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How Terrorism Got Its Own Holiday

Thanks in part to a catchy rhyme and a cult favorite, terrorism now has its own holiday.

On November 5th, Guy Fawkes Night is celebrated in memory of the failed gunpowder plot of 1605.

The holiday was brought into the public eye by the movie V for Vendetta starring Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving.

The movie, and the graphic novel its based on by Alan Moore, are a call to anarchy.  Its message has been taken up by political groups who see the film and the holiday as a push against government oppression by means of drastic action.

In other words, terrorism.

Actually, Guy Fawkes Night is meant to celebrate the fact that the plot by Fawkes and his conspirators to blow up Parliament failed, but history does tend to get a little muddled when Hollywood gets involved.

Then there's the poem uttered in the movie:


Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.

It has a sort of "Listen my children and you shall hear..." quality to it.

The entire holiday is ripe for romanticizing.  The boldness of Fawkes' plot mixed with time have made it quite a story, but let's not forget what we're talking about here.

A group of people tried to cause mass destruction and murder innocent people in the name of religion (in this case, Catholicism) in the hopes of toppling a government.

Sound familiar?

The keyword here is "time."  Since the plot was foiled over four hundred years ago--before America was even founded--it's easy to look back on Guy Fawkes and his co-conspirators and label them as freedom fighters, but let me ask this:

If in four hundred years, England makes a movie romanticizing the men who flew planes into the World Trade Center, how will we feel about that?

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