Definition of terrorism

[draco664]

ter·ror·ism
[ter-uh-riz-uhm]
noun
1. the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes.
2. the state of fear and submission produced by terrorism or terrorization.
3. a terroristic method of governing or of resisting a government.

and of course, we can't forget...

4. complaining about local water quality to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.

[s_stabeler]

the definition I personally would use is the use of seemingly-random acts of violence aginast a civillian population to induce fear to cause political change. That seems to cover all forms of terrorism pretty well...

[HYHYBT]

the definition I personally would use is the use of seemingly-random acts of violence aginast a civillian population to induce fear to cause political change. That seems to cover all forms of terrorism pretty well...

...except, of course, the water complaint kind

[s_stabeler]

because that isn't terrorism.

[lordlundar]

To play devil's advocate here I can kind of see the reasoning. Unfounded complaints could be classified as public declarations that haven't been verified by official bodies. Due to the necessity of water it could induce panics that are very difficult to control.

They're not saying "write a letter to the control body and get the cuffs slapped on" though that is what the interpretation was.

[Panacea]

To play devil's advocate here I can kind of see the reasoning. Unfounded complaints could be classified as public declarations that haven't been verified by official bodies. Due to the necessity of water it could induce panics that are very difficult to control.

OK, but who gets to decide which complaints are "unfounded," and what does "unfounded" really mean? Does it mean making such a complaint when the complaintant knows it is not true, or does it mean an honestly held belief that turns out to be wrong, or does it mean still something else?

Such a policy could easily be abused by a water manager who gets tired of dealing with certain people who may in fact have legit issues that no one can pin their finger on.

Ever take your car to a mechanic because you heard a noise, and when you got there, he didn't hear a thing? Or have a symptom of a medical problem that the doctor could never find until years later? This is something like that.

Unless the complaint is proven to have been made knowing it was false or as a threat, it is not terrorism. Being a crank, maybe. But not terrorism.

[Gravekeeper]

Persist, unfounded complaints could be considered at BEST, harassment. And even then that's only if the person delivering them was going above and beyond by abusing staff, etc.