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Flame » in reply to Treason has a definition, or used to.

We apparently need a new word.
Tom Brosz — (archived)

"Treason" is too much.

I have no idea how "aid and comfort" is actually legally defined. That the bar is high can be assumed by the fact that only about 40 Federal prosecutions on this charge have ever taken place.

So what then?

Zoners aside, it is obvious that many people in this country are behaving no differently than if al Qaeda was actually paying them for their speeches and articles. Every success of the terrorists, and every failure of our side, is front page news. The opposite? You don't see much of that.

What does it mean when one's words and opinions are spread throughout the Islamist world as proof of the rightness of the Islamist cause? As proof that Americans aren't going to hold the course, and that the Islamists are going to win?

What does it mean when someone shouts that we can't win this war, that we need to quit, we need to surrender? Is that constructive criticism? Is it political commentary?

We need a new term.

"Useful idiots" used to have a specific meaning related to communism, but I still don't like the term "idiot" thrown in there.

What then? Back during the Vietnam War, the anti-war groups on campus made no bones about their views. They were anti-American, admired Ho Chi Minh, and thought communism was the wave of the future. It isn't the same now. I have never met a liberal who wanted the Islamists to win, or thought they were the wave of the future. But I have met a lot of them who want the U.S. to lose. I have never figured out how they connect these two things in their brains, but they hold both opinions honestly.

With the media on the other side, the military is fighting with one foot in a bucket of cement, but I think they can still do it.

It isn't treason. I don't have a word for it. But it isn't helpful, either.

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