JHarris Blog 8

In my opinion both V and William Wallace could be viewed as terrorists depending on the person’s point of view. For example, if/when someone blew up an important building on US soil killing civilians, we viewed this as a terrorist attack (and I would agree with this point of view). In the cases of both Wallace and V the stories are told from their perspectives and we do not view them as terrorists. However, if we were working in Parliament of a native of England I believe we would have viewed both these individuals as terrorists. So someone’s opinion on if an individual is a terrorist definitely depends on his or her point of view. And in this was, yes, one man could see someone as a terrorist while another seems them as a freedom fighter, or as their only chance for change or hope.

In the movie Braveheart I did not see William Wallace as a terrorist because from the point of view that the story is told, his actions were justified. But according to the definition given he could be viewed as a terrorist because he did use his position to make others fear him.

When someone is seen by some as a terrorist and others as a freedom fighter the line for appropriate action becomes very blurry. I believe that the easiest solution would be to punish this person as each group of people sees fit. This means that if those who view him as a “savior” want to fight to protect him, then so be it, but if others want to fight to kill him that is also their choice. However, this line is very gray and I believe there is not “correct” answer to a situation such as this.

Both V and Wallace were similar in that they were fighting against their leaders or government but they were different in their approaches. Wallace did not start to attack until he had gained supporters while V gained supporters along the way, but regardless of this we was going to attack individually. This blurs the line of right and wrong even more…if Wallace is to be punished how many of his followers and fighters should be as well? I believe that the topic of terrorism will always have blurry lines and each situation will need to be analyzed individual in attempt to respond in a just way.