WynesWorldAnalogyDraft

Terrorism would usually be compared to a word such as coercion. Although we don’t want to think of terrorism as anything positive, terrorism can be also thought of as a form of patriotism or loyalty.

Citizens of a nation show patriotism for their county in many different ways.

Patriotic citizens display the nation’s flag to declare their loyalty to the nation. Another example of patriotism is singing the national anthem. Men and women of the secret service and army put themselves in danger for the government all the time. These people are willing to sacrifice their lives to defend their country.

Similarly, a member of a terrorist group would also give his or her life to show loyalty to the organization. Terrorists, however, show loyalty using much more violent methods. In Japan, Kamikaze’s are seen as patriots and are honored before they leave for their final flight. The Japanese definition of Kamikaze is “divine wind” whereas the English definition is “suicide attacks”. The Japanese military, to our surprise, has never had a problem recruiting for the position of a kamikaze because the Japanese find that position as a way to honor their families and to prove themselves with an extreme action. This definition alone is a great example of how terrorism and patriotism is the same thing, but it depends on the point of view.

The definition of terrorism as defined by the United State’s point of view cannot be used due to the fact that the U.S. declared war against terrorists. In 1937 the Japanese military was stationed in southern Beijing when they asked to cross into the Yuanping county claiming that they had a missing soldier, once China had let them through the Second-Sino Japanese War had started. Since Japan had deceived China into letting them cross over to the Yuanping county, China would see that as terrorism seeing as war had not been declared before hand. Due to the Second-Sino Japanese War over six million people in mainland China were murdered because of their custom and culture. This example shows that patriotism of the Japanese is also terrorism in the eyes of the Chinese, showing the similarities between these two words.

Another example of how terrorists are similar to patriots is the events on September 11th. The events that took place were the result of Afghanistan patriots doing what they thought was right. But in the point of view of the U.S. and good morality, this was considered terrorism. There are many example of how terrorism is similar to patriotism. The words are essentially the same, except for what point of view you are looking from.

I’m not saying that terrorism is at all good in any way, but in the mind of the terrorists, their acts are justified by their intent. Terrorists are not exactly similar to any proud citizen of a nation. The difference between citizens being loyal to their country and terrorists being loyal to their organization are the intentions. Terrorist organizations attack others to prove their allegiance to the terrorist organization. Patriots of a nation, on the other hand, defend and support the nation and population.