Stochastic terrorism explained

Stochastic terrorism is a form of political violence instigated by hostile public rhetoric directed at a group or an individual. Unlike incitement to terrorism, stochastic terrorism is accomplished with indirect, vague or coded language, which grants the instigator plausible deniability for any associated violence.[1] A key element of stochastic terrorism is the use of media for propagation, where the person carrying out the violence may not have direct connection to any other users of violent rhetoric.[2] [3] [4]

Defining features

Although stochastic terrorism is considered an academic term without a formal legal definition, it is differentiated from other forms of terrorism due to its public, indirect, and seemingly random nature.

  1. Speech: A public figure or group disseminates violent, inflammatory rhetoric via mass-media, directed at people or groups of people, sometimes suggesting or legitimizing the use of violence.[1] This speech tends to be protected due to the use of ambiguous coded language, dog whistles, jokes, hints, and other subtext in statements that fall short of a criminal threshold for causation.[5] [6] [1] [7] The 'it was just a joke' defense has been linked to early days of Nazism.[8] Other themes identified include black and white good vs. evil narratives[9] as well as painting an enemy as a mortal threat, which have been compared to the radicalization techniques used by terrorist groups.[10] [11] These attacks are often repeated and amplified inside a media echo chamber.[12]
  2. Speaker(s): Typically the speaker is an influential political or media figure, who is referred to as the "stochastic terrorist" for his or her alleged indirect culpability for the attack.[13] [14] [1] The instigator(s) or "stochastic terrorist(s)" may or may not knowingly use this technique to attack and intimidate enemies, nonetheless, the effect remains the same. The public figure can plausibly disclaim any subsequent attack, as their words were not an explicit call for violence, and because of the lack of a direct organizational link between the instigator and perpetrator of the attack.[15] [1] The public figure cannot be prosecuted for his or her statements so long as they do not meet the legal definition of incitement. This is the key distinction between stochastic terrorism and other forms of terrorism. In the U.S., the 1969 Supreme Court case Brandenburg v. Ohio held that violent, inflammatory speech cannot be criminalized unless it is intended to, and likely to, result in imminent lawless action. However, Kurt Braddock warns that speech can be quite dangerous even if legal.
  3. Inspiration: An individual or group, without any ties to known terrorist groups, hears the speech and becomes motivated to commit violence against the target of the speech, believing it will further a political or ideological goal.[16] Annalee Newitz points to social media and other types propaganda that demonizes groups as a commmon modern source of inspiration.
  4. Attack: An attacker commits an act of terrorism that could include physical violence, threats, or other acts meant to harm, instill fear, intimidate. The victims may receive or fear physical attacks, (online) harassment, and death threats.[17] This can have a chilling effect, as many victims do not have the resources for adequate security.[18]
  5. Probability: While difficult to predict each individual act of violence due to the disconnected chain of causality, the speech makes threats and terror attacks more likely. These attacks observed as a collection have a statistically valid relationship, even if individual attacks are too random (stochastic) to predict precisely.[19]

Origin and popularization of the term

In 2002, the term was first used by Gordon Woo to describe a process to quantify risk of a terrorist attack.[20] [21] [22]

Credit for defining the term has also been given to the blogger, G2geek, on the Daily Kos platform in 2011, when defining it as "the use of mass communications to stir up random lone wolves to carry out violent or terrorist acts that are statistically predictable but individually unpredictable", with plausible deniability for those creating media messaging.[23] The article covered the 2011 Tucson shooting.

As of 2016, "stochastic terrorism" was an "obscure" academic term according to professor David S. Cohen.[24] During an August 9, 2016 campaign rally, then-candidate Donald Trump remarked "If [Hillary Clinton] gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is. I don't know." These comments were widely condemned as instigating violence, and described by Cohen as "stochastic terrorism", further popularizing the term.[25] Trump has continued to be criticized as inspiring violence.[26] [27] [28] [29]

Counter measures

Counterterrorism techniques such as attitudinal inoculation can help explain to a broad audience how radicalization and manipulation works, helping to blunt the impact of messages that increase violent tendencies. Seth Jones argues that labeling domestic terrorist groups, similar to labeling of international groups, would be helpful, although he acknowledges that most right-wing violence is perpetrated by lone wolves.[30] Rachel Kleinfeld advocates for increasing the penalties of violent actions or threats against elected officials, election workers, and other essential personnel for the functioning of a democracy to a specially-protected class similar to how hate crimes are classified.[31]

While U.S. jurisprudence narrowly defines the crime of incitement, conduct that incites ethnic or racial hatred is illegal in many other jurisdictions. In Germany, for instance, German: [[Volksverhetzung]] is speech that "denigrates an individual or a group based on their ethnicity or religion," or "tries to rouse hatred or promotes violence against such a group or an individual" and is punishable by up to five years in prison.[32]

Alleged incidents

See also: Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?.

