Liberal writer argues the word terrorism is a 'slur' that should be 'retired' as Hamas attacks Israel

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A liberal journalist is arguing that the term "terrorism" should be retired as the terrorist organization Hamas launched horrific attacks in Israel, leading to the murder of at least 1,000 Israelis, Americans among them.

Substack writer Hamilton Nolan wrote that for journalists to elevate the knowledge of media consumers, "one small thing" he and others can do is to no longer use the words "terrorism," "terrorist" and "terror" in their reporting. 

"Decades of evidence show that the more the media pushes this concept, the more warped the public understanding of global events becomes. I am making this not as a political argument, but as a journalistic one. We, the media, are making people dumber. We should stop," Nolan wrote Monday. 

He said the media "to its eternal shame" adopted the language of "The War on Terror," something he called a "stupid, jingoistic, un-illuminating phrase" that is "so obviously dripping with seething fanatical nationalistic blood lust" its use is "incredibly embarrassing."

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Gunmen from the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, during an anti-Israel military march in Gaza City. (Yousef Masoud/Majority World/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Nolan continued his rant about "The War on Terror" calling its journalistic use "cowardice" and saying, "rather than attempting to accurately describe something, it instead dips an entire geopolitical epoch into a vat of acid and waves around its ruined corpse in front of readers, as an introduction."

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The writer then said calling someone a terrorist is a "slur" since it "defines its subject from the outset as a villain."

"Its connotation is that everything it labels falls outside the bounds of reasonable conduct, that it describes people and organizations and philosophies that are evil. It connotes violence that is illegitimate, in contrast to the legitimate violence delivered by the state," he continued.

"The term casts a shadow that forever keeps its subject, and the people who are supposed to be gaining a greater understanding of that subject, in the dark," Nolan told readers.

Nolan went on to deride how the U.S. government defines terrorism and called it "all a big circle jerk;" that the media's use of a term that comes from the state results in Americans "being provided a simple answer to a complex question, right in the headline," arguing that using the term is ultimately a "political judgment."

Israeli security forces evacuate an injured woman from a site hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, southern Israel, Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023.  (AP Photo/Oren Ziv)

He urged journalists to instead explain root causes and motivations of the perpetrators of the attacks.

"It is a black mark against the press itself that it is so institutionally fearful of being seen as sympathetic to some politically unpopular group that it often does not even attempt to help readers explore why things happen," Nolan said. "After 9/11, news anchors were quick to pin American flag pins on their lapels and label what was happening ‘terror.’ They were not quick to delve deeply into America’s long and dark and brutal history of power politics in the Middle East, which were the root cause of the chain of events that led up to 9/11. I will say again here, although I have already repeated this, that this is a failure of journalism, and not a political judgment."

He continued, "Likewise, if you want people to understand what is happening between Israel and Palestine today, you must provide them with at least a century’s worth of historical background, and you must provide them with information about the current conditions of Palestinian life that motivated the Hamas fighters who decided to launch this latest attack. That is what journalism is!"

"It is a term that has been so hopelessly poisoned by the journalistic failures of the past that it cannot be redeemed. Activists and opinion writers can and will wield the term, but anyone whose aspiration is to inform and enlighten should leave it behind," he said. "The use of ‘terrorism’ turns news outlets into voices of the state, whether they intend such a thing or not."

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A plume of smoke rises in the sky of Gaza City during an Israeli airstrike on October 9, 2023.  (MOHAMMED ABED/AFP via Getty Images)

The death toll has risen to at least 1,000 Israelis and over 2,500 injured since Hamas launched its coordinated attacks on the Jewish State. President Biden said at least 11 Americans were among the murdered. 

It has been reported that at least 150 Israelis were taken as hostages by Hamas and are being held in Gaza. It is unclear how many of them are Americans.

Saturday's attacks marked the most deadly day for Jews since the Holocaust. 

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