• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

What kind of terrorism was the Boston Marathon bombing?

What kind of terrorism was the Boston Marathon bombing?

  • Domestic (because both were here legally)

    Votes: 7 50.0%
  • Foreign (because both were foreign born)

    Votes: 1 7.1%
  • Both

    Votes: 2 14.3%
  • Neither

    Votes: 1 7.1%
  • Other / Something else

    Votes: 3 21.4%

  • Total voters
    14
This had nothing to do with where these guys were born and everything to do with the radicalization of the older brother who turned the younger...
 
The illegal kind that kills innocent people and serves no useful purpose because it kills innocent people.

Oh, wait, that pretty much describes all terrorist acts. There is no difference. Terrorism is Terrorism no matter who carries it out.
 
None of the above.

Terrorism is a war tactic.
 
Information available at this time:

The terrorists were foreign born.
One or both were naturalized citizens, I think both, and had lived here for many years.
There was an overseas trip by the older brother, that may have been involved in his radicalization and possibly training/conditioning for terrorist ops... data scant at the moment.

So it is both, in a sense.

Based on statements by the family members, it is an Islamic family but a moderate one; the older brother became radicalized and militant and apparently persuaded the younger to join with him.

Terrorism based on radical Islam had its beginnings overseas in the Mideast, so in that sense there is a foreign origin to the terrorism... but the perps were young naturalized citizens who'd lived here a long time, so apparently we are developing a domestic problem with radicalized/militant Islamist terror.

Based on currently available information, but noting that such info is still pretty scarce...
 
I think it has the earmarks of an AQ operation.
 
Information available at this time:

The terrorists were foreign born.
One or both were naturalized citizens, I think both, and had lived here for many years.
There was an overseas trip by the older brother, that may have been involved in his radicalization and possibly training/conditioning for terrorist ops... data scant at the moment.

So it is both, in a sense.

Based on statements by the family members, it is an Islamic family but a moderate one; the older brother became radicalized and militant and apparently persuaded the younger to join with him.

Terrorism based on radical Islam had its beginnings overseas in the Mideast, so in that sense there is a foreign origin to the terrorism... but the perps were young naturalized citizens who'd lived here a long time, so apparently we are developing a domestic problem with radicalized/militant Islamist terror.

Based on currently available information, but noting that such info is still pretty scarce...
Excellent post.

The only thing I would add is that the younger brother (the one still alive) became a citizen approximately a year ago. The older brother was not a citizen, but was here legally.
 
Maybe a new term is required such as "traitor-terrorist."
 
What kind of terrorism was the Boston Marathon bombing?

You forgot to add the word "Unknown" to the poll. That would be the more appropriate answer because at this time we simple do not know.
 
I would call it domestic terrorism, but I would prefer to know more/anything about the motives before I say so with certainty. If they came here to commit terrorism, then I would say it's foreign terrorism. If they came here without that intent, but developed it over time, then I would say domestic terrorism. From what I've read, they developed these sentiments over time with the younger brother perhaps developing them as recently as the past six months. Also, the younger brother was 8 when he got here so I don't think he was planning on bombing anything at that point.

This case is interesting because it brings up the status and perception of immigrants in the United States. Quite a lot of people have been adamant in treating this as if it's a foreign attack primarily based on the fact these guys are/were immigrants. It kind of lets you know how immigrants, by virtue of not having been born in this country, are still automatically seen as "the other" by many in this country. It also reaffirms how quickly people work to distance themselves from the terrorists. It's not enough to not sympathize with the terrorists. One must also look for differences in religion, ethnicity, race, citizenship and so on as means of saying, "They're not like us. I'm not like them." It's stupid.
 
I would call it domestic terrorism, but I would prefer to know more/anything about the motives before I say so with certainty. If they came here to commit terrorism, then I would say it's foreign terrorism. If they came here without that intent, but developed it over time, then I would say domestic terrorism. From what I've read, they developed these sentiments over time with the younger brother perhaps developing them as recently as the past six months. Also, the younger brother was 8 when he got here so I don't think he was planning on bombing anything at that point.

This case is interesting because it brings up the status and perception of immigrants in the United States. Quite a lot of people have been adamant in treating this as if it's a foreign attack primarily based on the fact these guys are/were immigrants. It kind of lets you know how immigrants, by virtue of not having been born in this country, are still automatically seen as "the other" by many in this country. It also reaffirms how quickly people work to distance themselves from the terrorists. It's not enough to not sympathize with the terrorists. One must also look for differences in religion, ethnicity, race, citizenship and so on as means of saying, "They're not like us. I'm not like them." It's stupid.
Good points.

To me, it is possible that they may have competing feelings of nationalistic/idealistic loyalty, and even possible that the attack wasn't necessarily "anti-American", though if it wasn't I still cannot think of a reason to do it here.

I'm not sure I can answer my original question just yet, but I have seen others (here at DP and elsewhere) try and assign one or the other, usually based on their own pre-biases IMO, hence the question.


Didn't use it because "Other/Something else" could mean many different things and is too broad for the right answer to be used.
And here I thought I tended to over think things.
 
To me, it is possible that they may have competing feelings of nationalistic/idealistic loyalty, and even possible that the attack wasn't necessarily "anti-American", though if it wasn't I still cannot think of a reason to do it here.
From what I've read, my impression is that that both brothers probably, as immigrants, always felt some sense of alienation from American society. It seems the like the older brother, who came here at 15, felt it more strongly as he had already developed his identity before he came here whereas the younger brother, who came here at 8, was trying to and somewhat successfully assimilating and finding his place here. Because people often look for some identity to latch onto when they feel alienated, I suspect the older brother turned to religion as a means of dealing with his alienation. Somehow, that turned into terrorism.

It's also worth noting that the younger brother and mother were apparently 9/11 truthers. If the younger brother thought the United States was unjustly hiding something, that might have played a part as well.
 
From what I've read, my impression is that that both brothers probably, as immigrants, always felt some sense of alienation from American society. It seems the like the older brother, who came here at 15, felt it more strongly as he had already developed his identity before he came here whereas the younger brother, who came here at 8, was trying to and somewhat successfully assimilating and finding his place here. Because people often look for some identity to latch onto when they feel alienated, I suspect the older brother turned to religion as a means of dealing with his alienation. Somehow, that turned into terrorism.

It's also worth noting that the younger brother and mother were apparently 9/11 truthers. If the younger brother thought the United States was unjustly hiding something, that might have played a part as well.
As far as assimilation into American society, this is pretty much what I have read and heard as well. The older brother, especially, never felt like he fit in.
 
Are they citizens of this country? Yes..
Its domestic then.
 
What kind of terrorism was the Boston Marathon bombing?
If there are different kinds of terrorism, that's news to me. Where did you get these classifications?
 
I would file this under Domestic terrorism. They have been long enough...went to our schools...and were from what i could tell...citizens.
 
At this point we don't know. It isn't all that important to label them as terrorists. They were murderers. That should be sufficient enough. Labeling them as terrorist actually gives SOME legitimacy in their claims (all groups can then say they are freedom fighters/political extremists blah blah). Calling them what they are...murderers...undermines their cause. Look at the IRA. A possible legitimate gripe against the UK government became a cause for thugs and murderers.
 
Back
Top Bottom