any better. But it does mean you can’t stop them by just giving into their demands.
Both your post and that of my mail correspondent demonstrate the degree that we have allowed our enemies, the Left and the Islamists, to shape and manipulate people's ability to even think about things by their perversions of language and the definitions and meanings of words. Words mean things, and if you allow your adversaries to redefine and twist those meanings then you lose the ability to even discuss things coherently.
First, murder and execution are not the same thing. Execution is the lawful taking of life by a legitimate, duly-constituted authority under the rule of law and with due process. ISIS is NOT a legitimate authority, government, nation state, member of the United Nations, etc. All they are is a group of men who have momentarily gained control over certain geographical areas and the people who inhabit them by force of arms and killing those who resist them. When they kill it is not execution because they have no legitimate authority to do so. It is murder. It matters not if they "pronounce" a "sentence" on someone before they kill them because they have no legitimate authority to do so, only the power.
Remember this: The reason that ISIS or the rabble rousers in MO want to use the term "execution" is to claim a legitimacy they do not merit. When you allow yourself to be suckered into using their unmerited terminology you enable and strengthen that dishonest and incorrect perception.
That other mind-boggling question of "What terrorist acts have they committed?" denotes a willful blindness to face reality. For example:
1. Beheading small children and putting their heads on poles for public display IS TERRORISM. These children were not executed, they committed no crimes, they couldn't even comprehend why they were being killed. They simply were terrified as they died and their killers put their heads on poles to frighten others into submission. These actions are the very definition of terrorism, and those who killed them are terrorists and murderers.
2. The crucifixion and beheading of captured Iraqi soldiers and displaying their bodies along the roads in order to frighten others into submission IS TERRORISM. Terrorism IS the deliberate use of violence to frighten and compel the surrender and submission of others.
3. The calculated raping of captured women and girls in order to frighten others into submission IS TERRORISM. That sort of terrorism has been used by conquerors throughout human history to instill fear and terror into defeated peoples.
4. The posting online of beheading videos is done in part in order to frighten opponents into submission. That IS TERRORISM.
I could go on, but the truth is that those who wish to evade facing the ugly reality of who and what our enemies are will continue to hide behind word games, twisted meanings and semantic sophistry. As long as we continue letting them redefine the terms of the debate to suit their agendas we'll continue to handicap ourselves and give them the advantage.
Executed... Murdered.... whats the difference? Mr. Foley has his head chopped off by a religious fanatic. No one is implying that it was legitimate, or carried out under the rule of law. I think the differentiation between those terms is the least of our problems. You really need to find some more serious PC things to get worked up about.