How Many Bombs Does a Non-Muslim Need to Set Off Before Being Called a Terrorist?

[DonViejo]

by Dean Obeidallah | 9:38 am, March 22nd, 2018

What if a 23-year-old Muslim man set off six bombs in a two-week period that killed two Americans and injured several others? Add to that, what if that same Muslim man ended his life as a suicide bomber, blowing himself up as the authorities moved in to arrest him, killing himself and wounding a police officer?

Any doubt the headlines would include the word “terrorist”? Of course not. The “T word” would be everywhere and we would see wall to wall terrorism-focused coverage on cable news, complete with a cadre of former FBI agents and terrorism experts exploring how this man was radicalized. And of course, Donald Trump would use the incident to further his own political agenda just as he did after last year’s deadly terror attack in New York City where he called for an end to the decades old Diversity Visa Program.

But when that exact fact pattern played out with the suspected Austin serial bomber, Mark Conditt, including Conditt in essence ending his life as a suicide bomber and injuring a police officer, the response was starkly different. First off, you don’t see the word terrorism used in connection with this incident, except for the media reporting that the White House stated that there’s “no apparent nexus to terrorism.”

Instead of calling Conditt a terrorist, the media has described him with terms like “intense loner,” who had been “homeschooled.” Even the Austin police chief told us that the 25-minute confession Conditt recorded before he blew himself up was “the outcry of a very challenged young man talking about challenges in his personal life that led him to this point.”

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https://www.mediaite.com/tv/how-many-bombs-does-a-non-muslim-need-to-set-off-before-being-called-a-terrorist/

[Mariana]

1. Christians can't be terrorists. Everyone knows that. nt.

[central scrutinizer]

12. Just "lone wolves"

Nothing to see here
Nothing we can do
Nobody could have predicted it

[SallyHemmings]

2. Great question

The luxury of living as a troubled white male.

[WillowTree]

3. Actually, I've heard several different sources refer to him as a terrorist.......

......and/or to the bombings as terrorism.

[oberliner]

4. Doesn't a terrorist have to have a political motive?

[LanternWaste]

8. Within a legal framework, yes. Within conversation, no.

Within a legal framework, yes. Within conversation, no.

And as a legal definition was not specified...

[Kirk Lover]

10. Yes. But perhaps it's time to broaden the term to include people who want to strike

fear in others 'just because'.

[dameatball]

5. Because we have the tail wagging the dog on this issue.

Tying a strictly political motive to a mass killing allows third party control of the narrative. That, in turn, allows us to be told what terror is by whoever wants to define it and has the voice to do so.
Hate, self-aggrandizement, unrequited love, racial or sexual identity violence.....what difference does it make? All of these are acts that inspire terror for victims and potential victims. All of these acts are something the perpetrator(s) can end if they choose to do so.....at least in theory. I see no real difference. The Austin bomber was home- schooled. However we will not have his parents on Al-Jazeera claiming some kind of credit....hell no....of course not. Does that make it any less "terrorism?"

[DetlefK]

6. Now that's a case of discrimination against white people!

They can do whatever they want and they never get appreciated as terrorists! So unfair!

[lunasun]

7. He was homeschooled Christian -imagine if he went to any Islamic school of learning in a big city.

We have many Islamic schools around Chicago and the graduates are not terrorists but that background would likely be highlighted to question a link

He killed people and tried to kill more including police who approached him with his bomb suicide

[yallerdawg]

9. Even those who have no directly identifiable political or ideological position...

are creating terror as a lawless act of anarchy - a label we can live with if we have no other.

While we have "legal definitions" of terror, the act of creating terror should not be excluded from the definitions of terrorism.

[Lithos]

11. We're getting hung up in semantics

And missing the bigger picture here...

Terrorism is the creation of terror with the expressed aim of promoting an agenda - it has a purpose. I can pretty much guarantee this boy did it because he was (a) a coward and (b) had taken break from reality. This was just a slow version of suicide by cop. The boy was 23 - this is around the time when mental health issues such as Depression and Schizophrenia raise their head.

The part which is being missed is that culturally it is "ok" now for kids to be raised in this intellectual isolation which makes them completely ill-equipped for society. What was revealed from the 20 minute video is how disconnected and frustrated Mark had with his life - an inability to connect and a feeling of isolation. His boss said he was quiet and introspective, shy and awkward socially. One of the common profile elements of a serial killer is the need to establish some sort of "control" in their lives. While I'm not saying that home schooling caused a Mental Health issue, I can't help but believe the lack of tools which he received made it all but likely the break would be catastrophic.

L-

[TheBlackAdder]

13. That's an interesting question.

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[left-of-center2012]

14. Depends if he's a liberal or conservative

[Mopar151]

15. Ask "Dynamite Bob" Chambliss

Timothy McVeigh, Ted Kaczinski........