Others have suggested motives and behaviors of Hasan that they could not have any direct knowledge of (for instance, how he worked with his patients he saw as a psychiatrist). I’ll leave such speculation where it belongs. Dr. Peter Breggin makes the ridiculous assertion that psychotherapists don’t get burned out, so one of the reasons that led to Hasan’s irrational actions was the fact that he was just another pill-prescribing, uncaring psychiatrist:
The psychiatrists [at Walter Reed] had no interest in anything except medicating their patients.
Modern psychiatry is not about counseling and empowering people. It’s about controlling and suppressing them, and that’s a dismal affair for patients and doctors alike. The armed forces have been taken in by the false claims of modern psychiatry.
By contrast, it’s not depressing to do psychotherapy or counseling. As therapists, it’s inspiring when people entrust their feelings and their life stories to us. There is no burn out when therapists feel concern and empathy for their patients and help them to find the strength and direction to reclaim their lives.
I’m not sure where Dr. Breggin is getting his information, but The New York Times noted that Hasan’s primary duty at Ft. Hood was the assessment of soldiers before deployment. In other words, Hasan wasn’t prescribing many medications. He was trying to determine the psychological fitness of soldiers before they left for combat duty. I find it a little unseemly to use a tragedy such as this to push one’s anti-psychiatry agenda (no matter how well-intended).
Hasan’s Steady Escalation Toward Action
In hindsight, the progression seems to make sense as he appeared to step up his religious observation and public objections to the war. One might say that the Internet postings attributed to him, if authenticated, were really cries for help and to be heard — “Look at me, I hate your war and am a loaded pistol just waiting to go off. Let me out of the service.” But investigators hadn’t progressed very far in examining whether to take the postings seriously and if they were even made by Major Hasan.
Between the on-base harassment for his religion, his denial of a request to be released from military service early (although it’s unclear he ever actually formally tried to do this), and his upcoming deployment to the theater of operations in the Middle East, combined with his own anti-war views and unapologetic religious beliefs all seemed to have led to this man committing the most tragic and irrational act imaginable.
As I’ve argued previously, such acts can never be fully understood or explained because at the core of it, they are irrational acts. Many people object to the war, but virtually none of us kill others to make that point. Many people, when they feel like they have no way out of their life and have lost all hope, turn to suicide. But for some reason, a very tiny percentage of people take that inward anger (depression) and turn it outward, against others, in an act like this one.
This isn’t to apologize for Major Hasan’s actions or try to minimize their impact. Indeed, what Hasan has done is to likely change the very way the military looks at its own base security and how it handles soldiers internally who seem to have significant issues that are not being successfully resolved. And perhaps — just maybe — it will again reinforce to the heads of our armed services, the vital impact mental health plays in soldiers’ lives. While it’s possible nothing could have changed the outcome of this particular tragedy, perhaps there are things we can learn to help prevent future such tragedies occurring.
Read more at: Fort Hood Gunman Gave Signals Before His Rampage
Read more at: The Fort Hood Shooter: A Different Psychiatric Perspective
43 comments
This is a terrible act of hatred towards America, and it needs to be stopped. The Army should deport this individual never let him in the United States again, and take away his freedom until he is dead. There is no reason for a person of this caliber to treat Americans in this way, I believe we allow these people in our country and then they do this, Whats up, send him back to his country and let him suffer like he did to his comrads.
Ticker, where would the government deport him to — Hasan was born in America.
Hasan is also not the first soldier to have killed fellow soldiers.
How it likely will be legally addressed is the same way the criminal system has dealt with other mass shooters.
It seems there is still not enough information about the “why” of the attack. An investigation into how his parents reared him would be helpful. Was he humiliated, physically abused, sexually abused, and/or neglected? Were his parents awake to his sensitivities about perhaps being different? If Mr. Hasan was never able to voice his true feelings to any one and feel understood, it was inevitable they would erupt in a unhealthy manner – either self-destruction or destruction outwardly, which was Mr. Hasan’s choice. Of course he may not even be aware of the dynamics involved. And it is convenient for Mr. Hasan to use the Muslim cause as his shield.
But of course we are still left with the reality of what Mr. Hasan did and he needs to be put in a status where he can no longer hurt another person. But I do think we should not automatically ascribe the “Muslim Cause” as the real motive behind what he did.
I think what he did was absolutely unforgivable and atrocious. To have the gall to kill people who put their lives on the line for their country…it’s absolutely despicable.
You wrote…
“While it’s possible nothing could have changed the outcome of this particular tragedy, perhaps there are things we can learn to help prevent future such tragedies occurring.”
No. This is a tragedy. A tragedy is a house caught in the path of an oncoming tornado. A tragedy is a teenager who dies of lupus. Assuming that Hasan was not insane, this is a politically motivated crime. The only thing that stood between Hasan an a greater death toll was his lack of access to more sophisticated weaponry.
Let’s be precise in our language with occurrences like this. Tragedy and crime have very different implications. Thank you.
You wrote…
“While it’s possible nothing could have changed the outcome of this particular tragedy, perhaps there are things we can learn to help prevent future such tragedies occurring.”
