This year, the U.S. Justice Department quietly added a new category to the list of enemies in its war on terrorism: “Nihilistic Violent Extremism”. The perpetrators of this kind of terrorism are said to be pursuing anti-social violence to usher in the end of society. As the federal filing reads, these nihilists commit acts that “derive primarily from a hatred of society at large and a desire to bring about its collapse”.
Openly anti-social violence has been a part of American society since the 1960s—from the Manson murders to Columbine—but only recently has it been linked to terrorism, which is often thought of as ideologically motivated. This new category is kept intentionally vague. The nihilist label has been applied to a range of violent individuals and organizations: from a plotter who tried to assassinate Donald Trump (Nikita Casap) to the anti-life fertility clinic bomber (Guy Bartkus) to child exploitation networks who are said to seek the “downfall of the current world order” …
