The first thing to note about the pair arrested in British Columbia on terrorism charges is that until compelling evidence proves otherwise, they are innocent.

Presumption of innocence is not just a pro-forma right. It’s an essential starting point, particularly when allegations of terror are involved.

The second thing to note, from the little that has been revealed by the RCMP, is that the case involving John Nuttall and Amanda Korody is a very weird one.

Police are not claiming that the alleged plot to plant explosives at the B.C. legislature in Victoria was part of an international plot. In fact, they claim the precise opposite — that there was no foreign involvement.

The RCMP does say the alleged scheme was “ inspired by Al Qaeda ideology .” But it hasn’t quite said it was religiously motivated, although that is the clear implication.

Nuttall’s lawyer says the arrested man was a convert to Islam. Was Korody? That’s uncertain although the Star has reported she was seen wearing the kind of garb that some Muslims sometimes wear.

Converts to Islam have been involved as secondary figures in religiously-inspired terror plots, including that of the Toronto 18.

But in this alleged plot, the RCMP says Nuttall and Korody got into whatever they got into completely on their own. No accomplices.

He is presented as a troubled soul with a criminal record — a drug addict, not terribly successful musician and occasional thug.

Other than the fact that she came from St. Catharines, Ont., not much is known about Korody.

The police say this unlikely pair living on the margins somehow morphed into full-scale activists dedicated to committing violent acts for political, religious or ideological purposes (which is the Criminal Code definition of terrorism).

That would be bad enough if true. Even more frightening, is the possibility that individuals are now embracing terrorism not for grand ideological or political goals — but just for something to do.

The Boston Marathon outrage had an element of this — a suggestion that the attacks this spring were carried out not to win, say, Chechen independence but to play out some kind of grudge that the perpetrators had against the world.

In that sense, Boston was a crucial event. It linked the Islamist terrorism behind the 9/11 attacks to the just plain craziness that plays itself out regularly in the United States (and to lesser extent in Canada).

It’s a random craziness we know all too well — one that has produced an array of tragedies, ranging from the 1989 massacre of women at Montreal’s École Polytechnique to the Newtown, Conn., shootings of last year.

But have the crazies now got a new hero? To put it another way: Has Osama Bin Laden now become a poster boy not just for misguided Islamists but for every loon with a grudge?

If so, we are in for some rough times.

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Political movements eventually play themselves out. At some point, the antipathy towards the U.S. that inspires suicide bombers in Yemen and Algeria will wane.

Perhaps life will improve in those countries. Perhaps the U.S. will become a less important force globally.

We do not know precisely what will happen. But if history is any guide, we do know that the world will shift.

Nuttiness on the other hand knows no end. It will last as long as there are humans on this planet.

Nuts who beat each other up in back alleys are bad enough. Nuts who massacre kids in schools are obscene. Nuts who plant homemade bombs with the hope of maiming and killing hundreds are beyond the pale.

But against such nuts, there is almost no defence. Spies can eavesdrop on conversations between foreign masterminds and their domestic lackeys. Security services can infiltrate organized groups.

But when a couple of people simply decide to do something crazy, who is to know?

The RCMP says it was a tip from the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service that twigged police to the alleged B.C. plot. If this turns out to be a real plot, good on CSIS.

But it’s probably fair to say that the agency was also lucky. Random unfocused violence is near impossible to predict.

No one knew Boston was going to happen. No one anticipated Newtown.