Stochastic Terrorism- Triggering The Shooters.

[KittyWampus]

Stochastic terrorism

Stochastic terrorism is the use of mass communications to incite random actors to carry out violent or terrorist acts that are statistically predictable but individually unpredictable. In short, remote-control murder by lone wolf.


…………………………………...

The person who actually plants the bomb or assassinates the public official is not the stochastic terrorist, they are the "missile" set in motion by the stochastic terrorist. The stochastic terrorist is the person who uses mass media as their means of setting those "missiles" in motion.

Here's the mechanism spelled out concisely:

The stochastic terrorist is the person who uses mass media to broadcast memes that incite unstable people to commit violent acts.

One or more unstable people responds to the incitement by becoming a lone wolf and committing a violent act. While their action may have been statistically predictable (e.g. "given the provocation, someone will probably do such-and-such&quot , the specific person and the specific act are not predictable (yet).

The stochastic terrorist then has plausible deniability: "Oh, it was just a lone nut, nobody could have predicted he would do that, and I'm not responsible for what people in my audience do."


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/01/11/934890/-Stochastic-Terrorism-160-Triggering-the-shooters
http://stochasticterrorism.blogspot.com
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025082290

[guillaumeb]

1. Great post KittyWampus

So many names come to mind:
Stephane Charbonnier,
Sarah Palin,
Pat Robertson,
Oral Roberts,
Rush Limbaugh,
Dick Cheney,
Pamela Geller,

and so many more.

[Mosby]

2. pop psychology at it's worst.

[annabanana]

4. how so? . . . .n/t

[Mosby]

5. because its a "fancy pants" way to claim that the perp was provoked or incited.

The actual research on terrorist affiliation/behavior shows that there is always a triggering event, that could be anything from getting teased by a neighbor or getting dumped by a partner for example. Regardless of the trigger, the response is emotional not rational so the "provocation" was mostly in the person's head to begin with, was gabby giffords words provocative? What about the 911 perps? Who provoked them?

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. Not only that, and there might be something to it

in the US Legal System there is no precedent. Trust me, an expert witness might be able to convince a court\jury of this... whether it is valid or not. But for those who want to use this to say that well, current subject of our devotion is not allowed what we understand as constitutionally protected speech ... that legal precedent is kind of non existent.

I have no issue thinking that there is something to it. There is some psychology that points to this, outside of KOSS, but then there is the pesky law. Why I pointed out that perhaps some folks here want to make some legal history. Because short of that, we can discuss that here, and everywhere else, but the law is not touching this.

here you go for articles in journals

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10242694.2015.1033888#.VUgBotNViko

http://www.palgrave-journals.com/sj/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/sj20136a.html

Now perhaps an adventurous lawyer might want to try this route. If they do, let me know... because that is one legal case I am interested to follow, I suspect all the way to the SCOTUS.

[leveymg]

7. Actually, it's more like crowd-sourced psychology. But, the theory is intuitively appealing.

There is some serious published research in communications theory that shows a psychological triggering mechanism and the effects of propaganda. Here are some materials that review the academic literature that goes toward that:

Propaganda and Conflict: Evidence from the Rwandan ...
www.hks.harvard.edu/.../Rwand...
John F. Kennedy School of Government
by D Yanagizawa-Drott - ‎2014 - ‎Cited by 15 - ‎Related articles
gation of how to prevent them; isolating the mechanisms that enable elites to carry them ... whether and how propaganda that explicitly encourages violence against a ..... much assistance, one could argue that some of these acts were triggered ... behavior depend on whether others do the same, or 2) psychological factors, ...

[PDF]Book Review: The Violent Image: Insurgent Propaganda ...
eprints.lse.ac.uk/.../Bo...
London School of Economics and Political Science
by AP Alonso - ‎2013
The Violent Image: Insurgent Propaganda and the New ... How do they exactly trigger psychological mechanisms and forge collective narratives? How do they ...

[annabanana]

9. Interesting stuff. . . .n/t

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Can you direct me to case law on this

I thank you in advance.

(I could not find a one case in either state or federal courts, and given that this is a precedent based legal system, you might be able to create new legal ground)

[KittyWampus]

10. I don't there's any chance to use the concept in establishing legal culpability.

Not without hate speech laws as there is in Europe.

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. We might find ourselves there sooner or later.

Just pointing out that the concept, legally, for the moment is a non starter.

[seveneyes]

6. The Universe would still be orbiting Earth if we allowed the dumb fucks to run the show

No, the mental midgets should never be allowed to sow their seeds of stupidity and ignorance unimpeded.

Call the dumb fuckwads out at every chance.

[WinkyDink]

11. And the "solution" would be what, in accordance with our Constitution and laws?