Scott Tibbs
Printed in the Herald-Times, 05-23-2000
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Terrorism not acceptable
To the editor:Since January, Bloomington and Monroe County residents have been all too aware of the existence of the Earth Liberation Front, an environmental terrorist group. The group is tied directly to the Animal Liberation Front, an animal-rights terrorist group. In fact, the two groups share a spokesman. Both the ELF and ALF claim to avoid harm to humans and non-human animals, but they are blatant liars. The lies were revealed by a CNN report on how an ALF bombing left shrapnel lodged in a man's house, endangering lives. In any case, arson can be a very deadly act. It's only a matter of time before the ELF or their sister group kills someone.
Some people, including radio talk show host Mark Shaw, have asked if we can "sit down with the environmentalists" and talk to them. First, the ELF are not environmentalists. They are TERRORISTS. No, Mark, we don't talk to terrorists. We find them, try them, and put them in prison. We didn't "talk to" Tim McVeigh when he murdered hundreds of people in Oklahoma City, and we have no desire to "talk to" Osama Bin Laden for a similar bombing in Africa.
Others, including a representative from the Center for Sustainable Living and local anti-Starbucks activist Lisa Spector, have refused to condemn the ELF terrorists and have said that this type of "sabotage" is acceptable.
OK Lisa, answer me this. If it is OK to destroy $500,000 worth of construction equipment because someone disagrees with development, is it OK to burn down Planned Parenthood because someone disagrees with abortion? Or is it OK to simply break windows at Planned Parenthood to protest abortion, as was done to Starbucks to protest multinational corporations? Of course not! Terrorism is NOT acceptable, and supporting the ELF terrorists is fundamentally immoral.