5 ms·

My one google didn't find the definition on the FBI website. But there is a description from the Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/12

My one google didn't find the definition on the FBI website. But there is a description from the Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/12/fbi-definition-of-terrorism/418722/ https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/12/fbi-def... “Domestic terrorism” means activities with the following three characteristics: Involve acts dangerous to human life that violate federal or state law; Appear intended (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and Occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the U.S. If this is correct, then no, this was not terrorism. Edit:formatting

hd4 10y ago
>(i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;
mozumder 10y ago
what? - Involve acts dangerous to human life that violate federal or state law; Check. - (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; Check. - Occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the U.S. Check. Why are there so many people defending terrorism in this thread? White males are committing terrorist acts.. own it. From there we can figure out how to solve the problem of white-males committing terrorist acts.. how would you solve the problem of white males committing terrorist acts?
- mikeash 10y ago
  Because a remarkable number of people are racist, even here.
  - breatheoften 10y ago
    I got into a argument with my German girlfriend last night that involved calling her a racist. We were discussing where to travel for our next holiday -- and it came to light that she would not go to France because she was afraid and said she would be uncomfortable there. She also told me that she is uncomfortable on the train when there are young muslim males on board. I tried to argue the statistics of risk with her and said that we should've also avoiding traveling to the US based on her risk assessment given the risk of being killed by mentally ill people with guns or white supremacist terrorists. Ultimately, in my opinion, she is just more comfortable with risk if it comes from white people than from brown -- I choose to call her a racist to try and demonstrate just how wrong I perceive her thinking to be. Its very depressing to watch the reasonableness and kindness of Germans that I used to perceive to be common and widespread so in decline... Racists really do seem like they are everywhere these days ...
    - nsxwolf 10y ago
      Sounds like you'll be looking for a new girlfriend soon one way or another.
    - cableshaft 10y ago
      I mean, France is an active target for terrorism due to their politics and has had multiple major incidents in recent memory. I'm a naturally paranoid person and I'll get nervous any time I'm on a train, a plane, or in a big city pretty much anywhere, because my brain starts inventing scenarios where this time, something goes wrong (not even terrorist related, like if I'm in the plane I'll just imagine it as one of the times something malfunctions and it crashes). It's not quite enough to completely deter myself from getting on the plane or going into the city, but I don't truly feel relaxed and comfortable, usually, until I'm no longer in that situation. Hell, thanks to that Aurora, Colorado theater massacre, I even feel that way in movies now (I actually had tickets to see Dark Knight Rises the day after that happened...that was a surreal experience). I should also state that, despite my obvious fear of terrorism, I do think governments have been using it as a bogeyman in order to get all sorts of draconian policies passed and do some horrible things in the guise of protecting their citizens from terrorism. I know you were calling her that to demonstrate a point, but it's not necessarily as deep as that. It can just be a fear that you understand is irrational but feel it anyway. I think as long as you acknowledge it's irrational and don't let it dictate your behavior too much (definitely not channel it towards feeling you have to attack someone), then it's not necessarily a bad thing and just a consequence of being a fragile human with survival instincts. Once we've uploaded our consciousnesses and disposed of our biological containers, maybe then we can stop feeling fear about these things.
      - mikeash 10y ago
