Tenn Murderer = Terrorist...NC Murderer = Criminal

[ClosedCaption]

How are these being labeled and what guidelines must be met to be a terrorist and not a criminal? Is religion the only way we turn a crime into religion?

Dylan Roof terrorized the entire church and took their lives...but calling him a domestic terrorist was a subject of debate.

 

[bodecea]

How are these being labeled and what guidelines must be met to be a terrorist and not a criminal? Is religion the only way we turn a crime into religion?

Dylan Roof terrorized the entire church and took their lives...but calling him a domestic terrorist was a subject of debate.

Why not both...a murderer AND a terrorist.

 

[Pogo]

Terrorism requires a motive of political coercion: "free our people from your prisons" or "get your armies out of my country" or something. Murdering an abortion doctor or bombing an abortion clinic or lesbian bar -- there has to be some kind of intimidation toward or away from some specific action. If that message is absent, it can't qualify as terrorism. That's why I always said the Boston Marathon bombings were not terrorism --- they gave no message.

I don't recall a debate on Dylann Roof's monstrosity being 'terrorism' --- seems like the whole world got distracted by shiny Confederate flag objects and forgot all about the incident -- but usually we don't call race-hate crimes "terrorism".... maybe because we have so much of it (?) -- but to the extent that race-hate crimes, lynchings and so forth are intended to "keep those people in their place" by intimidation, they do technically qualify as terrorism. After all the KKK was clearly a terrorism organization.

 

[bucs90]

I think both are terrorists.