I’m pretty far out on the radical fringe, but this title is too sensationalized even for me.
Usually this is just an indicator that you aren’t actually on the radical fringe. Not trying to contradict your point or anything, but this is a sort of overton window-shifting rhetorical tactic that gets on my nerves because it actually works against a movement. Even if you didn’t realize you were doing it.
Regarding the opinion on terror rhetoric though, I do think it’s a fine strategy to call what cars do to our street like terrorism. It’s usually not definitional political terrorism (Usually), but the situation we have today required political choices which have resulted in actual terror on our streets. It’s a bold choice of words, and sometimes you have to be bold to hammer home a point.
And on that count… It should be “crash”, not “accident”. “Accident” partially aliviates blame and suggests an inevitability.
I think the problem here is that terror and terrorism are quite different things. Saying car terrorism implies the intention is to cause mass terror. You can’t really accidentally or unknowingly commit a terrorism. Call cars death machines or a scourge, but calling them terrorists seems inaccurate, and maybe more importantly, not useful. It seems to shift the blame from the system that leads to car dominance towards individual drivers as terrorists.
Usually this is just an indicator that you aren’t actually on the radical fringe. Not trying to contradict your point or anything, but this is a sort of overton window-shifting rhetorical tactic that gets on my nerves because it actually works against a movement. Even if you didn’t realize you were doing it.
Regarding the opinion on terror rhetoric though, I do think it’s a fine strategy to call what cars do to our street like terrorism. It’s usually not definitional political terrorism (Usually), but the situation we have today required political choices which have resulted in actual terror on our streets. It’s a bold choice of words, and sometimes you have to be bold to hammer home a point.
And on that count… It should be “crash”, not “accident”. “Accident” partially aliviates blame and suggests an inevitability.
Alright, back into my pedantist cage.
I think the problem here is that terror and terrorism are quite different things. Saying car terrorism implies the intention is to cause mass terror. You can’t really accidentally or unknowingly commit a terrorism. Call cars death machines or a scourge, but calling them terrorists seems inaccurate, and maybe more importantly, not useful. It seems to shift the blame from the system that leads to car dominance towards individual drivers as terrorists.