The 2009 murder of George Tiller has been described as an example of stochastic terrorism, as many conservative news opinion shows and talk radio shows repeatedly demonized him for his administration of post-viability abortions.[33]

The 2011 Tucson shooting where US Rep Gabby Giffords was shot has also been cited as a prominent example.[34] [35]

Al Qaeda and ISIS used this tactic, which has been cited as the mechanism that inspired attacks including Boston Marathon bombing and Fort Hood.

The 2015 murder of Jo Cox MP by white supremacist Thomas Mair ahead of the Brexit referendum has been described as stochastic terrorism.[36] It has been noted that the views held by Mairincluding anti-immigrant and anti-refugee sentimentare part of mainstream British political discourse. By describing the murder in the context of Nazism, the presiding judge separated the sentiments from modern political discourse rather than drawing attention to contemporary extremist groups and figures whose rhetoric were likely to have influenced Mair.[37]

In their 2017 book Age of Lone Wolf Terrorism, criminologist Mark S. Hamm and sociologist Ramón Spaaij describe ISIS,[1] Anwar al-Awlaki, and Alex Jones as guilty of stochastic terrorism.[38] In the 2010 Oakland freeway shootout, Byron Williams was said to be en route to offices of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Tides Foundation, planning to commit mass murder, "indirectly enabled by the conspiracy theories" of Glenn Beck and Alex Jones. They also cite the 2012 shooting at the Family Research Council.

The 2017 congressional baseball shooting has been described as an act of stochastic terrorism.[39]

The 2018 mail bombings were also attributed by Barbara MacQuade, Medhi Hasan[40] and Jonathon Keats[41] as stochastic terrorism indirectly inspired by the rhetoric of Donald Trump.

The Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot in 2020 has been described by Molly Amman and Reid Meloy as an example of stochastic terrorism.[42]

In the wake of escalating attacks on the LGBT community in the early 2020s, including bomb threats on children's hospitals and the Colorado Springs nightclub shooting, right-wing activists such as Matt Walsh and Chaya Raichik of Libs of TikTok have been accused of stochastic terrorism by commentators Kristofer Goldsmith,[43] Helen Santoro[44] and Juliette Kayyem.[45] [46]

The 6 January attack on the Capitol has also been described as stochastic terrorism.[42] [47]

The May 2022 Buffalo shooting[48] [49] and the August 2022 Cincinnati FBI field office attack have been cited as examples of stochastic terrorism.[50] [51] [52] [53] [54]

The perpetrator of the October 2022 attack on Paul Pelosi stated he was looking for Nancy Pelosi and hoping to intimidate other Democratic lawmakers, actions that have been described by some commentators and academics as stochastic terrorism.[55] [56] [57]

In June 2024, two racially motivated stabbing incidents happened in Oulu, Finland.[58] Green Sisu described the attacks as stochastic terrorism and being predated by years of hostile rhetoric from far-right politicians in Finland, most notably from the Finns Party.[59] [60]

Following the July 2024 Southport stabbing, inflammatory remarks and sharing of disinformation by public figures were linked to subsequent rioting. The Reform UK leader Nigel Farage was accused by former counter-terrorism Police chief Neil Basu of inciting violence and creating conspiracy theories.[61] [62] [63] Islamophobic and racially-motivated disorder, including a stabbing,[64] were linked to the English Defence League and British Movement, following social media posts by right-wing extremists.[65] [66]

Starting in September 2024, false claims and rumors spread that in Springfield, Ohio, Haitian immigrants were stealing pets and eating them. These claims were amplified by prominent figures in the American right, most notably Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance.[67] [68] In the following days, the city of Springfield received dozens of bomb threats[69] leading multiple commentators and a sitting senator, Brian Schatz, as well as Elie Mystal and school administrators in Springfield to suggest Trump and JD Vance were engaging in stochastic terrorism.[70] [71] [72]

