boston bombing

[FireIceTalon]

I think radical and reactionary should be distinguished here, because both are not happy with the current way of things, but both want to achieve very, very different things (although those who are happy overall with the current way of things would be considered reactionary as well, to some extent). Socialists, communists, anarchists and basically all revolutionary leftists in general are radicals - they want to destroy the current social order and usher in a more humane, egalitarian society where every human being can live with dignity and reach his/her potential as a human being. Some reactionaries are also unhappy with the current social order, but they don't want to move history forward - rather they want to move it backward, to a time when traditional power structures and hierarchy were more prominent as to what they see fit for society. As a result, I dont really consider most radical Islamists to actually be "radical" per se, but very reactionary. Hitler was a reactionary of a very particular kind, while Lenin was a radical. But reactionary has different degrees as well just as radicals do. A person who wants a feudalist organization of society for instance would be reactionary not only by Marxist standards, but even by bourgeois capitalist standards as well. Just as a democratic socialist wants to achieve socialism through parliamentary/democratic means is less radical than a communist, who see socialism as being achievable only by revolution. I think these distinctions are important because many people view "radicals" as simply being anyone who has a extreme political view of how society should be, but that isn't always the case since it doesn't take context into account. It really depends on which direction you want to go

The guys who were responsible for the Boston bombing, are probably very reactionary in some way.