ChiTrib Columnist: Ayers Wasn't Terrorist But 'Guerrilla' Protester

Photo of Ken Shepherd.

graphic via Chicago TribuneLiberal Chicago Tribune columnist and blogger Eric Zorn argued today that while Bill Ayers violent past must be condemned, it is improper to label him as a domestic terrorist (emphases mine):

My view is that one can unequivocally condemn the campaign of destruction and bomb-setting waged by the Weather Underground and still ask whether "terrorism" is or was the right word to describe that form of violent guerrilla protest.

To me, a terrorist is one who attempts to create malleable fear in a population through random acts of mayhem; someone who uses his own amoral unpredictability to magnify the power he is attempting to exert in an effort to create change.

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Someone who bombs an abortion clinic or animal-research facility, say, in the middle of the night is not a terrorist, by this definition, because the purpose is not to prompt employees or clients to fear for their safety.

Wait, terrorism is "an effort to create change"? Using the term "change," a buzz word of the Obama campaign, was probably not the wisest word choice here.

Zorn continued his October 8 "Change of Subject" blog post by quoting Ayers's defense of his bombings, wherein the leftist radical and Obama backer noted the "checks and balances" the Weather Underground undertook to prevent civilian deaths.

After quoting Ayers at length, Zorn wrapped up his post asking for "thoughtful, civil and... thoughtful" comments in reaction to his protest that Ayers was never, in the truest sense, a terrorist.

Now. Let's stipulate that such activity was nevertheless illegal, unproductive and wrong (though here's a side question for you, are there any circumstances, and wrongs so egregious and apparently intractable, that you would endorse the use of such tactics?). Was it, Ayers' view notwithstanding, terrorism?

Again, please try to be thoughtful, civil and as non-partisan as you can possibly be in leaving a response. There are plenty of other places on the Web for indignant rants. Thanks.

Graphic via Chicago Tribune.

—Ken Shepherd is Managing Editor of NewsBusters


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So, does that mean

that abortion clinic bombers are not domestic terrorists?

That's they way I am reading it.

"Forget change, I want improvement!"

Muad'Dib,

If no one is killed in the bombing, Zorn would say "yes."

He even comes out and says it!

 

"... smells like.... victory." - Robert Duvall, Apocalypse Now

Now why....

...would this even be worthy of dicussion unless Zorn thinks the Obama-Ayers connection is beginning to resonate a bit with the electorate, hmmmm?

Teach Our Children Well

Obama was board chairman of Annenberg which funded Ayers education projects.

JDW


DAILY WAVE

'Hey Chuck, Stand Up!'

Is the Community Reinvestment Act part of free enterprise?

Perhaps we need to look at

Perhaps we need to look at the GC definition of a terrorist.  I wonder if someone blew up the house h lived in and he knew the group had a record of violence if he would be scared?  Would he be concerned if some violent offender moved into his neighborhood? 

Nuke em til they glow then shoot em in the dark.

How many people murdered?

Why is no one mentioning how many innocent people were murdered by Ayers and his group? You are lucky to find mention about the 12 policemen that were murdered.

 

"Forget change, I want improvement!"

Because the left says not

Ayers

Eric,

You have absolutely no clue about what thoughts these occurances created. You probably should ask some adults who were alive at the time of the bombings.

Ayers activities fit your description of a Terrorist. The attempts and bombings absolutely were attempts to cause fear for loss of life in those people who could be in the area working or visiting. So what if phone calls were made ahead of the bombing, part of the object was to cause fear that persons would be caught in an unannounced bombing.

 

 

Al Gore isn't fat, he's calorically challenged

Whoopi Goldberg isn't ugly, she's beauty deprived.

Bill Clinton isn't a womanizer, he's morally challenged

We could do this all day!  Libs will spin anything and believe that they can get away with it.

Jeff Lebowski

www.angrywhitedude.c...

I left this comment...

