How many people have to die before we call it terror?

How many school shootings have there been in the last week? Three, I think. It could have been more.

And the assailants were not just loners dressed in black who sought revenge after a lifetime of bullying. Two of the attacks involved grown men who intruded into the schools and singled out girls as their victims.

Imagine if something like this happened in a Muslim country? It would be portrayed as a reflection of the myth that Islam supports the degradation of women.

But all the school shootings, drive-by shootings, domestic murder-suicides, and so on, are not labeled terrorism because there is no common thread. Except that every one of the gunmen has been an American. Usually male. Usually white. And because white male Americans control the media, we're not going to hear about white male American terrorists.

But we are living in terror.

What should we call it?