Willful Ignorance in Action: Leveraging Fear to Legitimize Hate
The day Rahmanullah Lakanwal allegedly shot two members of the National Guard in Washington D.C., President Trump labeled the purported incident as an “act of terror” and the following evening, as he announced the death of one of the victims, he stated twice that it...
Terrorism vs. Indiscriminate Mass Assaults: What’s the Difference? And Does It matter?
Many terrorist activities include mass murder but the majority of mass murders are not terrorist acts. Simple as this fact may seem, it eludes many laypersons and some law enforcement personnel as well, including the current Director of the Federal Bureau of...
Innuendo and the Legacy of Charlie Kirk
Just before Charlie Kirk was struck in the neck with a fatal bullet he had the following dialogue with Hunter Kozak, a Utah Valley University undergraduate. After checking to see if the microphone was working, Kozak opened by saying, “Hey Charlie, hopefully we are...
Terrorism, Rampaging, and Pronouncements: Why Expertise Matters When Framing Public Policy
A sudden mass assault and a terrorist attack are both subsumed under the category of performative violence, but they are not the same crime and conflating them jeopardizes prevention efforts by obfuscating a thorough appreciation of the myriad forces underlying...
Five Ways the Recent NYC Skyscraper Shooting Conforms with the Performative Intent of a Rampage
Time and place were deliberately chosen to maximize visibility. The assault was conducted in a public setting in the middle of rush hour.[1] There was no attempt to hide the crime. On the contrary, it was contrived purely for attention. Rampageous assailants...
Two Slaughters, Two Offenders, Two Methods, Two Lessons
Nobody attends an outdoor celebration expecting extreme violence, which, of course, from the perspective of the perpetrator is exactly the reason for selecting such a venue. The recent calamity at the Filipino street festival in Vancouver with ll dead by intentional...
Finally, a Proactive Legal Move that May Reduce Rampage Causalities
The state of Georgia is doing something in the wake of a school shooting that is rare and can provide guidance for other states and municipalities. It is putting aside rhetoric and absolutist positions on gun possession to develop realistic bipartisan legislation that...
Infamy as Motive: Attention Seeking through Homicide
The case of Luigi Mangione demonstrates the affinity between a sudden mass assault (or autogenic massacre) and a singular murder that could be added to the category Deitz has identified as “sensational” (a particularly peculiar killing that garners publicity).[i] The...
Surgically Removing the Media Skim and Political Spin to Get Inside The Head of a Potential Assassin
There is an essential point that investigators and journalists are not adequately considering in seeking the motivation for the recent sudden assault by Thomas Matthew Crooks at a rally for former President Donald Trump: namely, it was not an assassination attempt –...