What is the difference between a terrorist and a freedom fighter?
(From an entirely objective point of view)

Hello Rai130

This is an interesting question that I have pondered upon before.  My
personal view is that a "freedom fighter" is a person who is on your
side that employs violence to get what he/she wants, a terrorist is a
person who is on the other side and employs violence.  In the past few
years I have noticed the boundaries between the two words/phrases
blurring.

The Princeton Word Net dictionary defines the words thus:

Freedom Fighter:
insurgent, insurrectionist, freedom fighter, rebel -- (a person who
takes part in an armed rebellion against the constituted authority
(especially in the hope of improving conditions)).

Terrorist:
A radical who employs terror as a political weapon; usually organizes
with other terrorists in small cells; often uses religion as a cover
for terrorist activities.

Similarly Dictionary.com defines them as:

Freedom Fighter:
One engaged in armed rebellion or resistance against an oppressive government.

Terrorist:
One who governs by terrorism or intimidation; specifically, an agent
or partisan of the revolutionary tribunal during the Reign of Terror
in France. --Burke.

In my opinion the differences are marginal :-)

If you have any further questions on this topic, please ask for
clarification and I will do my best to help you.

Sites:
http://www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn?stage=1&word=terrorist
http://www.dictionary.com

Thanks. For $2.00 that is exactly what I wanted to know. It will be
interesting to see if anyone else has any opinions (and if they remain
objective!)

Excellent answer!

I am thinking of a cheesy 1980's movie called Red Dawn, which is about
the USSR invading the US and the resulting teenage American "freedom
fighters."

It's a silly idea that war has rules and that the "good guys" follow
the rules, while the "bad guys/terrorists" break them.

How is it objective when he starts out saying "My personal view is.."
and finishes with "in my opinion..."?  He throws in some definitions,
which don't really support his conclusion either. In both sets of
definitions, the key word is terror.  The terrorist uses terror as his
main weapon, and attacks are aimed at maximizing fear in the general
population.  The freedom fighter may use these tactics, in which case
he is a terrorist as well as a freedom fighter.

Oh, and the term "freedom fighter" may be a misnomer, since not all
those fighting to overthrow an oppressive government are in search of
freedom for their country.  Many simply want to impose their own brand
of oppression.

Only being so keen on objectivism because of present geo-political
climate  - just trying to avoid hate rants...

ac67 seems to have hit the nail on the head by emphasising 'terror'
but I suppose one man's terror is another man's justice...

Well, freedom fighters and terrorist are the same. Most terrorist of
this time demand freedom (Al Qaida - Palestina, Iraq, Chechyna etc,
IRA - Ireland, USA - Iraq) all these terrorist can be named freedom
fighters for they are fighting for freedom. When fighting they use
terror as their main tool because most freedom fighters don't have the
facilities or power to achieve diplomatic and cheap peace.

I like to define the two thusly:

Terrorists have no qualms about attacking civilian/non combatant
targets, and usually explicitly target non-combatants.

Freedom fighters (ideally) don't specifically target non-combatants;
instead they will target governmental/military targets.

So, blowing up yourself on a bus filled with schoolchildren would be
an act of terrorism. Blowing up yourself at a military checkpoint
probably wouldn't be, even if there were some civilian casualties, the
target was military.

I like that definition.  But what would you call, for instance, some
of the Palestinian suicide bombers, who are fighting for freedom of
their people, but doing it by blowing up non-governmental,
non-military Israelis, including children?

Freedom fighters are fighting for freedom usually in their own
country. Recent terrorist typically wish to take away other people's
freedom and force them to choose between death and converting to the
terrorist religion.   Neil