I'm broadly opposed to the use of "terrorism," including in compounds like "domestic terrorism," but I will say this:
"vandalism" is done with stuff like spray paint. When something is done with guns, it becomes something different from vandalism.
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@mtrkdjoyce WRT Terrorism, yes! This is a rhetorical process I see over and over: 1) Use a tragic event like Sept. 11 to imbue a label with huge amounts of negative emotional energy. 2) Expand the reach of that term to cover everyone we don't like.
@antares @mtrkdjoyce Possibly because 9/11 wasn't my first encounter with terrorism, but attacks on infrastructure for the purpose of disrupting or intimidating a community to gain a political goal sounds like a textbook case of terrorism to me.