Domestic Terrorism in US

[epepke]

Pretty much, yeah. And I think this whole thread more or less exemplifies the problem. By the US definition, this was an act of terrorism on US soil. But given that, why the general lack of interest? Of course, the short answer is that it really wasn't what most people consider to be terrorism.

I don't agree. I think there's nothing to discuss because he got caught and put in the hurt locker. End of story. What's to discuss?

 

[pgwenthold]

I don't agree. I think there's nothing to discuss because he got caught and put in the hurt locker. End of story. What's to discuss?

1) For starters, it's not like he was caught immediately. The attack happened like Thursday, right? And he was killed over the weekend. So there was a psycho killer on the loose, but that didn't even get mentioned.

2) Meanwhile, there was knife attack on a bus in Jeruselem, and we had a thread started on that. But there is an attack at a gay bar in the States, and no one things it is worth noting?

3) There are also the types of questions I brought up in this thread in light of how it mixes with the "war on terror." By the current definition of terror, this attack could be classified as terrorism. So we had last week a terrorist on US soil. That's not worth discussing? If they guy had been an arab going into a temple, would the reaction have been the same?

 

[epepke]

1) For starters, it's not like he was caught immediately. The attack happened like Thursday, right? And he was killed over the weekend. So there was a psycho killer on the loose, but that didn't even get mentioned.

We're used to people getting caught in a few days in this country. So we don't get out blood pressure all up for every event, whether one thinks it's terrorism or not. Are you saying that it's a bad thing?

 

[pgwenthold]

Bad? don't know.

Shocking? YES! Domestic terrorism is passe?

As I said, if this were an arab who had done this at a temple, would you be shrugging your shoulders?

 

[epepke]

Bad? don't know.

Shocking? YES! Domestic terrorism is passe?

As I said, if this were an arab who had done this at a temple, would you be shrugging your shoulders?

If it were in Turkey, which has a pretty good rule of law (and even an excessive one by some accounts), I probably would shrug my shoulders for a few days. Same if it happened in Europe or the US. Let the cops deal with it. If they're still sitting on their thumbs after two weeks, then maybe it's a story.

Nobody got all arsed up when one temple was burned down in France. In the US, churches get burned down every week. It takes more than that to make news.

There isn't enough adrenaline in the world to get immediately pissed off about everything.

 

[BPSCG]

Bad? don't know.

Shocking? YES! Domestic terrorism is passe?

As I said, if this were an arab who had done this at a temple, would you be shrugging your shoulders?

How short some memories are.

Just a couple of years ago, we here in the shadow of the nation's capitol were fearing for our lives while some sniper was going around shooting people.

Nobody knew who he was, what he looked like, what his motives were. In the absence of a motive, they didn't even really know for sure he was a terrorist.

But the law-enforcement reaction was like he was a terrorist. All the local police were out in force, the FBI was on the case, the story was top of the news for weeks, until the guy - guys, as it turned out - were captured.

And only then was it discovered that he was Muslim. In this case, it sounds like his faith was incidental - he was a mass murderer who happened to be Muslim, rather than a murderer who went and killed kafirs out of religious conviction; he didn't even know the people he was killing.

Shrugging shoulders? Yeah, right.

 

[TragicMonkey]

I don't know if anyone else read about it, but it turns out the kid shot himself in the head during the shootout with the cops. Sounds like crazy, not terrorist. Not that the two are always exclusive.

 

[pgwenthold]

I don't know if anyone else read about it, but it turns out the kid shot himself in the head during the shootout with the cops. Sounds like crazy, not terrorist.

I don't think there is anything in the definition of "terrorist" that excludes a person who kills him/herself.

As you say, the two are not exclusive. At some level, you could say the same thing about every dumas suicide bomber.

 

[TragicMonkey]

I don't think there is anything in the definition of "terrorist" that excludes a person who kills him/herself.

As you say, the two are not exclusive. At some level, you could say the same thing about every dumas suicide bomber.

Alexandre Dumas?

I think that had the guy been a terrorist, he would have managed to kill more people and gone about it in a more organized fashion, with a clear statement.

I think there is a distinction between "a nut who terrorizes" and "a terrorist".

 

[Mycroft]

Bad? don't know.

Shocking? YES! Domestic terrorism is passe?

As I said, if this were an arab who had done this at a temple, would you be shrugging your shoulders?

If you define this hate crime as "terrorism" (and I'm not saying you shouldn't) then you also have to acknowledge that “domestic terrorism” is not so shocking in the USA. We’ve always had hate-crimes in the US, from gay bashing to the KKK, it’s old news to us.

“Domestic terrorism” is shocking to us when it’s Islamic extremists or timothy McVey types because those are uncommon.

 

[roger]

White really isn't much different from light gray.
Light gray isn't all that much different from dark gray.
Dark gray and black are pretty much the same thing, especially in low light situations.
No one said these comparisons don't apply in low light situations.

Therefore, white is black.

 

[rwguinn]

White really isn't much different from light gray.
Light gray isn't all that much different from dark gray.
Dark gray and black are pretty much the same thing, especially in low light situations.
No one said these comparisons don't apply in low light situations.

Therefore, white is black.

You forgot to put a on that. I hope.
Because if you are serious, you are sounding like a true wishful thinker. Even in the dark, there are innumerable shades of gray. The trick to seeing them is to make a light. Unfortunately, for many people, that means that you have to deal with the fear that light can reveal.