Billera Blog 4

Simone Billera

April 20th, 2022

Blog Post #4


Last week, Professor Shirk split the class into groups and instructed us to define the term “terrorism.” Each response was slightly different from the next, a pattern which I found both intriguing and vexing. As I did a bit more research, I realized that this pattern is not unique to our classroom. The definition of terrorism is ambiguous when analyzing it on an international level. It can even be obscure domestically, as many U.S. states have passed individualized statutes on the matter. As the relevance of terrorism is only increasing due to its constantly rising presence in our contemporary world, I have started to wonder if its vague definition is healthy. 

On April 12th, 2022, Frank Robert James opened fire in a New York City subway. Thankfully, no one was killed; however, 29 people were left injured, 10 of them with gunshot wounds. Initially, the shooting was not being investigated as an act of terror, but Frank Robert James now faces federal terrorism charges for targeting a mass transit system. Usually, mass shootings are not categorized as terrorism, so this specific case compelled me. Why is this attack different than others? Why is Frank Robert James being charged differently from other perpetrators who have committed similar crimes? The FBI defines domestic terrorism as the following: “Violent, criminal acts committed by individuals and/or groups to further ideological goals stemming from domestic influences, such as those of a political, religious, social, racial, or environmental nature.” This definition is extremely broad, particularly in regards to its list of domestic influences. The FBI states that social influences can lead to an act of terror, which then leads me to question why mass shootings in schools are not labeled as terrorism like the recent subway shooting in New York City. 

Domestic terrorism is just as big a problem as international terrorism in the United States, but it seems as if we try to avoid using the term “terrorism” when the perpetrators are U.S. citizens. When an attack comes from outside our borders, there is no question about the way it is labeled; however, when it is domestic, the definition becomes more complex, as is the case with mass shootings. The process of it all simply seems very inconsistent, and I guess the point of this blog post is to express my evident confusion.


Comments

  1. Christine AjaoApril 28, 2022 at 7:08 AM

    I really enjoyed reading your blog post and I share the same confusion you have with the definition of terrorism. It seems that people avoid using the term when it comes to domestic terrorism when talking about US citizens. It's hard to define a concept when many attacks from outside forces are labeled as terrorism but replace US citizen with an international attack and it will lose that label. There have been multiple mass shootings in the US but very few of them have been labeled as terrorism or treated as a domestic terrorism problem. In James' case, I can see how they charged him with committing an act of terror because it was a major attack on a transit system and although no one was killed, the plan that James' had intended to be much worse than it was.

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  2. Remi AdefioyeMay 8, 2022 at 8:47 PM

    I totally agree, the definition of terrorism is far too broad and inconsistent. I am not that informed on the James shooting however they must have found something that indicated the purpose of his shooting. And maybe the shooter's motive fits into the FBI terms you listed: political, religious, social, racial, or environmental nature.

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