Stochastic terrorism initially referred to a method of mathematically predicting overall risk of a terrorist attack by using various indicators such as inciteful speech by pundits, politicians, or various leaders. A later use of the term is the accusation of a political or media figure publicly demonizing a person or group in such a way that it inspires supporters of the figures to commit a violent act against the target of the speech. Unlike incitement to terrorism, this is accomplished by using indirect, vague, or coded language that allows the instigator to plausibly disclaim responsibility for the resulting violence. A key element is the use of social media and other distributed forms of communications where the person who carries out the violence has no direct connection to the users of violent rhetoric.
Stochastic describes something random, involving chance or probability. [1] [2]
Terrorism involves an unlawful use of violence or intimidation to further political, social, or ideological goals. [3]
Although stochastic terrorism is considered an academic term without a formal legal definition, [4] it is differentiated from other forms of terrorism due to its public, indirect, and seemingly random nature.
In 2002, the term was first used by Gordon Woo to describe a process to quantify risk of a terrorist attack. [4] [18] [19] [20]
Credit for defining the term has also been given to the blogger, G2geek, on the Daily Kos platform in 2011, when defining it as "the use of mass communications to stir up random lone wolves to carry out violent or terrorist acts that are statistically predictable but individually unpredictable", with plausible deniability for those creating media messaging. [4] [21] [22] The article covered the 2011 Tucson shooting. [12]
As of 2016, "stochastic terrorism" was an "obscure" academic term according to professor David S. Cohen. [23] During an August 9, 2016 campaign rally, then-candidate Donald Trump remarked "If [Hillary Clinton] gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is. I don't know." These comments were widely condemned as instigating violence, and described by Cohen as "stochastic terrorism", further popularizing the term. [24] [23] [12]
Counterterrorism techniques such as attitudinal inoculation can help explain to a broad audience how radicalization and manipulation works, helping to blunt the impact of messages that increase violent tendencies. [12] [9] Seth Jones argues that labeling domestic terrorist groups, similar to labeling of international groups, would be helpful, although he acknowledges that most right-wing violence is perpetrated by lone wolves. [25] Rachel Kleinfeld advocates for increasing the penalties of violent actions or threats against elected officials, election workers, and other essential personnel for the functioning of a democracy to a specially-protected class similar to how hate crimes are classified. [26]
The 2009 murder of George Tiller has been described as an example of stochastic terrorism, as many conservative news opinion shows and talk radio shows repeatedly demonized him for his administration of post-viability abortions. [24] [27] [23]
In their 2017 book Age of Lone Wolf Terrorism, criminologist Mark S. Hamm and sociologist Ramón Spaaij describe ISIS, [4] Anwar al-Awlaki, and Alex Jones as guilty of stochastic terrorism. [22]: 157 In the 2010 Oakland freeway shootout, Byron Williams was said to be en route to offices of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Tides Foundation, planning to commit mass murder, "indirectly enabled by the conspiracy theories" of Glenn Beck and Alex Jones. [22] They also cite the 2012 shooting at the Family Research Council. [22]
The Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot in 2020 has been described as an example of stochastic terrorism. [5] [9] [4]
In the wake of escalating attacks on the LGBT community in the early 2020s, including bomb threats on children's hospitals and the Colorado Springs nightclub shooting, right-wing activists such as Matt Walsh and Chaiya Raichik of Libs of TikTok have been accused of stochastic terrorism. [28] [29] [30] [31]
The May 2022 Buffalo shooting [14] [32] [33] and the August 2022 Cincinnati FBI field office attack have been cited as examples of stochastic terrorism. [34] [35] [36] [37] [38]
The perpetrator of the October 2022 attack on Paul Pelosi stated he was looking for Nancy Pelosi and hoping to intimidate other Democratic lawmakers, actions that have been described as stochastic terrorism. [9] [7] [39]
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cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
link)
Stochastic terrorism initially referred to a method of mathematically predicting overall risk of a terrorist attack by using various indicators such as inciteful speech by pundits, politicians, or various leaders. A later use of the term is the accusation of a political or media figure publicly demonizing a person or group in such a way that it inspires supporters of the figures to commit a violent act against the target of the speech. Unlike incitement to terrorism, this is accomplished by using indirect, vague, or coded language that allows the instigator to plausibly disclaim responsibility for the resulting violence. A key element is the use of social media and other distributed forms of communications where the person who carries out the violence has no direct connection to the users of violent rhetoric.
Stochastic describes something random, involving chance or probability. [1] [2]
Terrorism involves an unlawful use of violence or intimidation to further political, social, or ideological goals. [3]
Although stochastic terrorism is considered an academic term without a formal legal definition, [4] it is differentiated from other forms of terrorism due to its public, indirect, and seemingly random nature.
In 2002, the term was first used by Gordon Woo to describe a process to quantify risk of a terrorist attack. [4] [18] [19] [20]
Credit for defining the term has also been given to the blogger, G2geek, on the Daily Kos platform in 2011, when defining it as "the use of mass communications to stir up random lone wolves to carry out violent or terrorist acts that are statistically predictable but individually unpredictable", with plausible deniability for those creating media messaging. [4] [21] [22] The article covered the 2011 Tucson shooting. [12]
As of 2016, "stochastic terrorism" was an "obscure" academic term according to professor David S. Cohen. [23] During an August 9, 2016 campaign rally, then-candidate Donald Trump remarked "If [Hillary Clinton] gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is. I don't know." These comments were widely condemned as instigating violence, and described by Cohen as "stochastic terrorism", further popularizing the term. [24] [23] [12]
Counterterrorism techniques such as attitudinal inoculation can help explain to a broad audience how radicalization and manipulation works, helping to blunt the impact of messages that increase violent tendencies. [12] [9] Seth Jones argues that labeling domestic terrorist groups, similar to labeling of international groups, would be helpful, although he acknowledges that most right-wing violence is perpetrated by lone wolves. [25] Rachel Kleinfeld advocates for increasing the penalties of violent actions or threats against elected officials, election workers, and other essential personnel for the functioning of a democracy to a specially-protected class similar to how hate crimes are classified. [26]
The 2009 murder of George Tiller has been described as an example of stochastic terrorism, as many conservative news opinion shows and talk radio shows repeatedly demonized him for his administration of post-viability abortions. [24] [27] [23]
In their 2017 book Age of Lone Wolf Terrorism, criminologist Mark S. Hamm and sociologist Ramón Spaaij describe ISIS, [4] Anwar al-Awlaki, and Alex Jones as guilty of stochastic terrorism. [22]: 157 In the 2010 Oakland freeway shootout, Byron Williams was said to be en route to offices of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Tides Foundation, planning to commit mass murder, "indirectly enabled by the conspiracy theories" of Glenn Beck and Alex Jones. [22] They also cite the 2012 shooting at the Family Research Council. [22]
The Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot in 2020 has been described as an example of stochastic terrorism. [5] [9] [4]
In the wake of escalating attacks on the LGBT community in the early 2020s, including bomb threats on children's hospitals and the Colorado Springs nightclub shooting, right-wing activists such as Matt Walsh and Chaiya Raichik of Libs of TikTok have been accused of stochastic terrorism. [28] [29] [30] [31]
The May 2022 Buffalo shooting [14] [32] [33] and the August 2022 Cincinnati FBI field office attack have been cited as examples of stochastic terrorism. [34] [35] [36] [37] [38]
The perpetrator of the October 2022 attack on Paul Pelosi stated he was looking for Nancy Pelosi and hoping to intimidate other Democratic lawmakers, actions that have been described as stochastic terrorism. [9] [7] [39]
{{
cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
link)