Labeling disparate actors all as terrorists obscures their distinct histories and contexts.

Evidence

The Bush administration, alongside Ariel Sharon’s administration in Israel, has described Yasir Arafat and Osama bin Laden as terrorists without distinguishing between the actions and context of each. Such a conflation demonstrates “how easily the term can be abused to obscure the disparate histories of events that appear superficially similar.” — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media, 834

Categorization

• DEFINE: Shows how the term ‘terrorist’ functions as a flattening category that erases distinct historical contexts.
• XREF: connects to: A tiny fraction of terrorist actors drove Arab stereotyping as default terrorists.