Why is Adam Lanza not a terrorist? (Page 4)

No need. I already have the answer. There is no difference. 

Not really. Yes forming definition is sometimes difficult, but yes, it more often than not involves the killing of innocent people. Terrorism, however, strictly speaking means to cause terror (mostly through murder, violence and damaging property).


Terrorism is causing terror AS A MEAN OF COERCION. The motive is to gain something by terrorizing people and property. It's mostly planned and executed by a group and has a larger intent than just gain personal gratification - mostly religious, political, ideological means. This is one of the most popularly accepted definition of terrorism.

Murder is the simple act of killing that is unjustifiable. There are many, many subsets of murder.

A woman murdering her cheater husband in rage is "murder" (manslaughter but still) but it doesn't fit into the description of terrorism because she is not terrorizing anybody to gain something by causing that terror. The only gain maybe personal gratification, but she's certainly not gaining anything beyond that. Like she's not saying "I have murdered my husband, now if you don't give me this information / bring this desired change / give us this - I am going to kill more". She's just done it. Even if it was planned there was no more motive behind it beyond personal gratification - certainly no political or ideological motive.

A man terrorizing the government and the country by holding a thousand people at gunpoint WITHOUT causing any actual murder will still be terrorism because he's gaining something by coercing people through the act of causing terror. Here the act of terror wasn't just caused to bring pain to the victims - but rather to gain something by emotionally blackmailing people through that. There is, therefore, a bigger purpose than just gratifying personal needs here.


Well no...it isn't. Right. I wouldn't disagree here.



Well this is logically  consistent to what you've previously said, but I'm afraid your initial assumption that both are one and the same is not a given here.


Yeah, I haven't passed elementary school yet, I think. Failed it when my teacher asked me to define terrorist and I gave the dictionary definition of the word instead of making a random definition out of it.

This is neither here nor there. That you needed to bring Islam into a discussion that does not have anything directly to do with it shows that you aren't being entirely objective about this discussion.

Save what? It's incredibly difficult to talk with someone when they start lashing out at you even before even trying to understand what the other person is saying.

First of all, I didn't involve Islam/religion. I said Arab/Muslim guy. What ? You can't tell the difference between race & religion now ?

For God's sake ! We are not talking about one person being killed. We are talking about Adam killing 20 innocent CHILDREN & 7 adults ! He shot them all at once. Not just with one bullet, but with 2 to 3 bullets. A serial killer is someone who kills one person at a time while a terrorist destroys a bunch of people in one place at one time. The entire school is involved in this. He didn't just kill innocent people. He DESTROYED 27 families ! He put fear in teachers, parents, schools, & kids now. All those people that survived are frightened, especially the kids. Nobody knows what his motive was or what he was trying to gain. He didn't even leave a single clue behind. They haven't even talked about the type of drugs he was on. I don't believe half of what the media says. Was he really "sick" like they say he was ? I've been studying this case & the whole story is just messed up & doesn't get in the head. First, they say his mother used to work at Sandy Hook & next thing they say, she never worked there. So, am I suppose to believe that he really was "sick." Nahh. The only thing they keep on talking about is those stupid violent video games & that he was a loner, shy, quiet, awkward kid. But just because someone is quiet, shy, & awkward, it doesn't mean he/she is sick or has issues. 

Btw, the English language changes all the time. One word can mean so many things. Two words can also mean the same thing.