- Oct 9, 1999
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I've seen this term -- stochastic terrorism -- referenced by a least one other poster here. It gets to the heart of why and how Trump and his rhetoric has given cover and impetus to multiple political assassination attempts and the cowardly and indescribably hateful wholesale slaughter of innocents at worship, just in this last week.
Written by a rabbi:
"It is beyond obvious that Trump, Fox News, and the “soft” alt-right are guilty of what has been called “stochastic terrorism.” While they are not legally responsible for any individual particular terrorist act, including the slaughter in Pittsburgh, they have, over the past several years, created the environment in which “lone wolves” like Robert Bowers inevitably commit horrific acts.
In the case of stochastic terrorism, those responsible for it may still condemn each individual act of violence. They may sincerely be disgusted by it. But without their acts, it would not have happened. They are responsible.
By way of analogy, stochastic terrorists are like teenagers who put grain alcohol in a punch bowl. They may not be legally responsible when a bunch of kids get drunk, and one gets behind the wheel and kills someone in an accident. But any ethical human being knows that such consequences are unavoidable. Maybe not at every party, but one is enough.
In Bowers’ case, the causal connection is clearer that usual. Bowers parroted talking points not merely of the alt-right, which blames Jews for multiculturalism, but also of the ‘soft right’ like Fox News, which has ceaselessly repeated lies that dangerous “Middle Easterners” are among the current caravan of refugees; that ‘illegal’ immigrants are disproportionately criminals (in fact, the crime rate among undocumented people is lower than that of citizens); that immigration is thus an existential danger to America.
[...]
If you think about it, how could someone like Robert Bowers not commit a terrorist act? He’s been marinating in a stew of anti-Semitism, nativism, nationalism, and above all, rage. If not Bowers, then it would have been someone else.
[...]
Trump supporters can no longer claim that the alt-right’s anti-Semitism is some marginal, harmless phenomenon. They can no longer separate it from acceptable (to them) forms of nationalism, nativism, or populism. It is a package deal; Trump supporters can’t condone hate against one group but not others. To support Trump is to support an environment in which more Robert Bowerses are inevitable.
That goes for Fox News, too, which has served as the administration’s nationalist mouthpiece these past two years. And for all those right-wing pundits who have spread conspiracy theories for years, including, most recently, the claim that the 13 letter-bombs sent to prominent American liberals were a “false flag” engineered by liberals themselves. "
Written by a rabbi:
"It is beyond obvious that Trump, Fox News, and the “soft” alt-right are guilty of what has been called “stochastic terrorism.” While they are not legally responsible for any individual particular terrorist act, including the slaughter in Pittsburgh, they have, over the past several years, created the environment in which “lone wolves” like Robert Bowers inevitably commit horrific acts.
In the case of stochastic terrorism, those responsible for it may still condemn each individual act of violence. They may sincerely be disgusted by it. But without their acts, it would not have happened. They are responsible.
By way of analogy, stochastic terrorists are like teenagers who put grain alcohol in a punch bowl. They may not be legally responsible when a bunch of kids get drunk, and one gets behind the wheel and kills someone in an accident. But any ethical human being knows that such consequences are unavoidable. Maybe not at every party, but one is enough.
In Bowers’ case, the causal connection is clearer that usual. Bowers parroted talking points not merely of the alt-right, which blames Jews for multiculturalism, but also of the ‘soft right’ like Fox News, which has ceaselessly repeated lies that dangerous “Middle Easterners” are among the current caravan of refugees; that ‘illegal’ immigrants are disproportionately criminals (in fact, the crime rate among undocumented people is lower than that of citizens); that immigration is thus an existential danger to America.
[...]
If you think about it, how could someone like Robert Bowers not commit a terrorist act? He’s been marinating in a stew of anti-Semitism, nativism, nationalism, and above all, rage. If not Bowers, then it would have been someone else.
[...]
Trump supporters can no longer claim that the alt-right’s anti-Semitism is some marginal, harmless phenomenon. They can no longer separate it from acceptable (to them) forms of nationalism, nativism, or populism. It is a package deal; Trump supporters can’t condone hate against one group but not others. To support Trump is to support an environment in which more Robert Bowerses are inevitable.
That goes for Fox News, too, which has served as the administration’s nationalist mouthpiece these past two years. And for all those right-wing pundits who have spread conspiracy theories for years, including, most recently, the claim that the 13 letter-bombs sent to prominent American liberals were a “false flag” engineered by liberals themselves. "