Terrorist or Patriot?

I find that the line between being a terrorist and a patriot has become blurrd.... I see a trend of the government leaning towards labeling anyone who disagrees with them as a terrorist. When the state comes to take your children and you resist them you will all be terrorists........


..... so tell me what is the degree of seperation between a terrorist and a patriot?

I believe that a distinction for a terrorist would be a physical attack against a government party/official, whereas supporting the government verbally, and in cases of war/conflict, physically, would be classed as patriotism.

However, I'm of the belief that criticism is always required to be anything of a patriot - there's always room for improvement.

"One man's terrorist is another man's Freedom Fighter." - A statement which should always be taken into consideration.

IMO, not enough consideration/exposition is being given to all parties.

EDIT: Question, are you asking regarding the people or the government?

[Edited on 5/6/04 by Ouroboros]

A terrorist is doing against the beliefs of most people
A patriot is screwing over the government, with the people behind them

well we all know what the government views as terrorists. I was wondering if there were to be an uprising in the US would the government call the rebels terrorists. and how it would be all to convienient for them to do so. so the ? is how do we as a society draw the line between terrorist and patriot

I don't think this is as complicated as you're making out: terrorists are people who use terrorism to make a political point, while patriots are people who are patriotic.

A patriot does not, by definition, represent some abstract heroic ideal against a corrupt and evil government. If there was an uprising in the continental US, the rebels would be terrorists if they resorted to terrorism, otherwise they would just be rebels. Of course the government would label them terrorists, and the rebels would call themselves patriots. Until there is an uprising, the would-be rebels will be labelled dangerous gun-nuts, at least in the rest of the world.

"One man's terrorist is another man's Freedom Fighter." - A statement which should always be taken into consideration.

A freedom fighter need not resort to acts of terrorism, and terrorists are not always fighting for freedom. The above quote is usually employed by people who are against the status quo and trying to justify despicable and unneccessary behaviour.