Hacker News Reader

Comment by freen | Hacker News Reader

I’d like to introduce you to the idea of stochastic terrorism.

http://stochasticterrorism.blogspot.com/2011/01/stochastic-t...

The stochastic terrorist is the person who is responsible for the incitement. For example they go on radio or television and stir up hatred toward a particular person or group.

one might add that, inaction (failure to condemn an act) can be as powerful a signal as action (calling for a specific act). This lack of condemnation has the signature of the current political elite all over (Trump's failure to condemn Christopher Paul Hasson, or saying "there is blame on both sides" in Charlottesville are very real examples).

I looked into this once.

There is no such thing.

Please stop linking to articles promoting this discredited concept. Just because someone has an interesting idea doesn't make it true!

It's definitely a thing. It simply goes by less-sexy names of "incitement" or "agitation."

But by those monikers, it's not only a recognized process, it's a legal issue with ramifications.

Osama bin Laden never killed anyone. His words were enough to justify his execution by the military of a foreign nation because he engaged in incitement.

> Osama bin Laden never killed anyone. His words were enough to justify his execution by the military of a foreign nation because he engaged in incitement.

Although, I understand your point. However, and I would like to say that I do not know the details of this, OBL was originally charged with the killing of Silvan Becker, a German intelligence agent and his wife Vera in Libya. That was against him specifically. Now, I am not sure if he actually pulled the trigger or was involved in some other way.

Good point; I had forgotten his INTERPOL arrest call. But it's still worth observing that the US didn't invest in a Seal Team deployment to take down an INTERPOL fugitive.

Which aspects “are not true”?

"The Fake News Media has NEVER been more Dishonest or Corrupt than it is right now. There has never been a time like this in American History. Very exciting but also, very sad! Fake News is the absolute Enemy of the People and our Country itself!"

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/11079811310126284...

Remember when one of his fans mailed pipe bombs to a bunch of journalists?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com