General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIsn't the El Paso mass shooting a clear example of terrorism?
Definition of terrorism:
itsrobert
(14,157 posts)If you did that, it would indicate mental illness and nothing more.
drray23
(7,637 posts)RockRaven
(15,012 posts)but "terrorism" would work too.
Codeine
(25,586 posts)Nobody yelled Allahu akbar!; ergo not terrorism.
uponit7771
(90,364 posts)malaise
(269,187 posts)then he added a ''we're still investigating that...''
barbtries
(28,811 posts)this is an act of white nationalist domestic terrorism.
tulipsandroses
(5,127 posts)Never mind that it seems like the only time they want to talk about mental health is in these circumstances. I go back to work on Monday and damn near all of my patients need assistance with follow up care. Where is the money for that if they care about mental health. The vast majority of people with mental health issues are not violent. They are more prone to be victims of violence.
Earlier this evening, I was listening to Jim Cavanaugh talk about these Nazi punks. (his words) But I would agree. He mentioned its the same playbook from the Civil Rights Era - all the way back when he was chasing Klan members and other extremists prone to violence back then. Back then he said they had their meetings and distributed pamphlets. Now they have the internet.
Do I think all those Klan members and Nazis that killed and maimed were mentally ill? No I do not. Neither do I think these assholes today have mental health issues.
They are being radicalized. They already have the seeds of hate, those seeds are being watered, fertilized and nurtured.
I do not know if this young man has any mental health issues but I hate to see mental health used as coverall for hate.
Sapient Donkey
(1,568 posts)Some alternative scenarios would be if he was muslim and he wrote a similar screed against America in general, or christians/jews, or whatever. Not many people would argue against that being labeled terrorism.
Another would be if an African American was responsible and he had similar writings denouncing white folks and said they needed to killed etc... I think we can label all of these as terrorists acts.
Maybe there is room to debate the definition of terrorism, but if in doing so all the scenarios should be treated as the same. If one is, then they all are. If one isn't then how can the other ones be?