minarchist wrote on Feb 24
th, 2020 at 10:41am:
Is there a difference between a person with mental health issues going on a killing frenzy and a terrorist?
Terrorism remains a contested term, with no set definition for the concept or broad agreement among academic experts on its usage.
Bruce Hoffman of Georgetown University has defined terrorism as “violence—or equally important, the threat of violence—used and directed in pursuit of, or in service of, a political aim.”
Similarly, Louise Richardson of Oxford University believes terrorism is “deliberately and violently targeting civilians for political purposes.”
Under these definitions, if there is no political aim, it is simply a crime and, if there is no violence, it is not terrorism.