1. Use “incidents” as a key metric
Written in the methodology of the CSIS study is this: “We coded threats of violence as attacks rather than plots, even if the threat turned out to be a hoax.”
This statement is an incredible admission. The CSIS includes threats of violence as terrorist attacks — even if the threat was a hoax.
Such low standards for terrorism allow the authors to leverage vaguely defined “hate crime” data from the Anti-Defamation League and Southern Poverty Law Center to inflate right-wing occurrences.
2. Manipulate definitions
Each study is careful about the definitions for terrorism. The CIR defines right-wing terrorism as follows: “militia movements, as well as white supremacist, anti-government, anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant and anti-abortion extremists, including radical Christians.”
These are standard terms Democrats use to attack conservatives — which is the point. The definitions are deliberately vague to increase subjectivity.
Notice that they do not suggest merely opposition to abortion policies — but opposition to certain policies such as abortion. Basically, right-wing terrorists are defined as anyone who opposes the left, plus incels.
For Muslim terrorists, the variables are much more rigid. The CIR criteria for Islamic terrorism is as follows:
We use the term “Islamist” to describe theocratic extremists inspired by groups such as the Taliban, al-Qaida and the Islamic State. We chose the term “Islamist,” rather than “Islamic,” in an effort to uncouple the Muslim faith from the political ideology of Islamism.
Each study follows the same model of broad definitions for right-wingers but restrictive ones for Muslims.
3. Lone wolves are not terrorists
By limiting Islamic terrorism only to cases with direct ties to specific terrorist groups, they define away “lone wolf” terrorist attacks and exclude them from the studies.
The Washington mall shooter, Arcan Cetin, who killed five people in 2016? Lone wolf.
Esteban Santiago, who killed five people at a Fort Lauderdale airport and told FBI agents he carried out the attack on behalf of ISIS? Lone wolf.
4. Apply inconsistently
The NAF study enables anti-government statements to classify someone as a right-wing extremist.
This flimsy definition does not apply to Muslim extremists.
Yelling “down with the government” while carrying out an act of violence is enough to be counted as right-wing terrorism. However, a Muslim screaming “Allahu akbar” while committing the same violence is not sufficient to be an Islamic extremist.
5. Count violence unrelated to ideology
While the CSIS study doesn’t list specific terrorist acts, it discloses some sources — one of which is the Anti-Defamation League.
This inflates numbers by including incidents committed by those who fit the ideological criteria, even if the acts were unrelated to ideology.
Studies on right-wing terrorism are fake — they are nothing but propaganda.
Most left-wing studies on other topics model the same framework: manipulate definitions and variables, fabricate data to fit or exclude based on the falsified definitions, and apply criteria inconsistently.