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Amman . Molly . Meloy . J. Reid . 2021 . Stochastic Terrorism: A Linguistic and Psychological Analysis . Perspectives on Terrorism . 15 . 5 . 2–13 . 2334-3745 . 27073433 . 5 October 2023.
  2. Book: McQuade, Barbara . Attack from within: how disinformation is sabotaging America . 2024 . Seven Stories Press . 978-1-64421-363-6 . New York . Chapter 7.
  3. Angrove . James . Stochastic terrorism: critical reflections on an emerging concept . 2024 . Critical Studies on Terrorism . 17 . 1. 21–43 . 10.1080/17539153.2024.2305742 . free .
  4. Web site: George A. Smathers Libraries of the University of Florida. What is Stochastic Terrorism?.
  5. Amman . Molly . Meloy . Reid . October 2021 . Incitement to Violence and Stochastic Terrorism: Legal, Academic, and Practical Parameters for Researchers and Investigators . . Terrorism Research Initiative . 15 . 5 . 2–13 . 10.1080/09546553.2022.2143352 . 254907232 . 0954-6553 . JSTOR.
  6. Web site: Follman . Mark . December 17, 2020 . National security experts warn Trump 'is promoting terrorism' against Americans . August 11, 2023 . . en-US.
  7. News: Yousef . Odette . September 17, 2024 . The U.S. has had a long history of political violence, but experts see a new trend . NPR.
  8. Book: Newitz, Annalee . Annalee Newitz . Stories Are Weapons: Psychological Warfare and the American Mind . June 4, 2024 . W. W. Norton & Company . Chapter 3.
  9. Web site: Snodgrass . Erin . 8 November 2022 . Stochastic terrorism appears to be on the rise globally. Extremism experts explain how this form of violence has gone mainstream. . 2023-09-26 . Business Insider . en-US.
  10. Web site: Ioanes . Ellen . 2022-11-05 . An atmosphere of violence: Stochastic terror in American politics . 2023-09-28 . . en.
  11. News: Nelson . Bryn . November 5, 2022 . Opinion: How Stochastic Terrorism Uses Disgust to Incite Violence . . 3 October 2023.
  12. Web site: Tucker Carlson prepares white nationalists for war: Don't ignore the power of his rhetoric . . Chauncey . DeVega . June 30, 2021 . 3 October 2023 .
  13. Keats . Jonathon . 21 January 2019 . How Stochastic Terrorism Lets Bullies Operate in Plain Sight . 2023-08-11 . Wired . en-US . 1059-1028.
  14. News: Bensinger . Ken . Frenkel . Sheera . 2022-10-05 . After Mar-a-Lago Search, Talk of 'Civil War' Is Flaring Online . en-US . . 2023-09-28 . 0362-4331.
  15. Web site: Political violence in America isn't going away anytime soon . Richard . Forno . November 7, 2022 . . 3 October 2023 .
  16. Web site: From Sparks To Fire . 2 June 2023 . Michaela . Hutterer . . 3 October 2023 .
  17. Ben . Mathis-Lilley . Mary Harris . The Poll Workers Targeted by Trump . . June 23, 2022 . 3 October 2023 .
  18. . 32 . 4 . 160–76 . The Rise of Political Violence in the United States . October 2021 . 3 October 2023 . Rachel . Kleinfeld . 10.1353/jod.2021.0059 . 239879073 . free .
  19. Web site: 2019-08-08 . What Is 'Stochastic Terrorism,' And Why Is It Trending? . 2023-08-19 . Dictionary.com . en-US.
  20. Munn . Luke . June 2019 . Alt-Right pipeline: Individual Journeys to extremism online . . 26 . 6 . 10.5210/fm.v24i6.10108 . 22 April 2024 . free.
  21. Woo . Gordon . 2002-04-01 . Quantitative Terrorism Risk Assessment . The Journal of Risk Finance . 4 . 1 . 7–14 . 10.1108/eb022949 . 1526-5943 . 5 October 2023 .
  22. Woo . Gordon . December 2003 . Insuring Against Al-Quaeda . Cambridge: National Bureau of Economic Research . 26 March 2024 . Woo2003.
  23. Web site: G2geek . 11 January 2011 . Stochastic Terrorism: Triggering the shooters. . 2023-09-02 . Daily Kos . en.
  24. Cohen . David S. . August 9, 2016 . Trump's Assassination Dog Whistle Was Even Scarier Than You Think . August 11, 2023 . . en-US.
  25. Web site: Trump's 2nd Amendment comment wasn't a joke. It was 'stochastic terrorism.' . . Emily . Crockett . 4 October 2023 . 10 August 2016 .
  26. Web site: Hasan . Mehdi . 2019-08-04 . After El Paso, We Can No Longer Ignore Trump's Role in Inspiring Mass Shootings . 2024-06-19 . The Intercept . en-US.
