posted on Oct, 11 2013 @ 11:41 AM
There is a big problem on ATS with members understanding of what terrorism even is and what a terrorist is.
the confusion seems to be that people have a very black and white view of terrorism and struggle to differentiate between a possible terrorist and a
actual terrorist.
As it is in America under the PATRIOT Act terrorist is defined as this.
"activities that (A) involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the U.S. or of any state, that (B) appear to be
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, and (C) occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of
the U.S."
So a person is a terrorist if they commit a crime of terrorism that falls into this definition.
A trucker going about his day to day life is not doing anything that falls under this definition, so he is not a terrorist and so long as this
definition remains unchanged will never be a terrorist.
However what constitutes a "potential" terrorist is much more complex, we are all potential terrorists to a greater or lesser extent. A trucker could
be seen as being a larger terrorist thread for the reasons the OP outlined compared to say a kindergarten teacher, however that does not make the
trucker a terrorist.
Truckers are no more potential terrorists than they are potential murderers
Additionally there are many more potential terrorists who are quite apparently much more of a terrorist threat threat than truckers and it is those
individuals that the government is really worried about. Those are the people who are heading out to Pakistan for trips tribal area's and spend hours
reading up on violent ismaist ideologies visiting radical mosques and buying up fertilizer in bulk or who are actively researching ways to commit a
crime of terrorism.
Members on ATS would have you believe that the government thinks everyone is a terrorist that is just not true, it cant be true. What is true is that
the government recognizes that everyone is a potential terrorist, some more than others and yes those who are the biggest potential terrorists
probably do receive some extra attention form alphabet agencies.
edit on 11-10-2013 by OtherSideOfTheCoin because: (no reason given)