        Well put. We're all racist to an extent. It's an unavoidable part of how our brains work. We will interpret things differently depending on how a person looks. What matters is whether you understand and acknowledge this fact, and what you do about it. If you resist it and attempt to compensate, you're good. If you give in to it and embrace it, not so much.
      - 10y ago
  - mordant 10y ago
    It seems to me that a remarkable number of people here are in fact racists - they're salivating at the chance of catching the Great White Terorrist. As everyone knows - but these people don't want to admit - the vast majority of terrorist acts are not in fact committed by Caucasian Westerners. As for so-called 'hate crimes', it seems that label is only applied when the victim is non-white, and the perpetrator is white - even when a non-white perpetrator is clearly and openly shouting racial invective at a white victim before, during, and/or after the crime itself. Sure sounds like racism to me!
    - mikeash 10y ago
      What percentage of terrorist acts in the US are committed by whites? I'd like to see some numbers on that "vast majority" claim. Racially motivated crimes against whites certainly qualify as hate crimes. In 2012, for example, 22% of hate crime victims were classified as "victims of an anti-white bias": https://ucr.fbi.gov/hate-crime/2012/topic-pages/victims/victims_final https://ucr.fbi.gov/hate-crime/2012/topic-pages/victims/vict...
    - hd4 10y ago
      > As everyone knows.. the vast majority.. not committed by Caucasian Westerners A ridiculous statement to make, especially given your lack of actual data. You've been trying to divert and deflect from what actually happened from the point you started posting in the thread.
- 2muchcoffeeman 10y ago
  > This white-male nerd culture is truly toxic. I am male. But I am NOT white. And I'm certainly not defending the shooters actions. You probably ought not to assume too much about faceless names on the internet and start insulting people. Read the Atlantic article I linked. It's about the San Bernadino attack. I quote a paragraph below. No wonder Bowdich didn’t yet feel comfortable asserting that the attack had the political intent stipulated in the law: to intimidate or coerce civilians, or to influence the government. “It’s way too early to speculate on motive,” he said. In particular, investigators are struggling to understand why, with many pieces of evidence pointing toward radical Islamism, Farook and Malik chose the target they did. Read that last sentence. 2 radical Islamist kill 14 people and injure 22 and it is NOT IMMEDIATELY CLEAR to the FBI that the 2nd condition was met. If that was not clear, how is this clear?
- krapp 10y ago
  Admitting that white males commit terrorist acts would weaken the thesis of the alt-right that terrorism is a function of multiculturalism, specifically of immigration from non-white or non-christian majority cultures. Spending any amount of time on HN in threads which touch on the subjects of immigration or terrorism will demonstrate that this point of view has many adherents and defenders here. White Americans aren't considered terrorists by default when they kill people for political or religious reasons, rather, they're revolutionaries, or patriots, or lone wolves. Were the shooter an immigrant or Muslim, the need to be technically precise about the definition of terrorism would suddenly disappear.
  - 2muchcoffeeman 10y ago
    > Admitting that white males commit terrorist acts would weaken the thesis of the alt-right that terrorism is a function of multiculturalism, specifically of immigration from non-white or non-christian majority cultures. I'd buy that. > White Americans aren't considered terrorists by default when they kill people for political or religious reasons, rather, they're revolutionaries, or patriots, or lone wolves. There are lots of white terrorists: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_terrorism_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_terrorism_in_the_Unit... Maybe people should stop assuming too much about others without some evidence?
    - krapp 10y ago
      I'm not assuming anything about anyone specifically, but I believe the general case is accurate. The bias I described does exist and does find its way into these discussions.
breatheoften 10y ago
How is this act not intended to intimidate migrants from "Middle Eastern countries" to the US?
homarp 10y ago
https://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/terrorism-2002-2005 https://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/terrorism-20... has the FBI definition

