The Rime of Modern Mariners, and "Terror" as an Albatross
July 19 2015. By Abi Giwa
United Nations' Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon
Four American Marines have been gunned down by a man whose mission and action depicts outright terrorism, investigations have shown. But some government officials are still unsure what to call it; or how to describe the killer's act, whether terror, domestic terror or or just a lone wolf terrorist.
Some have said it may be termed 'domestic terror'; others have said it is a 'lone wolf' act and others say it is not clear whether the killer, who also had been killed had connection with any of the known major terror networks, but his writings posted on his website shows what he is.
Four families and a whole country have been thrown into mourning for the loss of four promising lives, cut short so senselessly evoking the evil consequences of terror, vengeance and endless feud. President Barack Obama describes the killing as heartbreaking, while other observers are awed that Americans have continued to fall victims of terrorism at home.
If there were no traces of vengeance and feud, one would have no problem equating the killing of the four Marines to the evil perpetrated in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, when a bird was killed for no justifiable reason and it became an Albatross, hung on the neck of the killer by other sailors in the ship, because following the killing of the innocent bird, the journey became rough.
But in this case, there is a feud between the civilized world and the Islamic World, regardless of the denial by the West that the war against terror is not against Islam, and raising a question about whether or not the people who have declared war against the western civilization are not Moslems.
Many people, especially Moslems, express justification for crying against being tagged terrorists all because some of them have chosen to wear the garb of terrorism. But when a man commits an act of terror, why should it be difficult for so,e observers to define what a terrorists has done as an act of terror?
The dictionary definition of terror describes the word as acts causing "Extreme fear, horror, trembling and fright."
Apart from the formal and the informal usage of the word 'terror', there is no need for the usage of any qualifying word when terror is committed, even if it should be linked to or not to any of the major terror organizations.
Now, there is a modern version to "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." It says that terrorism is terrorism. In this context, what happened in the Coleridge's poem with the killing of the bird was an act of terror. What has been happening all over the world with innocent people getting killed for no justifiable reason are all acts of terror.
What happened in South Carolina with 9 innocent lives snuffed out during a Bible Study session was an act of terror. What happened in Aurora and Boston are all acts of terror. And whatever the outcome of investigators' search whether what they found links to any world's terror network is their own cup of tea.
The importance of finding out whether any act of terror is linked to any of the world's terror network should be how to end the vengeance and the feud it leads and prolonging of terror. The way lone terror emerges and kill people here and there, when we think there is homeland protectors, shows the danger in vengeance and feud.
The evil inherent in vengeance and endless feud is made clear in Beowulf. "Then there was hostility and strife among Swedes and Geats over the wider water, mutual hatred, hard hostility, terrible slaughter occurred that my kinsman avenged, feud and evil indeed."
Who is blame for the ongoing vengeance and the feud between the western world and the terrorists organizations around the world that is consuming innocent people like the four Marines killed in Tennessee is what is problematic.
True, the terrorists hit the World Trade Center and killed over 3000 innocent lives. America and its allies went to Iraq believing Saddam Hussein was behind the attack on America, and later discovered Iraq had no instruments of mass destruction and the world called for the heads of George Bush and his United Kingdom partner.
The vengeance that began with George Bush has not ended. The terrorists attacked; America attacked and the attacks have not ended. It has since become an enveloping vengeance and feud that only God knows when it would end.
"While we expect our our sailors and Marines to go into harm's way, and they do so without hesitation, an attack at home, in our community, is insidious and unfathomable," Ray Mabus, secretary of the Navy said in a statement published by the Washington Post.
Everyday, people leave their homes, walking on the street and praying subconsciously that they don't become victims of vengeance and feud between the West and the terrorists. You ride on the train and fly in the air with fears in your mind.
Already, the tentacle has extended to countries like Nigeria, Kenya, Tunisia, Somalia for embracing Western culture or for having relationship with western countries. Terror has become like an Albatross on the neck of humanity and no one is thinking about finding a lasting solution.
