At a minimum, it's assassinating political figures to get its desired people into office. It also seems well known that the Illusive Man will kill anyone trying to investigate Cerberus, so Kahoku "disappearing". It also seems to be doing things like sabotaging element zero ships to expose people in an attempt to coerce them into becoming biotics...which would be a public action with the intent to promote their agenda, no?
I mean, I get that you like Cerberus. So here's a question: let's say Cerberus publicly commits an unequivocally terrorist action. Would you suddenly stop liking them? Presumably not, at worst you'd think that their goal is still good and the ends justify the means overall. So why are you so against the idea of them being terrorists?
No, it would not be a public action, especially if no one knows that it is them. You have a fundamental misunderstanding of the term terrorism. They would need to claim responsibility and further promote an active agenda or list of demands to be met publicly. They do not do this, even privately.
You are correct. The reason I am against the idea of them being terrorists is because, by definition, they are not terrorists. They do not fit the listed criteria given. They are not trying to coerce any government or group into actively following their agenda based on direct action or threat to direct action. You are objectively false here. It's nothing to do with personal values. It's to do with the fact that you are incorrect.
You haven't explained how that doesn't meet the FBI's definition of terrorism.
1. Involve acts dangerous to human life that violate federal or state law
Yep, the founding fathers definitely were involved in acts dangerous to human life that violated British law.
2. Appear intended (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination. or kidnapping;
The whole revolution would fall under ii or iii at a minimum, even if we assumed every civilian in the 13 colonies wanted to "break free."
3. Occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the British Empire
Well...yeah. Duh.
Because there was no overt act of violence aimed towards the British institution itself. I don't believe you understand terrorism or secession, and the differences between such terms. They can be overlapping terms, but they are not something that inherently go hand in hand. We announced that we were no longer considering ourselves a part of the British Empire. We were declaring our independence from that government entity, and we wished to be recognized as a state. The British considered this an act of Rebellion, of Secession, not terrorism. We were leaving their jurisdiction and authority to create our own, not threatening or attacking them to cater to our demands. Thus, it jumped to war when the British decided to squash the secession.
If we had made poignant demonstrative attacks against British institutions in the colonies and on the Islands themselves, then it would have been terrorism. As it was, we no longer considered ourselves part of their monarchic system and were thus considered an entirely separate entity.
To take a page out of a following academic journal post:
Perspective is important when trying to decipher history. It is very important that we view the events of yesterday in a sense that leaves our biases out of the equation. There are many events in history that are clouded by the predispositions we have. The events are either too close to our hearts for us to be impartial, too far away to truly understand, or we have our prejudices forced upon them.
The first thing we must look at when determining if the colonists were terrorists is the British definition of terrorism. It is important to look at the British definition of terrorism in the 18th century because we want to see if the actions of the colonists were considered terrorism in the eyes of the British and not our own eyes. The British did not have a definition of terrorism like ours today, but had a specific “code of conduct” to follow for civil and military affairs. Even though Britain didn’t have a definition of what a terrorist is there are parallels between what we do with terrorists nowadays and what the British did with deviant behavior during the American Revolution.
Deviance is defined by Robert Keel (Sociologist), “a negotiated order. Deviance violates some groups assumptions about reality (social order). It violates expectations". There are many examples in which the British dismissed the actions of the American government as deviant. They viewed the acts as something that didn’t conform to the norms of society. Society’s norms are usually defined by the most influential people; in this case it’s Britain because it was the most dominant/powerful nation in the world. The question is: Do these acts of deviance constitute terrorism in the eyes of the British? There are two acts of deviance that were predominant in the American Revolution that are closely related to the terrorism that we are facing today: the privateering of vessels to act as the American Navy and the tactic of Asymmetrical warfare.
The act of privateering American vessels to fight the war was seen to the British as a violation of the norms of combat. It compensated for that weakness at sea by engaging in a very effective form of legalized piracy called privateering. Privateers were denounced by the British in ways that resonate with the denunciation of terrorists that we hear these days. Privateers were sanctioned pirates that were given authority by the Continental Congress. They would attack a British ship and steal its goods and split it amongst themselves as a way to deplete British supply lines.