But I doubt it gets through the non-partisan net

Terrorism is "the unlawful use of -- or threatened use of -- force or violence against individuals or property to coerce or intimidate governments or societies, often to achieve political, religious, or ideological objectives."

Terrorism isn't necessarily random or used to cause death...it's the use of violence to cause fear.

Ayers and his fellow terrorists used bombs to intimidate people into doing something they wouldn't have ordinarily done without it.  There is no defense, there is no rationalization.  

You "educate" people by giving classes or seminars, you terrorize them by blowing up bombs in public buildings.  The only thing you can learn from what he did is that he is a terrorist, and an unrepentant one at that.

 EDIT: Yup completely removed what I said and entered his "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter"

Do we all get to make up

Do we all get to make up our own definitions?  Good.  My definition of an idiot is "anyone who would write such drivel."  Wait, that is the same as the American Heritage Dictionary's.

 

 

“But maybe you obviously have a better memory about that."- Wolf Blitzer

CULTURAL MARXISM...

Ruths husband Ben, that is 1 of the biggest things the left has done, change the language. Who do you think started the idea of "political correctness"? Who enforces "speech codes"? Who created the idea of "hate speech"? If you said the left wingers, go to the head of the class.

Something can be a obvious as the nose on your face, but according to the left, nothing is what it seems, & those who to blame are really victims. This is CULTURAL MARXISM. It has poisoned our society & is a direct threat to the American way of life. As well as modern western society.

So yes, you can make up your own definition of anything...if you are a lefty.

 

"...it's still We The People, Right?"  Megadeth 

Is zorn this guy?

zorn, zorg whatever, jpg

CLIMATE CRISIS

IranianUranium

ucw,

No, that's Gary Oldman.

He has talent.  ;^)

yeah, okay, that wasn't cool, but tough!

 

"... smells like.... victory." - Robert Duvall, Apocalypse Now

This is pulling the comments, Ken!

While I was wasting time commenting to Zorn! And forgot to c&p it for here.

Well, I said "yes" it's terrorism. For the obvious reasons. No comments up yet, and won't be until "the author reads them." Whenever he gets around to it, of course.

<rolls eyes>

 

"... smells like.... victory." - Robert Duvall, Apocalypse Now

illegal, unproductive, and wrong

yeah, the Weather Underground really cared about human lives.  Unfortunately, those people that were blown apart in that townhouse working on a bomb to blow up an NCO club full of people didn't get the Ayers memo.  If the only definition of a terrorist is "one who attempts to create malleable fear in a population through random acts of mayhem", by that definition Mr. Bin Laden is not a terrorist.  I am pretty sure the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon was not random.

 

Don't ever forget 9-11 because you can bet the terrorists won't.

It's the FBI's Language

The FBI labeled the Weatherman a Domestic Terrorist oranization back in 1970.  What's the problem with calling them what they are labeled?

Exactly, SC

Here's the wiki link. Found that fact pretty quick, third paragraph.

Yep, that ship has sailed, Eric. Unless you want to argue with the FBI. Or just change history.

CTTOI, that would be easier for you, wouldn't it? 

 

"... smells like.... victory." - Robert Duvall, Apocalypse Now

He lost all creditability

He lost all creditability when he said "To me, a terrorist is one who attempts" He inserted his own thoughts, when any reporter does that i completely disregard what they are saying as plausible.  

 

Now if he said something like according to the dictionary (has to be a real one too) a terrorist is.... then maybe it would have been some what easier not to get sick reading it.

 

We all know the ties, and they keep trying to neutralize it by saying, well it was 35 years ago. I DON’T CARE HOW LONG AGO IT WAS. The FBI still has a wanted list of people who convicted crimes dating back to the 60’s and they get convicted, ITS STILL RELEVANT FOLKS! Ayers was released on a technicality, if that hadn’t happened he would have been in jail right now.

 

That's right. There is NO

That's right. There is NO statute of limitations for murder!

Do You Feel Better About Your Candidate After Last Nights Debate?

