AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Austin police chief says a “domestic terrorist” set off a series of explosions that killed two people and severely wounded four others in the Texas capital.
Chief Brian Manley had previously hesitated to label the bombings domestic terrorism, citing the ongoing investigation.
But at a meeting Thursday on the police and community response to the bombings, Manley labeled the accused bomber a “domestic terrorist for what he did to us.”
Mark Conditt blew himself up as authorities approached on March 21. He had planted bombs that terrorized Austin for weeks.
Manley previously called Conditt a “very troubled young man,” drawing criticism that the bomber would have been labeled a terrorist more quickly if he had not been a white man.
White Christianist* terrorist would be more accurate but domestic terrorist is a move in the right direction.
While this is a good thing in terms of the fight against racism and bigotry, I’d prefer to see minorities not being labeled terrorists (i.e. being called “troubled young men/women”) rather than more white people being labeled terrorists.
The more the T-word get used, the easier it becomes to enact draconian measures that eclipse human rights.
But that’s a pipie dream, I suppose, so this is the best we can hope for.
Let’s analyze this using The Fox Terrorism Checklist™:
An act of murderous violence? (Check)
By a religious fanatic? (Check)
Who was radicalized by an extremist ideology? (Check)
And is a brown Muslim? D’oh! So, so close…
Well, as everyone can plainly see, definitely not a “terrorist”.
Just a “lone wolf” suffering from “mental illness”.
Nothing we can do about it…
Christian extremist? Christian terrorist?
Of course it was domestic terrorism, what the fuck else would it be…community dislike? Sad.