American Terrorism, AlQaida and the Taliban

The Taliban and AlQaida are intolerant groups of terrorist cells who band together to eradicate ideology that they find disagrees with their fundamental religious beliefs. They believe that those who practice different sets of religious principles are a threat to the safety of their society. They believe that justifies killing those who would threaten their way of life.

We here in America have found that to be intolerable. We have gone to war as a result of this ideology, costing thousands of lives, both American, Afghani, Pakistani and Iraqi in the process. We have denounced terrorism as a threat to global security and the possibility of peace in our world. We have stated that we as a nation believe in tolerance of all faiths and beliefs. It is what our country has stood for over the past two hundred plus years of its existence.

I now watch in horror as an American doctor is again assassinated. This time while attending church with his family. He was targeted by violent radical right wing conservative Christian based anti-abortion terrorist cells operating here in America. This is hardly the first assassination carried out by these cells whose repertoire include: repeated bombings, shootings, vandalism and death threats.

It is implausible to me that we are willing to enforce our beliefs that terrorism is unacceptable in the world arena with the lives of our military men and women, yet we take insufficient action here at home. We are more than capable of dismembering these cells here in America and letting those who encourage terrorism suffer the consequences of their actions.

This is not an anti-abortion or pro-choice issue. We cannot allow terrorism to survive here in America with regard to any issue. It is simply not acceptable for people who live in this country to decide to take matters into their own hands due to intolerance, prejudice, differences in ideology or just plain rage. Should we permit this type of behavior to go unpunished, we become that which we despise... a lawless state ruled by the ideology of the strict.

We cannot control what radical right wing media may state publicly, whether on radio, television or in print, but we can control how we participate in allowing them to reap profit based on our viewership. I suggest that whenever we frequent any establishment that airs radical right wing media in any form that we ask graciously that the channel be changed. Maybe if we, the citizens of America, finally refuse to listen to or watch the stoking of the flames of hatred and bigotry, those who perpetrate its message solely for ratings and monetary gain, will finally find something more productive to talk about.

Has our society degenerated into the same terrorism that we abhor in the Taliban and AlQaida?