Devon Arthurs is a case study in the way we talk about terrorism,the arbitrary lines that often seem to get drawn between ideology and pathologyThere are lots of ways to be a disaffected, disenfranchised young man. You can spout anonymous abuse online. You can shoot up a school. You can bomb abortion clinics in the name of being pro-life. You can kill black people peacefully praying at church, and in the name of white supremacy. You can murder teenagers singing joyfully along at a pop concert,in the name of Isis and Allah.
What you are called, when you carry out those things, or varies. Sometimes youre a criminal. Sometimes you’re a terrorist. Sometimes youre a mental health statistic. How you are treated,when you carry out those things, varies. Sometimes you’re headline news around the world for days; you do an ignominious ticket on the history books. Sometimes you’re a few paragraphs in the local papers, and barely do it into the national press.
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Source: theguardian.com