I just don't understand people sometimes.

Meat --
You're trying waaaaaayyy too hard here.

" I think part of the reason that abortion clinic bombings aren't classified as terrorist attacks is, for better or worse, the term "terrorism" has changed a lot in the eyes of the citizenry over the last 10 or 15 years. In the 1990's, it was easier to accept something homegrown as a terrorist act because American soil was almost never touched by the acts of terrorism we'd have a passing knowledge of in other parts of the world. But now we have a different context, and to a lot of people, they might see calling an abortion clinic bombing "terrorism" because they're thinking about 9/11 every time they see the word. I think that's a large part of the hesitancy towards calling this an act of terrorism, especially since the culprit or culprits haven't been caught, so we can only presume the motive. "

If someone blows up an abortion clinic, I have no problem defining that as an act of terrorism, any more than I have a problem defining the OKC bombing as one, or those idiots in the 1970s who blew up courthouses and the UW math building. Or the Cubans whom set off bombs in Miami. Or the murder in DC of Orlando Letelier.

The last 15 years doesn't matter. Terrorism is terrorism.

 

I'm not trying to justify it not being terrorism, I'm just saying that the term now has a connotation that's a lot different than it was in 1992, for instance. It's the difference between "Abortion clinic bombed" and "Act of terrorism" as a headline. The former explains itself. The latter makes you think "shit what color are we now? oh god what if the guy down the street is a terrorist?"

It's not about whether we think it's terrorism or not, but how effectively and cleanly we can convey the news. Again, I personally think that you can justify it as an act of terror, and I think it's one myself. But I can certainly understand why you wouldn't call it an act of terror in a media outlet -- especially if it turns out there's another reason for the bombing, like a jilted lover or an insurance fire or something, since most of us agree that motive is a component of terrorism.

 

Hair splitting.
When there's an abortion clinic bombed over a jealous lover, I'll buy the thesis. We know why they;re bombed -- we're usually told within the first couple of hours -- and we know why abortion doctors get shot by people who've been stalking their parking lots.
It is to close, by fear, what you can't (yet) close by law.
That's terrorism.

 

I do remember there being a shooting at an abortion clinic that didn't have anything to do with abortion, but I'll be damned if I can find it. Hell, maybe it was a Law and Order episode.

 

No, that had to do with abortion. There was the one where the woman was tricked into placing the bomb because she was going to have an abortion.
I know too much about this show.
The shooter at the Boston clinics a while back claimed to be anti-abortion but, to be honest, he was also nuts.