There Is A Name For That.

Stochastic
adjective
sto·​chas·​tic stə-ˈka-stik
stō-
1
: random
specifically : involving a random variable
a stochastic process
2
: involving chance or probability : probabilistic
a stochastic model of radiation-induced mutation
Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Random acts of terrorism is happening around the country for many they don’t feel safe going out of their house. Bowling allies, night clubs, concerts, parades are not safe anymore.

Stochastic Terrorism: Links Between the GOP, Right-Wing Influencers & Neo-Nazi Violence
The right is weaponizing language to encourage acts of violence against marginalized communities.
The Advocate
By Christopher Wiggins
October 23, 2023

As part of its effort to demonize LGBTQ+ communities nationwide, the GOP has removed books from classrooms, banned the mention of gender identity and sexual orientation, and forbidden using pronouns. Drag queens are portrayed as deviants, while transgender people are portrayed as illegitimate and needing to be legislated out of existence.

In August, Laura Ann Carleton, who went by Lauri, was murdered outside of the Southern California boutique that she owned because she dared to show her support for the LGBTQ+ community. A man who held anti-LGBTQ+ attitudes shot and killed her when she wouldn’t remove a Pride Flag that flew at the store.

Throughout the current political climate, in which Republicans have chosen to make mainstream positions held by some of the most extreme far-right fringe elements that espouse neo-Nazi and white supremacist worldviews, coupled with right-wing media figures and grifters who amplify bigoted and dangerous narratives about marginalized groups like Black and LGBTQ+ people, one alarming tactic is gaining popularity – stochastic terrorism.

As a result of this tactic, armed white supremacists and other hate groups are screaming rabidly at children in public venues. In some places, schools are also being swept for bombs multiple times per week.

The want to create wedge political environment demonizing those who are different… different religion, different country of origin, different sexual orientation, and different gender identity.

Stochastic terrorism refers to violent acts performed in response to messages intended to inspire such actions. As another way of putting it, this type of terrorism is statistically predictable but unpredictable for individuals.

[…]

She says to look no further than the word “woke,” which Republicans have coopted from African-American Vernacular English and made to connote a negative falsely negative concept when it denotes something entirely else.

That is the Republican way, name calling and “put downs.” We are seeing my politicians using rhetoric to incite violence and then pretending innocence.

Kayyem says that other far-right agitators who have taken over the mantle were born from that success. Chaya Raichik’s [See below] use of her Libs of TikTok Twitter (now X) account to target the LGBTQ+ community is one such example, Kayyem says.

Raichik regularly targets Drag Queen Story Hour events where kids listen to over-the-top characters read, claiming that people are “grooming” children for sexual exploitation. She also focuses a lot of her attention on school libraries that carry LGBTQ+ books like, This Books is Gay.

She has amassed over 2 million followers in more than a year using the schtick she’s carved out for herself, reposting videos of queer — particularly trans — creators often out of context with commentary meant to ridicule and inspire ill will, vilifying the LGBTQ+ community generally, with specific ire reserved for drag queens, things Raichik deems “woke,” and transgender-related issues.

In an article in Scientific America they write about this.

How Stochastic Terrorism Uses Disgust to Incite Violence
Pundits are weaponizing disgust to fuel violence, and it’s affecting our humanity
By Bryn Nelson
November 5, 2022

A week and a half before the midterm elections, a man broke into Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s house, screaming “Where’s Nancy?” and attacked her husband with a hammer. David DePape, charged in the attack, had posted a slew of rants that included references to a sprawling conspiracy theory known as QAnon, which claims that Democratic, Satan-worshipping pedophiles are trying to control the world’s politics and media.

Several hours before, Fox News’s Tucker Carlson interviewed right-wing activist Christopher Rufo, who claimed drag queens participating in book readings were trying to “sexualize children.” The people who support these events, he said, want to create “a sexual connection between adult and child, which has of course long been the kind of final taboo of the sexual revolution.”

[…]

Dehumanizing and vilifying a person or group of people can provoke what scholars and law enforcement officials call stochastic terrorism, in which ideologically driven hate speech increases the likelihood that people will violently and unpredictably attack the targets of vicious claims.

At its core, stochastic terrorism exploits one of our strongest and most complicated emotions: disgust.

