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I suppose the word political could encompass this, but it should also be pointed out it is political in the sense of having an intended purpose for societal cha

I suppose the word political could encompass this, but it should also be pointed out it is political in the sense of having an intended purpose for societal change. That goes beyond what most people consider politics. It could be religious, ethnocentric, ideological, philosophical, etc. Even the actions of the luddites could fall under terrorism.

skissane 6y ago
> it should also be pointed out it is political in the sense of having an intended purpose for societal change The Christchurch mosque shooting was very consciously political - the perpetrator published a manifesto, he pre-announced and live streamed his crime to an online political discussion community dominated by the far right, he was hoping to inspire copycats through which to change society (he hoped to trigger the genocide of the Muslim minority in Western societies). Compare that to the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting - in the later case, the perpetrator didn’t prepare a manifesto. His motivations appeared to be primarily personal. Like everyone, he had some political views which investigators pieced together from writings and communications he left behind, but he made no attempt to communicate a clear political justification for his monstrous act. Both shootings were horrific acts of evil. But only one was clearly intended as political. Only one was a clear case of terrorism
- darksaints 6y ago
  I'm in full agreement. I'm just saying that a lot of people have a very narrow definition of political, and can easily fall into the trap of seeing that definition being a left vs right thing, or whatever political lense they tend to bias towards. For example, while the Sandy Hook shooting was distinctly personal in motivation, the 2014 Isla Vista shooting looked very similar but was very political, and thus terroristic. It just happens that the political motivation was one not commonly viewed as being political.

skissane 6y ago

> it should also be pointed out it is political in the sense of having an intended purpose for societal change The Christchurch mosque shooting was very consciously political - the perpetrator published a manifesto, he pre-announced and live streamed his crime to an online political discussion community dominated by the far right, he was hoping to inspire copycats through which to change society (he hoped to trigger the genocide of the Muslim minority in Western societies). Compare that to the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting - in the later case, the perpetrator didn’t prepare a manifesto. His motivations appeared to be primarily personal. Like everyone, he had some political views which investigators pieced together from writings and communications he left behind, but he made no attempt to communicate a clear political justification for his monstrous act. Both shootings were horrific acts of evil. But only one was clearly intended as political. Only one was a clear case of terrorism

darksaints 6y ago
I'm in full agreement. I'm just saying that a lot of people have a very narrow definition of political, and can easily fall into the trap of seeing that definition being a left vs right thing, or whatever political lense they tend to bias towards. For example, while the Sandy Hook shooting was distinctly personal in motivation, the 2014 Isla Vista shooting looked very similar but was very political, and thus terroristic. It just happens that the political motivation was one not commonly viewed as being political.