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Comment by drivebyacct2 | Hacker News Reader

Can this be considered terrorism? Surely, blackmail, but also terrorism? Just curious.

edit: Since I received record fast downvotes, I'll clarify that this is not meant to be a political comment, jesus.

If you want to dilute what the words means to the point it can mean just about any crime, sure. But if you're referring to the strict term, then no.

>the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion

Which word am I diluting exactly? If Romney is as afraid of releasing his taxes as many imply, would he not be fearful of their release?

edit2: thanks for the replies, I think I understand why y'all disagree and I think that I agree with you. It's not systematic and it's not being used to intimidate others, it's too focused, basically.

Part of the idea of terrorism (and hate crimes, for that matter) is that the victims aren't just the ones immediately impacted, but other people as well. The aim of terrorism is to create a climate of fear in those who live. I will always remember the first time I flew on an airplane after September 11, 2001.

I strongly doubt that this act was designed to strike fear into the hearts of all of the other fabulously wealthy presidential candidates who refuse to disclose their tax returns.

In my opinion, the reason this does not classify as terrorism is that 99.999999% of the world is not afraid of being blackmailed for the release of their tax returns.

The entire idea of blackmail is that you fear the thing being held against you.

Two issues with your usage:

- this is not "systematic". Terrorism targets a whole group.

- this is not "violent" (search the wikipedia entry[0]; while the word is left out of the one-liner at the top, it appears throughout).

I would have categorized this under blackmail, or possibly harassment or intimidation. It definitely isn't terrorism.

[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism

"If Romney is as afraid of releasing his taxes as many imply, would he not be fearful of their release?"

If a kid is afraid of their first day of school that doesn't mean the school is a terrorist, though that child may be full of terror about that day. It's a very broad term - arguably which contributes to problem of ever really "winning" a "war on terror", but the common understanding of the word terrorism today doesn't usually include things like fear of tax records being released.

Being "fearful" or "worried" about the political consequences of a document being made public isn't the same as "terror." Not wanting to leave your family alone because they may be raped and murdered is terrifying. I think that's the dilution the parent comment was talking about.

There's no actual strict definition of terrorism; just a bunch of disparate attempts at one by various government agencies. The reason this is, is because it's so painfully, obviously subjective. If we use the definition provided by drivebyacct2, the use of the term itself is the best example of its definition. Most accounts of terrorism are merely just criminal acts that a certain party wants to paint as extranormative. It's interesting to bring up the question of whether this hack could be considered terrorism, as I'm sure if it's real, some Republicans will have interest in calling it that. That's the nature of the illusive concept of "terrorism". Sorry for the off topic discussion!

Not really, per Bruce Hoffman (a Georgetown University professor that's an authority on the subject)

"Terrorism is ... violence - or, equally important, the threat of violence - used and directed in pursuit of, or in service of, a political aim."[1]

Certainly this is political, but I think it's a stretch to call releasing stolen tax returns violence.

[1] Hoffman, Bruce. _Inside Terrorism_. New York: Columbia University Press, 1998. Print.

I don't think so. Since it would bring fear, only if the people were wrong in the first place (not innocent). And that fear is nothing like fear for your life, or the life of the others, or fear of being sexually molested, or offended by any other physical or psychological means.

Only if they stretched a couple of the rules. They can use the wire fraud rules quite a lot easier and put them in jail for a long, long time.

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