Word of the day:
fodder
Definition:
"A person or thing regarded only as material for a specific use."
- Oxford English Dictionary
Example usage:
Might there be a difference between terrorists and terrorist fodder?
Comment:
The terrorist - the real terrorist - only succeeds when he gets you to pardon him from the crime he is about to commit or go on committing, without you suspecting it.
He is likely to be successful at portraying himself as either A) a bumbling though amiable ally in the fight against terrorism, or B) a model of productivity, granted recognition for his merit-based achievements (by A), with only his fellow citizens' well-being at heart .
For this insidious toxic arrangement to persist, 3 things are needed:
- Both A and B need to be perceived as being opposed to terrorism ;
- Both A and B need to be granted special exemption from criminal laws which apply to everyone else ;
- Both A and B need a source of terror, which can be controlled at arm's length(so as not to be implicated, themselves. The actual crimes must be committed by other, apparently autonomous, actors.), which will drive the masses into the arms of their benevolent, angelic protectors... all the while demanding the burden of responsibility for decision-making be transferred from individual to benevolent protector.
One more thing to note. Since it is an established fact that no-human being can occupy a state of reason and a state of fear simultaneously, a terrorist event usually occurs around the time when it is imperative people not be thinking critically e.g. just prior to a political referendum or election or the passage of a parliamentary bill which would not otherwise gain the support it needs to pass.