An Idaho man has been arrested after planting an IED on a parked railroad car, according to officials. The device was safely detonated by a bomb squad. Officers were dispatched on Wednesday to the 600 block of North 8th Street in Payette, Idaho, following reports of a suspicious person seen near a parked railroad car […]
Generally, the question should be: Was he trying to instill terror in a group of people to manipulate their behaviour? If the answer is “yes”, then it was indeed terrorism and the charges should reflect that; otherwise not.
That’s what the question should be, yes. But now it’s only used if corporate America is the target. Actual acts of terrorism against us degens is just another Tuesday.
The problem with that is, you’d have to ask him if he wanted to strike terror into a group of people. Otherwise you’d be charging him with a crime he didn’t commit. Just because you feel terrorized, doesn’t make it a terrorist act.
For instance, just because you kill a single CEO, certainly doesn’t mean you’re a terrorist. Other people can feel scared for their own lives as punishment for their killings in the name of greed, but that’s really just on them.
Terrorists often want their goals to be known, because it tells the group they want to manipulate with fear what they are expected to do. That is the reason why terrorist groups publish videos claiming the deed after they, for example, bombed a recruitment centre. They want people to know it was them and threaten everyone going to that place to join police/military. Even if an actor works solo, it helps their goal to go public and also claim there are like minded people.
So I think it’s actually reasonable to just ask.