 

 

Making Fun of AGW http://giovanniworld.wordpress.com/  

that's like saying

the monkey is not eating a banana, it's a PLANTAIN

Gulf Building bombing Pittsburgh 1974

 http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A29011 

Reader beware the above paper is a liberal rag. The History of the event is there with a few liberal potshots mixed in, sucha as a nice shot to oil companies

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Tower.

I remember not having to go school the next day.

 

Non-partisan comments request from a partisan

Yes, the kooks are crawling out of the woodwork faster than leaves blowing off a dead tree during Ike.  Stalin wasn't a mass murderer either.  He was using kindness to remove the mentally sick and terminally unreeducatable from Soviet society to make more resources available for those dedicated to the betterment of Russia and communism.   

You make me sick.  That

You make me sick. 

That is considered ethnic cleansing, to say that he was being 'kind' and a nice guy by killing mentally sick is just as bad as saying that Hitlers vision was the correct one.

 

You can not justify that comment.

 

But under your thinking then maybe we should do the country a favor out of our 'kindness' and 'remove' the Democrats, they are hurting our country, so it would be for the better right?  

 

Your post was "The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day"

 

»→ play21

I think he was being sarcastic.

LYDSEXICS UNTIE!

Sorry about that AFB

I've heard so much lately that i dont know what to believe anymore. lol

 

Sorry about that AFB, its been a lonnnngggg day

 

 LOL I thought the next thing was going to be a financial version of malthusianism.

Hi p21... I think he was

Hi p21...

I think he was just being sarcastic too...Cool beat me to it, I just saw this and was going to say the same thing...

Maybe he will come back and let you (us) know for sure...

Btw...as to your other post I answered to, I meant to tell you...hey rant away...we all do from time to time, nothing wrong with that.

If I didn't have NBs to relieve some of my frustrations on...I'd be lost at times...lol.

"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh

AFB

Handy Tip: ... use the </sarc to denote the end of a sarcastic remark. As you can imagine, some folks are so jazzed up that they cannot see straight ...

If conservatives are RIGHT, then liberals must be WRONG.

Hey lionKing I'm not

Hey lionKing I'm not "jazzed up" i'm fired up, i'm lookin for a fight and if you want to be it then so be it.. lets rumble

 

hahah jk i'm calm.. just hoping that people realize whats going on in
this election and how forces that have never influenced an election in
the past are doing so now. I hope that when everyone enters the voting
booth they have a moment of self reflection, on morals and again on
being American. MORE THAN EVER, we can not afford to screw this up.

 

McCain and Palin (MILF) 

Split hairs,

Split hairs, much? 

Imagine if they afforded this much indulgence to George Bush, saying; he may have been wrong, but he didn't lie; or he may not be a good orator, but he's sincere... ha, fat chance!

In 1970 Bill Ayers said, "Kill all the rich people...

In 1970 Bill Ayres said, "Kill all the rich people. Break up their cars and apartments. Bring the revolution home, kill your parents, that's where it's really at." Then, there was his lovely wife, Bernardine Dohrn's comment on the Manson family killings. "Dig it. First they killed those pigs, then they ate dinner in the same room with them, then they even shoved a fork into a victim's stomach! Wild!"

These "journalists" can say what they will about Bill Ayres as a terrorist. He is at least a traitor. 

This doesn't describe Ayers?

...a terrorist is one who attempts to create malleable fear in a
population through random acts of mayhem; someone who uses his own
amoral unpredictability to magnify the power he is attempting to exert
in an effort to create change.

Tell me again how this doesn't describe Ayers?

"To me, a terrorist is one

"To me, a terrorist is one who attempts to create malleable fear in a population through random acts of mayhem"

Translation: I'm b.s.ing, hopefully no one will notice.

New PC terminology for terrorist

It looks like now the libs want to push a new PC definition of terrorists.

Guerrilla Protester? What's that? Oh, it's just a way to say terrorist without offending anyone.

I guess it's safe to assume that For-Profit Guerrila Protesters can be called Mercenaries.

 

The left appears to be losing its collective mind.