How did the world get into this cul-de-sac; how will the world get out of it, or is this the way the world will continue to exist with killings without an end?
Some have said it may be termed 'domestic terror'; others have said it is a 'lone wolf' act and others say it is not clear whether the killer, who also had been killed had connection with any of the known major terror networks, but his writings posted on his website shows what he is.
Four families and a whole country have been thrown into mourning for the loss of four promising lives, cut short so senselessly evoking the evil consequences of terror, vengeance and endless feud. President Barack Obama describes the killing as heartbreaking, while other observers are awed that Americans have continued to fall victims of terrorism at home.
If there were no traces of vengeance and feud, one would have no problem equating the killing of the four Marines to the evil perpetrated in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, when a bird was killed for no justifiable reason and it became an Albatross, hung on the neck of the killer by other sailors in the ship, because following the killing of the innocent bird, the journey became rough.
But in this case, there is a feud between the civilized world and the Islamic World, regardless of the denial by the West that the war against terror is not against Islam, and raising a question about whether or not the people who have declared war against the western civilization are not Moslems.
Many people, especially Moslems, express justification for crying against being tagged terrorists all because some of them have chosen to wear the garb of terrorism. But when a man commits an act of terror, why should it be difficult for so,e observers to define what a terrorists has done as an act of terror?
The dictionary definition of terror describes the word as acts causing "Extreme fear, horror, trembling and fright."
Apart from the formal and the informal usage of the word 'terror', there is no need for the usage of any qualifying word when terror is committed, even if it should be linked to or not to any of the major terror organizations.
Now, there is a modern version to "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." It says that terrorism is terrorism. In this context, what happened in the Coleridge's poem with the killing of the bird was an act of terror. What has been happening all over the world with innocent people getting killed for no justifiable reason are all acts of terror.
What happened in South Carolina with 9 innocent lives snuffed out during a Bible Study session was an act of terror. What happened in Aurora and Boston are all acts of terror. And whatever the outcome of investigators' search whether what they found links to any world's terror network is their own cup of tea.
The importance of finding out whether any act of terror is linked to any of the world's terror network should be how to end the vengeance and the feud it leads and prolonging of terror. The way lone terror emerges and kill people here and there, when we think there is homeland protectors, shows the danger in vengeance and feud.
The evil inherent in vengeance and endless feud is made clear in Beowulf. "Then there was hostility and strife among Swedes and Geats over the wider water, mutual hatred, hard hostility, terrible slaughter occurred that my kinsman avenged, feud and evil indeed."
Who is blame for the ongoing vengeance and the feud between the western world and the terrorists organizations around the world that is consuming innocent people like the four Marines killed in Tennessee is what is problematic.
True, the terrorists hit the World Trade Center and killed over 3000 innocent lives. America and its allies went to Iraq believing Saddam Hussein was behind the attack on America, and later discovered Iraq had no instruments of mass destruction and the world called for the heads of George Bush and his United Kingdom partner.
The vengeance that began with George Bush has not ended. The terrorists attacked; America attacked and the attacks have not ended. It has since become an enveloping vengeance and feud that only God knows when it would end.
"While we expect our our sailors and Marines to go into harm's way, and they do so without hesitation, an attack at home, in our community, is insidious and unfathomable," Ray Mabus, secretary of the Navy said in a statement published by the Washington Post.
Everyday, people leave their homes, walking on the street and praying subconsciously that they don't become victims of vengeance and feud between the West and the terrorists. You ride on the train and fly in the air with fears in your mind.
Already, the tentacle has extended to countries like Nigeria, Kenya, Tunisia, Somalia for embracing Western culture or for having relationship with western countries. Terror has become like an Albatross on the neck of humanity and no one is thinking about finding a lasting solution.
How did the world get into this cul-de-sac; how will the world get out of it, or is this the way the world will continue to exist with killings without an end?
