The “terrorism” label throws civil liberties onto the defensive, and frequently serves as a “thought-terminating cliché” justifying expansion of official power. Don’t casually extend it to political or hate-fueled violence generally [Ed Krayewski, Reason]
One Comment
I am glad that the FBI is trolling the Internet for jihadists *before* they succeed in killing someone, and that NSA (and foreign counterparts) are accumulating the data needed to solve terrorist attacks quickly. But we need a rigorous exclusionary rule to ensure equivalent-to-war snooping is not abused for domestic nonsense like wars on drugs, sex, or pornography.
I do not accept a narrow definition of terrorism as specific demands on the government. Any politically motivated attack on non-combatant civilians should qualify.