How anyone can look at Ayers past and not see him for the terrorist he was stretches the boundaries of intelligence itself.

-Dave

Remember Arafat

Remember how they colored Arafat as a diplomat. They somehow forget his role as the leader of the PLO and the atrocities committed by the PLO. 

If conservatives are RIGHT, then liberals must be WRONG.

ChicTrib propagandist was more correct than not

 I broke this story last summer in William Ayers was not a terrorist in the least, but he was not a gorilla protestor either.......yeah I know it is the other gorilla and I misspell words on purpose to give feeders something to bite on.

William Ayers is like Barack Obama an intelligence agent of the leftist faction operating in the United State's government.
Jesse Jackson was such an agent as he was to control the black population in moving them to ways that best fit the elites.

Ayers was Charlie Manson literally. Manson wanted to start Helter Skelter which was the black revolution murdering white people which would cause a race war in which he could rise up in power.
The elites saw all of this with the Black Panthers and knew radicals were all over the colleges and needed a control to keep things from blowing up.

Ayers was that control. He and his chooselings started a group to draw in that segment of the population to self implode. That is why he was always someplace else when the goofs were building bombs that were "by accident going off".
Just like Mosaad has controls in the Philistine Hamas keeping a watch on things, Ayers was the watch to make things blow up in killing his own agents.

That is why Ayer was rewarded with a professorship and his weirdo wife as they were but one part of a massive leftist intelligence operation on various fronts.
Bill and Hillary Clinton were two other operatives. Hillary was PROMIS software money laundering out of Rose Law and Bill was arising to power in the Rockefeller tradition to further the communist cause in America.

Barack Obama is of the same operational field. His base in Chicago and central Europe while the Clinton's was in New York.
Obama picked a replacement mother in his wife, who was easy to meld into a voting block of the South Side of Chicago. Obama is a mole and that is why his meteoric rise follows such a bizarre route.

The only problem is there are hundreds of Obama types recruited into this. Some become Randall Pinkston, some Clarence Page and some become Barack Obama. They are all going left, but simply get helped along when they follow what the financiers goals are.

Ayers though is an agent just like Obama is. He was not a terrorist, but a terrorist control. Obama is the same terrorist control, but his groups are blacks and Arabs by his money flow chart tied into the central Marxists in America and Egypt.

The reason Obama thinks he can sit down with Ahmadinejad is because they are both Islamocommunists in nature. Ayers is a Marxist of the same ilk.

 

 

 

 

*HIC IACET ARTORIVS REX QVONDAM REXQVE FVTVRVS

Ayers is a tratior

"Was it, Ayers' view notwithstanding, terrorism?"

Yes, because he and his fellow "Weathermen" used weapons of terror (hiding bombs and detonating them in public and government facilities as a means to instill terror in the civilian population) in order to force political change.  Even by Zorn's rather loose "definition" ("a terrorist is one who attempts to create malleable fear in a population through random acts of mayhem"), Ayers was a domestic terrorist.

Obama: My job is above my pay grade

Is it proper to label Ayers' wife a Manson fan?

Is it proper to label Bill Ayer's wife, Bernardine Dohrn, a Charles Manson fan?

She said this about the grizzly Tate murders, where eight people were butchered...

"Dig It.
First they killed those pigs, then they ate dinner in the same room
with them, they even shoved a fork into a victim’s stomach! Wild!"

This guy is interested in labeling the Ayers correctly?

She raised a three finger "fork salute" to Manson. Why is no one talking about Ms Ayers?

Hey lionKing I'm not

Hey lionKing I'm not "jazzed up" i'm fired up, i'm lookin for a fight and if you want to be it then so be it.. lets rumble

 

hahah jk i'm calm.. just hoping that people realize whats going on in this election and how forces that have never influenced an election in the past are doing so now. I hope that when everyone enters the voting booth they have a moment of self reflection, on morals and again on being American. MORE THAN EVER, we can not afford to screw this up.

 

McCain and Palin (MILF)