this post was submitted on 20 Mar 2025
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Damaging property is not terrorism. This is so tired.
I have a feeling, even if the World Trade Center had been completely depopulated on the morning of September 11th and the hijacked aircraft only had jihadists aboard, the event would have probably still been declared an act of terrorism.
The determination of what constitutes terrorism isn't for us normies to make. The people in power get to have that particular privilege, regardless of what we feel.
Peeaonally, I think terrorism requires a certain scale of either malice or destruction. Flying jetliners into an empty icon of the country? Definitely terrorism. Crashing a little Cessna into a National Forest? Probably not terrorism.
That's reasonable.
The definition of terrorism usually runs along the lines of, engaging in acts to cause fear for the purpose of achieving political goals. So, stalking someone isn't terrorism, but sending pictures of a politician in various locations with crosshairs drawn on them saying you will follow through unless/if they do x would be.
Now, the question becomes, are these arsonists setting fire to Tesla vehicles and showrooms because they want Musk to stop his political antics or because Musk is a giant asshole? I honestly think you could get reasonable doubt on that, provided you actually had a fair trial and weren't dropped in a deep, dark hole somewhere.
I disagree. Consider racist mass shootings by lone perpetrators. It's clearly an act attempting to incite terror and tension, many of them make it clear in their manifestos that they're trying to spark a 'race war'. But it's not organized, beyond being the result of stochastic terrorism.
Ah, right. I'm not familiar enough with US law to realize.
Thanks for checking, it's refreshing to see that attitude and care online.