Terrorism?

Evidently the United Nations' website was hacked, displaying a message about how the United States and Israel are baby-killing war mongers. This was also called "a message of peace."

This act was called "cyber-terrorism." And I can't help but think "really?" It was intended to be insulting, surely. It's probably what the perpetrator believes. But Terrorism? Using a word improperly devalues it. The "War on Drugs" distorts what real war is, and encourages other use of the word improperly, causing further distortion. Eventually you get to "The War on Poverty," which in no way except financial expenditure resembles what a real war is.

To misuse the word "Terrorism" to describe malicious vandalism that's nevertheless not really meant to inspire terror robs that word of its value. Terrorism is very real, but it's also astonishingly rare (at least, in the US... but also in most, if not all, other countries). If we start to see terrorists everywhere, we panic ourselves and unleash on ourselves the very terror we are meant to feel.

Jesus had it right. The best response to hatred is love, not because it makes you invulnerable to harm, but because it renders your heart - your very self - invulnerable to the effects of hate. When we live in fear of hate and terror, we hand the victory away. When we love and live in the face of difficulty, nothing they do can take our victory away.