What do you think it's like to be shot by a friend? By a family member? By a subordinate at work? What do you think it's like to be held hostage by such a person? Do you think it's torture? Terrorism? What makes a terrorist? The man who systemically abuses his wife over the course of a ten year marriage, repeatedly beating her, sticking a gun in her face, threatening to destroy the engine of her car, threatening to kill her and the children if she leaves him? Threatening to kill himself if she leaves? Is this man any less a terrorist than Dzhokhar Tsarnaev? Is he less a terrorist because he's white? Is he less a terrorist because he's employed by a police agency? Is he less a terrorist because she is afraid that he will kill her if she 'destroys his life' or 'destroys his career' by reporting his abuse? What makes a terrorist?
I lived this with two men. The first one didn't really have a good handle on psychological abuse, moved too fast, and I managed to get out pretty much unscathed. The second was brilliant when it came to psychological torture, breaking someone down, and making them into his favorite possession. Not quite brilliant enough to get me to stay, but it's taken me ten years to get over this enough to talk about it, to write about it, to admit that I was one of 'those women'.
From my perspective, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was an absolute failure as a terrorist. He only managed to kill three people, a record broken by a guy who shot up his family in Illinois this morning. He injured a lot, but not as many as a corporation in West Texas. The property damage in Texas is worse, as the property damage in the Astral Natural Gas facility in Alabama. I'm more afraid of Corporations in this country than terrorists. I'm more afraid of the police than terrorists. I'm more afraid of having relationships with men than terrorists.
I do have to say, there are good men out there. Andrew Wilson, I love you. Thank you so much for being who you are. Leo L. Allard, Jr., Jack Winkler, Daniel Chainer Davenport, Daniel Jarosch, Danny D Mills,Dominique DaMon Block Sr., Chiu Lo, George Takei, Sir Patrick Stewart,Christopher Shaw, Marcus Shaw, Leo Allard III, Luke Allard, John Howard Fenn-Pocock . These aren't in any particular order. If you got left out, and you're a good man, I didn't do it on purpose, there are just so many of you out there. After all this, I still believe that most people are good.
That doesn't make Dzhokhar Tsarnaev any less of an amateur. This guy doesn't need the death penalty, he needs counseling. With 1 in 4 women being sexually assaulted, abused, tortured by intimate partners, we really need to rethink our priorities and attitudes on what 'terrorism' is.
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