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I understand.
How much of the 'intent' is known at this point.
How much of the intent to diminish safety was caused by the assailant and how much by the way it was reported.
How much of the intent to create division was caused by the assailant and how much by the way it was reported?
bazschmaz-
Its unlikely that the full motives will ever be understood although we'll get a more comprehensive picture over the next few weeks and months.
My own speculation is that the attacker will not have acted entirely alone and that others in the background will have been involved in encouraging and facilitating the attack. If the attacker themself didn't consider it, the others would be likely to understand the reaction of the major media outlets and how that would have affected public perceptions of safety and exacerbated divisions.
The_Seldom_Killer
A terrorist attack isn't defined by the number, competence, efficacy or colour of the perpetrators. It's defined by the intent of the attack.
If that intent was to disrupt or harm the government or the apparatus of the state then it can be deemed a terrorist attack.
If that intent was to diminish people's sense of safety within the borders of their own country against an outside threat then it can be deemed a terrorist attack.
If that intent is to stir up social and cultural divisions that compromise people's sense of safety from an threat from a "them" within the borders of their own country then it can be deemed a terrorist attack.
Today's attack at Westminster ticks all three of those boxes and, honestly, the death toll is practically incidental. Even if no one had died today, the media frenzy would still have stirred up a very similar reaction. Also, "one guy with a knife"? Surely on this forum the other weapon used should not be difficult to recognise.
And please don't buy into this rightwing tabloid shit-stirring language where the ist is dropped from terrorist attack. It just feeds into their bullshit moral outrage that they manufacture to sell papers and advertising space.