That is exactly what the Republicans want, they want to cast themselves as the savior of mankind from these vile people.

People who are trying to outlaw gender-affirming care for transgender kids and purge pro-gay books from library shelves have stirred up disgust by invoking the specter of sexual “grooming”; others have made the same accusations against those speaking out against such legislative efforts, and some have used the idea to fuel disinformation about the cause of scattered pediatric monkeypox cases. The manufactured grooming mythology has spurred another round of moral disgust and outrage.

They are the groomers! They are the ones who are trying to force their ideology, their religious dogma on us. They are the ones lying!

In the lead-up to the midterm elections, a blitz of far-right radio ads targeting Black and Hispanic stations in swing states has repeated falsehoods about transgender people and a QAnon warning that the Biden administration will make it easier for children “to remove breasts and genitals”—an attempt to evoke disgust. Other ads aimed at white audiences claim minorities are the true aggressors and destroyers of social norms. One decries “anti-white bigotry.” Another warns ominously, “Stop the woke war on our children.”

The cynical appeal to protecting children by attacking minorities has exposed a bitter irony: disgust is an emotion that evolved to keep us out of danger, but people have long misused it to inflict cruelty and catastrophic harm.

They are the ones condoning violence. In Lewiston ME the “shooter seems to have held extremist right-wing views, particularly against the transgender community, according to social media accounts appearing to be from him.” according the Advocate.

 

The Scientific America article ends with,

What can stop stochastic terrorism and break the cycle of disgust-fueled vilification, threats and violence? Turning off the source of fuel is a start. Programs to counter violent extremism, particularly those that emphasize early intervention and deradicalization, have yielded some successes in at-risk communities. Other programs disrupt the ideological ecosystem that creates radical conspiracies through counseling, education and other community interventions. Beyond understanding how our emotions can be exploited to demonize others, we can refuse to buy into “both-sides” false equivalence and the normalization of dangerous rhetoric and extremism. We can do better at enforcing laws against hate speech and incitement to violence. And ultimately, we can disengage with media platforms that make money by keeping us disgusted, fearful and forgetful of our own decency—and shared humanity.

But what can you do when it is the politicians who are stirring up the animosity against minorities?

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Then we have social media that is also stirring up animosity toward us.

Libs of TikTok's Chaya Raichik Threatens Anti-Defamation League Over Extremist Label
The creator of Libs of TikTok demands her name be removed from ADL’s “Glossary of Extremism.”
The Advocate
By Christopher Wiggins
October 25 2023


Chaya Raichik, the provocateur behind the polarizing anti-LGBTQ+ Libs of TikTok account on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, has issued a demand to the Anti-Defamation League to expunge her name from their “Glossary of Extremism.”

Raichik is primarily known for her aggressive critiques against the LGBTQ+ community. Those comments frequently trigger bomb threats and targeted harassment towards the spotlighted individuals or events that have included teachers, school districts, and libraries.

On Tuesday evening, Raichik intensified her challenge against the ADL’s classification by tagging the organization’s CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt, in a post on X.

I guess the truth hurts.

Libs of TikTok, now boasting over 2.6 million followers, has gained notoriety for promoting anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments by sharing selectively edited content to deride LGBTQ+ individuals and liberals. Much of Raichik’s criticism zeroes in on transgender people, whom she continually misgenders and dehumanizes in her commentary online. The account has notably targeted Drag Queen Story Hour events and school libraries carrying LGBTQ+ friendly books, accusing them of “grooming” children for sexual exploitation. These highlighted instances often result in a storm of online harassment and, sometimes, real-world threats.

Why can’t she be charged with “incitement to violence?”

The narrative surrounding Raichik’s social media endeavors is part of a broader conversation on stochastic terrorism, where public rhetoric incites violent actions without explicit instructions. Juliette Kayyem, a former Department of Homeland Security official and a professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School, has acknowledged Raichik’s tactics as examples of this phenomenon in a report by The Advocate.

Let me ask you a question.

What is the Republican party platform? All we here out them what they are against, what are they for besides the oppression of minorities? Are they for repairing the roads? Are they for getting the lead out of public water supplies? Are they for upgrading our electrical grid?

What do they stand for?