Chomsky is renowned, though hardly universally admired, for his ability to scientifically dissect language and expose it’s subtle twists and manipulations. When he says “You can’t use the actual definitions” he is implying that a universal application of the definition of terrorism would result in many of the governments on this planet, that of the US in particular, being accused of terrorism on a massive scale. He goes on to document a slew of examples where American foreign policy fits precisely into definitions of international terrorism, from the US interventions in Latin America throughout the 1980s to trade embargoes, sanctions, bombings and coups that have inflicted terror around the globe since WWII.

By contrasting these uses of the term ‘terrorism,’ it becomes clear that the word itself is more of a value judgment, a subjective evaluation, than a precise label for action. The same is true when using the word ‘art.’ And while most associate terrorism with direct physical violence, even this attribute gets bogged down in semantics. Are only those responsible for sensationalized bombings, blatant subversion or physical destruction worthy of the ‘terrorism’ label? What of the economic policies that keep the majority of the world hungry or sick in order to protect the massive capital of a minute rich minority? Is there room in our discourse for the ‘corpo-terrorist?’

Violence, whether political, symbolic or direct, or committed slowly, discretely or via proxy often goes unnoticed while small incidents of sensationalized violence become the shocking news of the day. My speculation is that this phenomenon is a result of our incomplete or imprecise dialogue surrounding ‘terrorism’. Our ability to process and understand the social, political and cultural systems of which we are a part is deeply rooted in our ability to conceptualize them. Korzybski called this the “neuro-linguistic environment” in which we live, a kind of feedback loop between perception via the senses and understanding via language. Our language effects which pieces of information are actually registered within our conscious mind. When our language gets confused and the subjective is taken as fact then our actual perceptions, and thus our reality, can be seriously effected. This is a fact well known to, and often abused by, those in positions of power:

“Today the world at large has to consider a serious situation, unparalleled in history, where a few sick individuals, through verbal distortions, falsifications, identifications, etc., have trained a whole generation in a pathological use of our neuro-semantic and neuro-linguistic mechanisms…”

Alfred Korzybski, 1941

While Korzybski was most likely speaking of Hitler, I find his words most prescient and worthy of consideration as the world is subjected to an international ‘war on terrorism.’