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Calling the American Revolution terrorism, in the modern sense, is a stretch. It was a war waged primarily between soldiers and materiel with the goal of ending

Calling the American Revolution terrorism, in the modern sense, is a stretch. It was a war waged primarily between soldiers and materiel with the goal of ending the enemy's ability to wage war. Systematic use of terror as a policy to induce fear in the general public to push them to coerce their government's policy was not widely used.

marcus_holmes 3mo ago
If Palestine Action committed terrorism then absolutely the American Revolution was a terrorist act.
bumby 3mo ago
I’m pretty patriotic but even I can recognize some parallels. There are examples of targeting civilians (tarring and feathering loyalists, or destroying their property). If you consider the attacks against Tesla to be terrorism [1] then the Boston Tea Party would probably fit that bill as well. I’d probably consider it irregular warfare, but I wouldn’t call it a stretch for someone to disagree. [1] https://signalscv.com/2025/03/fbi-launches-task-force-to-investigate-anti-tesla-terrorism/ https://signalscv.com/2025/03/fbi-launches-task-force-to-inv...
anigbrowl 3mo ago
This is massively disingenuous. If you showed up in public in the US today with a bunch of men in uniform and announced your intention of using military force to secure some perceived political rights, you'd be denounced as a terrorist by the authorities while you were still reading out your carefully drafted rules of engagement. Here's a very recent example of public authorities describing activism against data centers as a possible vector of 'anti-tech extremism': https://www.wired.com/story/us-law-enforcement-warns-of-anti-tech-extremism/ https://www.wired.com/story/us-law-enforcement-warns-of-anti... Likewise, the proponent of a huge data center project in Utah and the Secretary of the Interior are both arguing that opposition to data centers is the result of Chinese communist propaganda: https://fortune.com/2026/06/10/kevin-oleary-trump-administration-china-data-center-sentiment-ai/ https://fortune.com/2026/06/10/kevin-oleary-trump-administra... As far as I'm aware there have been zero acts of violence related to data center construction, or even threats of same. I will be happy to steer you to work by philosophers and legal researchers on the construction of 'terrorism' as a political concept and the difficulty of cleanly differentiating it from 'legitimate' forms of violent political action.
tremon 3mo ago
If setting warehouses on fire can be called terrorism today, then the Boston Tea Party was equally an act of terrorism then.

marcus_holmes 3mo ago

If Palestine Action committed terrorism then absolutely the American Revolution was a terrorist act.

bumby 3mo ago

I’m pretty patriotic but even I can recognize some parallels. There are examples of targeting civilians (tarring and feathering loyalists, or destroying their property). If you consider the attacks against Tesla to be terrorism [1] then the Boston Tea Party would probably fit that bill as well. I’d probably consider it irregular warfare, but I wouldn’t call it a stretch for someone to disagree. [1] https://signalscv.com/2025/03/fbi-launches-task-force-to-investigate-anti-tesla-terrorism/ https://signalscv.com/2025/03/fbi-launches-task-force-to-inv...

anigbrowl 3mo ago

This is massively disingenuous. If you showed up in public in the US today with a bunch of men in uniform and announced your intention of using military force to secure some perceived political rights, you'd be denounced as a terrorist by the authorities while you were still reading out your carefully drafted rules of engagement. Here's a very recent example of public authorities describing activism against data centers as a possible vector of 'anti-tech extremism': https://www.wired.com/story/us-law-enforcement-warns-of-anti-tech-extremism/ https://www.wired.com/story/us-law-enforcement-warns-of-anti... Likewise, the proponent of a huge data center project in Utah and the Secretary of the Interior are both arguing that opposition to data centers is the result of Chinese communist propaganda: https://fortune.com/2026/06/10/kevin-oleary-trump-administration-china-data-center-sentiment-ai/ https://fortune.com/2026/06/10/kevin-oleary-trump-administra... As far as I'm aware there have been zero acts of violence related to data center construction, or even threats of same. I will be happy to steer you to work by philosophers and legal researchers on the construction of 'terrorism' as a political concept and the difficulty of cleanly differentiating it from 'legitimate' forms of violent political action.

tremon 3mo ago

If setting warehouses on fire can be called terrorism today, then the Boston Tea Party was equally an act of terrorism then.