Christian terrorists hijack a plane
 

Notice the tone of the article, if you will...


BRINDISI, Italy (CNN) -- A hijacking episode that began over Greek airspace has ended in Italy with all 113 people aboard released and both unarmed Turkish hijackers in the custody of Italian aviation authorities, Italian officials said.

Earlier reports on Tuesday that the hijackers were protesting Pope Benedict XVI's planned visit to Turkey were apparently incorrect; authorities now say that the hijackers have requested political asylum."

Read the rest of the article here:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe...ack/index.html


I'm surprised this is not "breaking news".

It doesn't sound like religious extremism as much as a very extreme reaction to perceived political oppression. It's hard to make a call at this point, but since these guys didn't apparently hurt or kill anyone, they are automatically not as bad as the monsters who do hurt and kill people.

I'm sure after a few days or weeks enjoying the hospitality of the Turkish penal system, we (or the Turkish government) will know everything there is to know about these guys, why they did what they are doint, if they are part of an organized resistance, plans for future attacks, etc.

Too bad our congress wants to block such valuable means of acquiring intelligence :(

No one got hurt, it seems that most of the passengers didn't even know what's going on, and in the US there are a lot of big news stories going on right now- like innocent children being executed, several political scandals.

It's unfortunate, and i'm happy that no one got hurt, but it's not the biggest story out there today.

I guess the real question here is: Does hijacking a commercial airplane constitute terrorism? or is it ok to hijack a plane for political asylum as long as "no one" gets hurt?

It is big news, actually.

Your tone makes it sound like you're trying to start some sort of race/religion debate here or put words in people's mouths.

Whether or not it constitutes "terrorism" depends on the laws of the country that have jurisdiction over the matter or whatever treaties/agreements govern. I'm not hip to that.

No one said anything about it ever being okay to hijack a plane.

It's not a race debate, it is a religious one. If you don't like this discussion, you don't have to respond. But if you didn't notice, there is another thread about "radical islam". So religious threads are plenty in GC.

Anyway, I posted it because it was the "news" and "politics" section, and this story applies.

I find it preplexing that hijacking a plane by a group of people seeking "religious/political assylum" does not get the same headline/breaking news than, let's say, people of other religions. Both are equally atrocious and deserve equal coverage.

Yes, and tone says a lot. Making provocative statements to try to rile people up isn't necessarily effective. And i'm free to read and comment on anything on this site that I would like.

Details of this story are just being released. Not a single person got hurt, there was no violence involved. There's a big difference.

I could care less of what religion they are. No one got hurt, no property was damaged, and in light of many other things going on in the world, this is just a very very small blip, unless other thigns are uncovered that reveal more.

It could be interesting to see if they get prosecuted in Turkey or wherever, but for now, there's nothing all that "sexy" or "interesting" about this story. A couple religious wackos, who don't appear to be part of some sort of bigger scheme, "peacefully" (for lack of better word- without force, violence, or threats of harm) hijacked a plane. Yes, it was wrong, yes, they should be punished. But there's a lot worse things going on in the world and in this country right now.

It's one of the top stories at CNN, ABC News, CBS News, and the BBC. At 3:00, it was in the news headlines on NPR.

But, I suspect that the fact that no Americans seem to be involved keeps it from being the top story here. (It is the top story at the BBC's website).

The only thing I thought I was doing was provocking a discussion about how little media coverage this story is receiving or why there were not labelled terrorist when they clearly hijacked a plane.

I agree that there are alot of worse things that are going on right now, but that's not the point. The point is, that if these guys were muslims (which they were thought to be at first--because of the whole Pope visiting Turkey bit) it would nevertheless be "breaking news".

I noticed that you said that there was no violence used. And that it was peaceful --for lack of a better word. They infiltrated the cockpit. I can only imagine what the pilots were thinking. And I can't see how you can peacefully hijack a plane to make a political statement or whatever. Still, even though no one got hurt in the end does not make it any less scarier.

Anyway, this was religiously motivated crime. And if a muslim or a christian did it, they deserve the same media coverage and the same labels.

I posted a CNN article. And it wasn't breaking news. I haven't had a chance to go to BBC, but I'm not surprised it's breaking news over there.

Yes.

This would be a bigger news story if these were Islamic people. THen it could be used to fuel the fear and anxiety over Islam, terrorism, and anti-America (or anti-government, in general) sentiments.

Terrorism is violence against innocent civilians that is designed to have a psychological impact on a broader audience in order to achieve a political, messianic, or vengeful goal. The motivation behind terrorist acts is not as important as the means through which people evoke fear. (Harvard magazine, 2002)

Hijacking a plane is a very frightening act. If people don't die as a result, GREAT, but the people on that plane didn't necessarily know they weren't going to die. We also don't know if this was just one of a series of hijacks and other attacks planned.

I'm not sure what you mean by "breaking news," since I don't see that catagory at CNN.com. It's the fourth story, and the first from outside the US, under "Latest Stories."

It's never OK to hijack a commercial plane. I can't imagine a 'worthwhile' cause for a hijacking.

As far as 'terrorism', while DSTCHAOS has provided a definition that requires violence, I'd say this would probably be construed as an act of 'terrorism'.

However, here's where I'm not sure if I can agree:

Hijackings that result in injury are not 'equally attrocious' to those that result in no harm to innocents; I can't reason any way to get around that.

I do agree, however, that given identical outcomes/circumstances as far as loss of life/injury, it should not matter the reason for the hijacking - hijacking in the name of Allah should not be considered worse than hijacking for political asylum, for Greenpeace, or for any reason.

Check the red-bolded text at the top of the page. I think the current breaking news is about the Dow average breaking at a record high.