Terrorism is psychological warfare aimed at a civilian population. It could be an expression of frustration; an act by one who doesn&#x27;t care, or cares exclusively and consumingly. And it is horrific, disgusting, and morally reprehensible.<p>The word is not merely propaganda, it is a word whose extremity exactly conveys the revulsion and moral judgement of the speaker. As with any label, you run the risk of superficiality and preoccupation with simplified narratives, but &quot;terrorism&quot; is NOT just propaganda, and it deliberately conveys more than &quot;acts of violence&quot;. (A clinical term with its own problems of distancing audiences from the immediate reality.)<p>I wrote this because your last sentence seemed to imply something that I&#x27;ve noticed crop up in these kinds of discussions: the (typically Western) assumption that there is legitimacy to both sides of any conflict, and that, recognizing this, a diplomatic solution can be achieved. I&#x27;ve yet to see concrete evidence that this is the case. Short of deprogramming, how do you reason with a group of people brainwashed to be fundamentally unreasonable?