The Magic Word

The magic word is “terrorist.” Put that word in a piece of legislation and it is guaranteed to pass, regardless of what the legislation actually does. Use that word in a political speech and the public and media will support you wholeheartedly, without regard to whatever else you say in the speech. Incorporate that word in a law passed by Congress and the Supreme Court will uphold the law regardless of its actual content.

First Amendment free speech has always had some limitations. You may not, for instance, falsely scream “Fire” in a crowded theatre, and you may not directly advocate the performance of illegal activity. Until a recent decision by the Supreme Court, though, it has never been against the law to speak in a perfectly legal manner and have it be deemed against the law merely because you are speaking on behalf of a group that the government has deemed to be a terrorist organization.

To be in “support of terrorism” you had to be speaking in a manner that actually supported the terrorist activity, but no longer is that the case. If you support the fully legal activity of an organization that also performs terrorism you are, according to the Supreme Court, guilty of supporting terrorism.

Osama and Company have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. The purpose of terrorism is to terrorize, and they have convinced the American people, American military, American government, and now the American Supreme Court to act with terror-stricken, irrational, fear-driven behavior.