This was America’s way to counter the British and their powerful Navy. The parallel situation that America faces today, and calls terrorism, is the Somali pirates that have attacked ships near Africa. Although different in practice because American privateers attacked British ships and not civilians, the same theory of deviance applies because of the nature of the atypical behavior. Americans also used another tactic which the British thought was deviant: Asymmetrical warfare.
Asymmetrical warfare is a type of fight in which one side, usually the weaker side, uses an unconventional type of warfare. An example of unconventional warfare is the Viet Cong’s use of hit, run, and blend into the community. The American Revolution was the first war in the modern era in which this style was used. This style was very different than the normal line formation that standard militaries used at the time. America used a combination of guerilla warfare and line warfare and was very effective. The hit and run of guerilla warfare was very demoralizing to the British Regulars.
Francis Marion was the figure head of this type of warfare. If you have ever seen the movie The Patriot, he was the basis for the character Mel Gibson portrayed. According to Amy Crawford of the Smithsonian Magazine, “Though often outnumbered, Marion's militia would continue to use guerilla tactics to surprise enemy regiments, with great success…Marion and his followers played the role of David to the British Goliath." Line formations were still the normal way of combat until WWI, so it is safe to say that Francis Marion was thinking outside the box. The guerrilla type warfare was labeled by the British as unconventional and they tried very hard to capture Marion. This is similar to the war in Iraq where American soldiers are attacked by Iraqi militias with unconventional means and are labeled as terrorists.
We cannot define the American Revolutionaries actions as terrorism but a deviant act. The connection between the American Revolutionaries and terrorism is not the acts themselves but the nature in which the British saw those acts. American Revolutionaries did not attack innocent British civilians; they attacked British combatants/supplies in a way that was contrary to the normal type of warfare for the period. Although there are parallels between the current terrorism situation and the American Revolution it would be unfair to judge the past based on our perception.
Have you never heard of something like the trolley problem?
Pretty famous ethical/philosophical discussion/scenario.
Yes, and its suitability here is suspect. To answer it is superficially easy. Derail it and let one man die so that 5 can live. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Unless that man can present a suitable reason why his value is more than that of 5 people. It's not all that difficult. He may be a powerful politician, or business man, or be an intellectual scientist. Hell, he could be an average man with a genius level intellect. The other 5 could be blue-collar workers of average or below average intelligence or reasoning ability. In those circumstances, I would not divert the trolley.
But on the other hand, I can also side step the issue as I mentioned. You're trying to place practical limitations to an implausible scenario that relies on a stance that no possible change in ability or application will exist in regards to field that is constantly changing or evolving. You're limiting external variables and auxiliary assumptions to a point where the position you postulate about the serum is no longer credible.
Your claim is implausible to such a degree that invokes the Surprise Principle: you are stating that the serum research cannot advance. I am stating my skepticism to this and believing that you're (condescendingly or desperately) trying to frame an implausible premise to be plausible and credible. It is not.
Ten years of research and no improvement. Would you deploy it then? Another twenty years of research and no improvement. Would you deploy it then? Another fifty years of research and no improvement. Would you deploy it then? Another 120 years of research and no improvement. Would you deploy it then?
We're 200 years in the future and you're still refusing to deploy it. Which in and of itself tells us that you think the cost is too high. By not using it you *are* answering the question.
See my above argument. You are artificially restraining my options to the point of diluting your argument to be implausible and uncredible. I refrain from answering on this principle as you are using such a premise to manipulate my ideology against me.
So where's the dividing line here? If it killed 1% of the population but turned the rest into supermen it sounds like you and Cerberus would be happy. How about 10% the population? 20%? 30%? 50%? At what point would you say the cost is too high?
This part I can and will answer. The cost is too high when the application of the serum was to reduce or dilute the production possibility of humanity, and decrease the potential benefit to where the human race would not be able to make up its numerical loss with returns in quality. Look up an economic production possibility curve. Once we lose optimal efficiency in the practical gains versus net loss of life from the deployment of the serum, the cost becomes 'too high'. It's squandering resources and using them less than is most efficient. Be that a percentage of 8% or 80%, whatever causes us to lose more than what we gain is when the price becomes too high. And this is not on an esoteric or metaphysical level. This is on an applied resource-utility level. And there are of course alternate variables to include, such as population demographics to determine what the percentage level for what demographic is most acceptable.