The Escalating Terrorism Problem in the United States
csis.org
csis.org
Of course the article's title is sensationalism, which is expected, but I see a lot more danger in the attacks on free speech than I do in this 'escalating' terrorism problem that is mostly a problem because the media makes it into one.
Or maybe you're conflating terrorism and protest? I expect statistically there's been an increase in right wing extremist attacks in the past year so the shift is most likely real. Case in point, Nashville. I can't think of any other group that's executed an domestic attack as destructive as that one was since 9/11. And I don't think it wrong to classify that as right wing terrorism.
Surely the Bostom bombings and El Paso, Foot Hoo, Orlando & San Bernardino shootings count as more destructive domestic terror attacks (assoicated with various groups). Perhaps I have misundertood and you are speaking specifically of structural damage.
What destructive behaviors by certain groups of people aren't being classified as terrorism that you think should be?
What right wing behaviors are being misclassified as terrorism that shouldn't be?
Can you be more specific, please?
The most famous terror attacks in the USA [0][1][2][3][4][5] were perpetrated by right-wing folks: These were religiously-motivated, racially-motivated, in protest of large and overly anxious government, and stand in stark contrast to ELF blowing up SUVs late at night.
WP has a list of terror attacks in the USA [6], if you want to peruse a complete list and see for yourself how often people are motivated by religion, race, or other hateful right-wing delusions.
Which events would you say that the original article has gotten wrong? How is it "convenient" that terrorism is being committed in a lopsided way?
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_Rajneeshee_bioterror_atta...
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Kaczynski
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_City_bombing
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Marathon_bombing
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orlando_nightclub_shooting
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism_in_the_United_States
However it is also from June 2020 and needs an update. Terrorism is defined as using criminal acts to move political goals forward. Throughout 2020 and even as recently as yesterday (see https://www.wsj.com/articles/inauguration-day-protests-in-po...), the political left has been using terrorism to push their social justice agenda on the backs of the George Floyd tragedy. The end goal of groups engaging in such violence (eg antifa, BLM-affiliated groups, socialist groups, etc) has been to leverage this incident (or really any crisis) and use virtuous packaging like “social justice” to ultimately implement ideas like highly redistributive tax schemes. This type of behavior is outside the acceptable norms of how political debate and civil discourse is meant to be carried out in our society. Additionally the amount of economic damage and the number of deaths stemming from left-wing riots throughout 2020 is far greater than right-wing ones, such as the recent Capitol riots.
However the calls to curb extremism, and the actions to curb extremist actors and organizations, all seem to only be directed at the right. This double standard prevents the kind of deescalation strategy this article proposes at its conclusion. One side is not going to back down if the other side is given a pass whenever they use dirty tactics to further their cause. The only way out is mutual disarmament and fair (evenly applied) mutual accountability.
What behavior do you consider inside the acceptable norms, and what behavior do you consider outside?
You have redefined terrorism; the legal code emphasizes that the crimes do not have to have political ends other than terrorizing the population at large [1].
Please consider not repeating racist talking points. Equivocating protests for racial justice, whose main call is for police officers to use less violence against the population, with protests as a cover for insurrection, whose main goal is to infiltrate government buildings and kidnap/lynch/kill elected officials, is not just disgusting but an abrogation of the facts and claims that we've collected about the last year.