  27. Web site: Murai . Ruth . March 30, 2024 . Donald Trump just stooped to his lowest low yet . 2024-06-19 . Mother Jones . en-US.
  28. Web site: Timmons . Heather . 2018-10-26 . Stochastic terror and the cycle of hate that pushes unstable Americans to violence . 2024-06-19 . Quartz . en.
  29. News: Kayyem . Juliette . 2023-12-06 . The Proud Boys Love a Winner . 2024-06-19 . The Atlantic . en . 2151-9463.
  30. The Rise of Far-Right Extremism in the United States . Jones . Seth G. . 2018 . . 3 October 2023 .
  31. Web site: Kleinfeld . Rachel . March 31, 2022 . The Rise in Political Violence in the United States and Damage to Our Democracy . . 3 October 2023 .
  32. News: Anna . Sauerbrey . How Germany Deals With Neo-Nazis . . 23 August 2017 . 16 September 2024 .
  33. Web site: Rawwas . Mohammed . 1 April 2019 . Opinion: On Christchurch & stochastic terrorism . 11 August 2023 . The Northern Iowan.
  34. Web site: Forno . Richard . 16 July 2024 . Social media and political violence – how to break the cycle . 12 August 2024 . The Conversation . en-US.
  35. News: Barbaro . Michael . Chaturvedi . Asthaa . Reid . Will . Wood . Chris . Lin . M. J. Davis . Lozano . Marion . 2 November 2022 . The Man Who Tried to Kidnap Nancy Pelosi . 12 August 2024 . The New York Times . en-US . 0362-4331.
  36. Angove . James . 2 January 2024 . Stochastic terrorism: critical reflections on an emerging concept . . en . 17 . 1 . 21–43 . 10.1080/17539153.2024.2305742 . 1753-9153 . free .
  37. Ali . Nadya . December 2020 . Seeing and unseeing Prevent's racialized borders . . en . 51 . 6 . 579–596 . 10.1177/0967010620903238 . 0967-0106 .
  38. Book: Hamm . Mark S. . The Age of Lone Wolf Terrorism . Spaaij . Ramón . Cottee . Simon . 2017 . . 978-0-231-54377-4 . Studies in transgression . New York City .
  39. Web site: Chait . Jonathan . 28 October 2022 . This Is Not the Political Violence That Should Scare Us . 12 August 2024 . Intelligencer . en.
  40. Web site: Hasan . Mehdi . 4 August 2019 . After El Paso, We Can No Longer Ignore Trump's Role in Inspiring Mass Shootings . 12 August 2024 . . en-US.
  41. Keats . Jonathon . How Stochastic Terrorism Lets Bullies Operate in Plain Sight . 21 January 2019 . 12 August 2024 . Wired . en-US . 1059-1028.
  42. Tannehill . Brynn . 12 December 2022 . Preparing for the Worst . 7 August 2024 . The New Republic . 0028-6583.
  43. Web site: Halon . Yael . 12 December 2022 . MSNBC guest accuses Musk and Libs of TikTok of promoting 'stochastic terrorism' on Twitter . 11 August 2023 . . en-US.
  44. Web site: Santoro . Helen . 12 December 2022 . How Anti-LGBTQ+ Rhetoric Fuels Violence . 11 August 2023 . . en.
  45. Web site: Wilson . Jason . 22 November 2022 . Colorado Springs: Far-Right Influencers Made LGBTQ People Into Targets . 11 August 2023 . . en.
  46. Web site: Club Q Shooting Comes Amid Increased Attacks on LGBTQ+ Venues . Christopher . Wiggins . 20 November 2022 . 7 August 2024 . . en.
  47. Web site: Follman . Mark . How Trump unleashed a domestic terrorism movement—and how to defeat it . 2021 . 12 August 2024 . . en-US.
  48. Lavin . Talia . 15 May 2022 . The Buffalo Shooter Isn't a 'Lone Wolf.' He's a Mainstream Republican . . 5 October 2023 .
  49. News: Extremism in WNY: How to combat extremism here and elsewhere . . Tom . Dinki . 24 June 2022 . 3 October 2023 .
  50. Web site: Mark . Follman . How Trump spread incitement of violence throughout the GOP . . September 2022 . 26 September 2023 .
  51. News: Bevan . Hurley . 26 September 2023 . How Trump-loving Ohio FBI shooter became the right's new Ashli Babbitt . . 17 August 2022 .
  52. News: Isabella . Zavarise . 26 September 2023 . Extremism researcher says death of gunman who tried to breach Ohio FBI office is 'a really good example' of how far-right conspiracies can get followers killed . 14 August 2022 . .
  53. News: Hate speech, online extremism fed Pelosi attack, terror experts believe . Reuters . 29 October 2022 . Timmons . Heather . 26 September 2023 .
