Were the outlaws my Rep. family idolizes--were they insurgents/terrorists?

[Mrs. Overall]

This has been bothering me as I read about the various uses of the word "insurgent" (which means: a person who revolts against civil authority). The Iraqi people have been labeled insurgents, as were the people who were angered when food/water were not delivered to them as they waited, stranded in New Orleans, and recently people who voted for Lamont have been referred to as insurgents. Also, "terrorist" has come to be applied to those who spray paint a bulldozer that is about to knock down an old growth redwood grove--eco-terrorist.

So, I'm just wondering why members of my very Republican family consider western outlaws to be folk heroes, if these men/gangs become famous for stealing, murdering, raping, and causing chaos among the law enforcement of the time. Why do they hang pictures of Jesse James, Wild Bill, Billy the Kid, Buffalo Bill, Dynamite Dick, Black Bart, the Dalton Gang, and the Wild Bunch in their living rooms, have tons of books and documentaries on these outlaws? Weren't these men/gangs the "insurgents" and "terrorists" of their day?

[htuttle]

1. Most of those guys were just bank rooobers

...and Buffalo Bill was a circus performer.

[godhatesrepublicans]

2. Don't forget, many Repubs love the Confederacy; armed rebels.

And the bank robbers of the day were stealing from depositors, not some "damn Govmnit" since it was before FDIC. Just like modern Repub heros who steal from investors come to think of it.

[jbonkowski]

3. No

Insurgents and terrorists are motivated by an ideology that is bigger than themselves. Those you named were nothing more than colorful criminals, in it for themselves. The only nice thing you can say about terrorists or insurgents is that they aren't in it for the money.

jim