hd4 10y ago

>(i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;

mozumder 10y ago

what? - Involve acts dangerous to human life that violate federal or state law; Check. - (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; Check. - Occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the U.S. Check. Why are there so many people defending terrorism in this thread? White males are committing terrorist acts.. own it. From there we can figure out how to solve the problem of white-males committing terrorist acts.. how would you solve the problem of white males committing terrorist acts?

mikeash 10y ago
Because a remarkable number of people are racist, even here.
- breatheoften 10y ago
  I got into a argument with my German girlfriend last night that involved calling her a racist. We were discussing where to travel for our next holiday -- and it came to light that she would not go to France because she was afraid and said she would be uncomfortable there. She also told me that she is uncomfortable on the train when there are young muslim males on board. I tried to argue the statistics of risk with her and said that we should've also avoiding traveling to the US based on her risk assessment given the risk of being killed by mentally ill people with guns or white supremacist terrorists. Ultimately, in my opinion, she is just more comfortable with risk if it comes from white people than from brown -- I choose to call her a racist to try and demonstrate just how wrong I perceive her thinking to be. Its very depressing to watch the reasonableness and kindness of Germans that I used to perceive to be common and widespread so in decline... Racists really do seem like they are everywhere these days ...
  - nsxwolf 10y ago
    Sounds like you'll be looking for a new girlfriend soon one way or another.
  - cableshaft 10y ago
    I mean, France is an active target for terrorism due to their politics and has had multiple major incidents in recent memory. I'm a naturally paranoid person and I'll get nervous any time I'm on a train, a plane, or in a big city pretty much anywhere, because my brain starts inventing scenarios where this time, something goes wrong (not even terrorist related, like if I'm in the plane I'll just imagine it as one of the times something malfunctions and it crashes). It's not quite enough to completely deter myself from getting on the plane or going into the city, but I don't truly feel relaxed and comfortable, usually, until I'm no longer in that situation. Hell, thanks to that Aurora, Colorado theater massacre, I even feel that way in movies now (I actually had tickets to see Dark Knight Rises the day after that happened...that was a surreal experience). I should also state that, despite my obvious fear of terrorism, I do think governments have been using it as a bogeyman in order to get all sorts of draconian policies passed and do some horrible things in the guise of protecting their citizens from terrorism. I know you were calling her that to demonstrate a point, but it's not necessarily as deep as that. It can just be a fear that you understand is irrational but feel it anyway. I think as long as you acknowledge it's irrational and don't let it dictate your behavior too much (definitely not channel it towards feeling you have to attack someone), then it's not necessarily a bad thing and just a consequence of being a fragile human with survival instincts. Once we've uploaded our consciousnesses and disposed of our biological containers, maybe then we can stop feeling fear about these things.
    - mikeash 10y ago
      Well put. We're all racist to an extent. It's an unavoidable part of how our brains work. We will interpret things differently depending on how a person looks. What matters is whether you understand and acknowledge this fact, and what you do about it. If you resist it and attempt to compensate, you're good. If you give in to it and embrace it, not so much.
    - 10y ago
- mordant 10y ago
  It seems to me that a remarkable number of people here are in fact racists - they're salivating at the chance of catching the Great White Terorrist. As everyone knows - but these people don't want to admit - the vast majority of terrorist acts are not in fact committed by Caucasian Westerners. As for so-called 'hate crimes', it seems that label is only applied when the victim is non-white, and the perpetrator is white - even when a non-white perpetrator is clearly and openly shouting racial invective at a white victim before, during, and/or after the crime itself. Sure sounds like racism to me!
  - mikeash 10y ago
    What percentage of terrorist acts in the US are committed by whites? I'd like to see some numbers on that "vast majority" claim. Racially motivated crimes against whites certainly qualify as hate crimes. In 2012, for example, 22% of hate crime victims were classified as "victims of an anti-white bias": https://ucr.fbi.gov/hate-crime/2012/topic-pages/victims/victims_final https://ucr.fbi.gov/hate-crime/2012/topic-pages/victims/vict...
  - hd4 10y ago
    > As everyone knows.. the vast majority.. not committed by Caucasian Westerners A ridiculous statement to make, especially given your lack of actual data. You've been trying to divert and deflect from what actually happened from the point you started posting in the thread.
2muchcoffeeman 10y ago
> This white-male nerd culture is truly toxic. I am male. But I am NOT white. And I'm certainly not defending the shooters actions. You probably ought not to assume too much about faceless names on the internet and start insulting people. Read the Atlantic article I linked. It's about the San Bernadino attack. I quote a paragraph below. No wonder Bowdich didn’t yet feel comfortable asserting that the attack had the political intent stipulated in the law: to intimidate or coerce civilians, or to influence the government. “It’s way too early to speculate on motive,” he said. In particular, investigators are struggling to understand why, with many pieces of evidence pointing toward radical Islamism, Farook and Malik chose the target they did. Read that last sentence. 2 radical Islamist kill 14 people and injure 22 and it is NOT IMMEDIATELY CLEAR to the FBI that the 2nd condition was met. If that was not clear, how is this clear?
krapp 10y ago
Admitting that white males commit terrorist acts would weaken the thesis of the alt-right that terrorism is a function of multiculturalism, specifically of immigration from non-white or non-christian majority cultures. Spending any amount of time on HN in threads which touch on the subjects of immigration or terrorism will demonstrate that this point of view has many adherents and defenders here. White Americans aren't considered terrorists by default when they kill people for political or religious reasons, rather, they're revolutionaries, or patriots, or lone wolves. Were the shooter an immigrant or Muslim, the need to be technically precise about the definition of terrorism would suddenly disappear.
- 2muchcoffeeman 10y ago
  > Admitting that white males commit terrorist acts would weaken the thesis of the alt-right that terrorism is a function of multiculturalism, specifically of immigration from non-white or non-christian majority cultures. I'd buy that. > White Americans aren't considered terrorists by default when they kill people for political or religious reasons, rather, they're revolutionaries, or patriots, or lone wolves. There are lots of white terrorists: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_terrorism_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_terrorism_in_the_Unit... Maybe people should stop assuming too much about others without some evidence?
  - krapp 10y ago
    I'm not assuming anything about anyone specifically, but I believe the general case is accurate. The bias I described does exist and does find its way into these discussions.

breatheoften 10y ago

How is this act not intended to intimidate migrants from "Middle Eastern countries" to the US?

homarp 10y ago

https://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/terrorism-2002-2005 https://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/terrorism-20... has the FBI definition