By Ming Cheung
Over the past week, a series of tragic and senseless attacks have taken place in the United States and Canada. First, a man struck two soldiers in a hit-and-run in Quebec , another targeted the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa, and a hatchet-wielding individual assaulted police officers in New York City. All three attackers happen to be Muslim, and as human nature is wont to do — politicians, the media, and our national attention — have begun to fit these incidents into our schema of a Muslim terrorist threatening our national security. By labeling these attacks as the acts of “terrorists,” we are reminded of our vulnerability and are implicitly bracing for a strong response. Yet the seemingly automatic process by which we affix the “terrorist” label has significant implications for our integrity as a free and democratic society. [Read more…] about Defining a Terrorist