  54. Web site: Froomkin . Dan . Dan Froomkin . 12 August 2022 . The phrase you're looking for is 'stochastic terrorism' . 26 September 2023 . Press Watch.
  55. News: Fisher . Max . 3 November 2022 . Troubled Loner? Political Terrorist? Both? It's Often Hard to Say . 7 August 2024 . The New York Times . en-US . 0362-4331.
  56. Web site: Forno . Richard . 3 November 2022 . Political violence in America isn't going away anytime soon . 7 August 2024 . The Conversation . en-US.
  57. News: 30 October 2022 . 'Where's Nancy?': Suspect in hammer attack on Pelosi's husband facing attempted murder charge . 12 August 2024 . ABC News . . en-AU.
  58. News: 19 June 2024 . Second stabbing at Oulu shopping centre in a week, police suspect racist motive . 18 April 2024 . YLE . en-US.
  59. News: 20 June 2024 . Kaisu . Suopanki . Suomen hallitus mahdollistaa äärioikeistolaista väkivaltaa, sanoo professori . Finnish government enables far-right violence, says professor . 20 April 2024 . . fi-FI.
  60. News: Antti . Poikola . 20 June 2024 . Green Sisu urges government to act against the far-right violence . 20 April 2024 . . en-EN.
  61. News: Dodd . Vikram . Quinn . Ben . Mason . Rowena . 31 July 2024 . Former counter-terror chief accuses Farage of inciting Southport violence . 31 July 2024 . . en-GB . 0261-3077.
  62. News: Albert Tait . Call the migrant hotel riots terrorism, former counter-terror chief says . 6 August 2024 . The Telegraph . Telegraph Media Group . 6 August 2024 . en.
  63. News: Kate Nicholson . Nigel Farage Doubles Down On His 'Perfectly Reasonable' Response To Southport Attack After Backlash . 5 August 2024 . HuffPost . 1 August 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240801093711/https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/farage-stands-by-his-response-to-southport-attack-after-backlash_uk_66ab44dbe4b050952a6f9bfb . 1 August 2024 . live . en.
  64. News: Nadine White . Street beatings, stabbing and mosques under siege: the horrifying racist attacks carried out by far-right mobs . 5 August 2024 . Independent . 5 August 2024.
  65. News: 'Southport was just the spark': UK hit by unrest as far-right exploits knife attack tragedy . 5 August 2024 . France 24 . 1 August 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240801213744/https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20240801-southport-was-just-the-spark-uk-hit-by-unrest-as-far-right-exploits-knife-attack-tragedy . live . 1 August 2024 . en.
  66. Web site: Esther Bintliff . Eve Sampson . Who Are the Far-Right Groups Behind the U.K. Riots? . The New York Times . 5 August 2024 . en . 3 August 2024 .
  67. Web site: Brandy . Zadrozny . 13 September 2024 . Before Trump, neo-Nazis pushed false claims about Haitians as part of hate campaign . 13 September 2024 . . en . 13 September 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240913152600/https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/trump-neo-nazis-pushed-false-claims-haitians-part-hate-campaign-rcna170796 . live .
  68. Web site: Henry J. . Gomez . Brandy . Zadrozny . Allan . Smith . Julie . Tsirkin . 13 September 2024 . How a fringe online claim about immigrants eating pets made its way to the debate stage . 13 September 2024 . . en.
  69. Web site: Chavez . Julio-Cesar . 12 September 2024 . Bomb threat in city at heart of Trump immigrant rumors sparks evacuation . 12 September 2024 . Reuters.
  70. News: 16 September 2024 . CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip . CNN.
  71. News: Bomb Threat Prompts Evacuation of Springfield, Ohio, City Hall . 12 September 2024 . . 17 September 2024 . Arianna . Coghill .
  72. News: Senter . Irie . 22 September 2024 . 'Why they gotta threaten the kids?': Under the national spotlight, Springfield schools cower . . 14 November 2024 .

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Stochastic terrorism".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2025, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.