The actions of the anti-choice lunatic fringe are beyond the pale. We should recognize them for what they are.
Although mainstream antiabortion groups largely condemned Sunday’s shooting, Operation Rescue founder Randall A. Terry called Tiller a mass murderer who “reaped what he sowed.” Terry said the antiabortion movement is facing irrelevance and must use “confrontational” tactics and “highly charged rhetoric.”—Slevin, Peter. Slaying Raises Fears on Both Sides of Abortion Debate Washington Post. June 2nd, 2009.
Terrorism derives its limited utility from secondary effects. It is not the hijacking, bombing or shooting that furthers the extremists’ cause, but the way it is publicized, sensationalized and ultimately, how it is internalized by its targets. More centrally, terrorism is effective when it forces its intended audience to be affected by it. When we encounter it, however difficult, the only rational response is to refuse to be terrorized.
Certainly we disagree within our society. That we can exist alongside each other despite our differences, that we can, at our best, transcend tribalism and sustain institutions for the public good defines the progress of humanity. When we do disagree, we must hold ourselves within the bounds of civilization lest we lose it. The tactics used in public debate will vary in intensity and design and continue to evolve along with the shape of our society, but there are limits past which we can no longer claim to be human and beyond which we cannot allow ourselves to fall.
Resorting to barbarism and to terrorism are clear examples of this. The little minds who resort to them are drawn in by the outsize powers they promise. We should fight these threats to our little space ship by collectively denying and witholding the intended reaction. Instead, we should do the opposite. Fill city squares when they are threatened. Support groups targeted by radicals. Seek to respond to ignorance with education. Respond to the absense of hope from which these threats ultimately come and the corresponding underlying causes of radicalism by extending to the disengfranchised the benefits and responsibilities of society.
Equally important to how we treat terrorism, we must also be honest with ourselves about what constitutes it. Hate speech and fostering violence should be treated with contempt. Targeting assasinations of political enemies is terrorism. Systematic intimidation is terrorism. Recently, it seems that these labels are applied embarassingly little when the source does not conform to some alien archetype. Let us not be distracted by feigns, double-speak and other tired ploys as Mr. Terry has done here. Any difference in our response not based on the nature of the acts is a failure the world cannot afford.
So let’s be clear. The asassination of Dr. George Tiller was terrorism. Its encouragement by organized enemies of reproductive rights is terrorism. These interests should now be classified as terrorist organizations and treated as such. Any less would capitulate to the baser elements of our existence and impair our collective humanity.
