Vandalism or Terrorism?
The term vandalism is often used synonymously with intentional property damage, although that term is often associated with superficial or aesthetic damage, such as defacement. When property damage is undertaken for the purpose of intimidating a government or society at large, it may be categorized as terrorism. In certain contexts, the relations between these terms are inextricably politicized. For example, the Earth Liberation Front has claimed responsibility for a number of incidents of property damage, but claims to have never harmed a living being, and in fact has a doctrine forbidding members from doing so. However, the Federal Bureau of Investigation classifies them as a "terrorist" group ostensibly because they send a political and ideological message with this destruction. Meanwhile, the United States Department of Defense restricts the term "terrorist" to groups that do actual bodily harm.
Read more about this topic: Property Damage
Famous quotes containing the word vandalism:
“But look what we have built ... low-income projects that become worse centers of delinquency, vandalism and general social hopelessness than the slums they were supposed to replace.... Cultural centers that are unable to support a good bookstore. Civic centers that are avoided by everyone but bums.... Promenades that go from no place to nowhere and have no promenaders. Expressways that eviscerate great cities. This is not the rebuilding of cities. This is the sacking of cities.”
—Jane Jacobs (b. 1916)