No. This is NOT a tragedy. A tragedy is a house caught in the path of an oncoming tornado. A tragedy is a teenager who dies of lupus. Assuming that Hasan was not insane, this is a politically motivated crime. The only thing that stood between Hasan an a greater death toll was his lack of access to more sophisticated weaponry.
Let’s be precise in our language with occurrences like this. Tragedy and crime have very different implications. Thank you.
Thank you for your thoughts Dr. Grohol, it was quite interesting to find a more comprehensive article rather than yet another news article!
What a tragedy for this to have occurred, and I hope more details emerge.
When the murders at Virginia Tech took place, no one suggested that Cho was a terrorist even though, he too, had likely inflicted great terror throughout that day. That day was also a tragic one to the families that lost their sons and daughters; no lesser or greater a tragedy than the families that now grieve and rage for the loss of their loved ones at Fort Hood.
I believe Hasan’s actions can best be understood when viewed through the psychology of other mass killers. This article offered some insight:
… Some of the research tells us the obvious: About 95 percent of mass killers are men, they tend to be loners, they feel alienated. They look normal on the outside and are really, really angry inside. …
It’s not that way for mass killers — guys who take out a gun and try to kill as many people as possible. They’re not looking for highs — they’re depressed, angry and humiliated. They tend to be rejected in some romantic relationship, or are sexually incompetent, are paranoid, and their resentment builds. They develop shooting fantasies for months or years, stockpiling dreams and ammunition. The event that finally sets them off, Welner says, is usually anticlimactic — an argument, a small personal loss that magnifies a sense of catastrophic failure.
“But they don’t ‘snap,’ as you so often hear people say,” Welner says. “It’s more like a hinge swings open, and all this anger comes out.”
Source: Dark Matter: The Psychology of Mass Murder
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/16/AR2007041601831.html
See also: Partial List of Recent Mass Shootings in US
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,572645,00.html
After a night’s sleep, I’m baffled.
What is up with the instant psychotherapeutic interpretations of Hasan?
No psychotherapist worth his or her salt would ever offer an interpretation without hearing the patient/client speak, and doing an assessment. Sometimes it takes two or three fifty-minute, intensive sessions before one can make any kind of assessment. Could you imagine having someone come into your office and making an assessment of them without talking to them, but based on some knowledge that the person “didn’t have a lot of friends?”
Meanwhile, no on has heard Hasan’s take on what he did. Not a word, not a peep.
I understand the human tendency to try to give meaning to events that are not readily understandable; events that are outside two standard deviations of normative behavior. However, with a crime like this? Lets not assess until Hasan talks. Yes, it’s possible that he was abused as a child. It’s also possible that he has active links to Islamic terror-preachers and the like.
Stop. Assess. Then, interpret. Not the other way around.
The next time a White Male Gentile whacks off a bunch of non-whites or Jews, please show him the same sympathetic understanding that you have shown this anti-American, anti-Christian Muslim. Be sure to talk about how “troubled” and “conflicted” the poor white guy was about being forced to live and work with hostile racial aliens who hate him and his heritage. Give your readers an unvarnished historical background of the Frankfurt School, Critical Theory and the intentional dispossession of White Gentiles by the very ones they saved from Hitler. Talk about the ongoing harassment the white guy received from non-whites, the ridicule and snide remarks the left-wing media heaped upon his culture and religion, the equal protection his government denied him, the second-class status the Supreme Court consigned him to; and, despite his fervent desire, the government’s stubborn refusal to let him opt out of forced integration at work, school and neighborhoods (although it’s unclear he ever actually formally tried to do this). Make your readers feel the white guy’s bitterness and hopeless despair. And then urge them not to “jump to conclusions” or pre-judge the poor white sucker, who was really just a victim after all, even if he was crazy and irrational. Think you can do this, oh Highly Educated Intellectual Elite One? Because as sure as I’m typing this email, it’s going to happen: a white pawn of multiculturalism is gonna snap, just like Hasan did.
TPG: “It’s also possible that he has active links to Islamic terror-preachers and the like.”
I don’t know what the content of those e-mails were but the BBC had this to report:
“Intelligence agencies monitoring the e-mail of Yemen-based Anwar al-Awlaki said he had communicated with Maj Nidal Malik Hasan on 10 to 20 occasions.
However, it was decided that this did not merit further investigation.
US officials said the content of the e-mail messages did not advocate or threaten violence, and was consistent with Maj Hasan’s research for his job as an army psychiatrist, part of which involved post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from US combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The terrorism task force concluded that Maj Hasan was not involved in terrorist planning.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8351740.stm
TPG: “Stop. Assess. Then, interpret. Not the other way around.”
Yes. Gather information. Make a response, not a reaction. Unfortunately, according to some folks Hasan is already the equivalent of the leader of an exceedingly skilled terrorist cell. I believe we’re giving him more credit than is due.
TPG: “Assuming that Hasan was not insane, this is a politically motivated crime. The only thing that stood between Hasan an a greater death toll was his lack of access to more sophisticated weaponry.”
After reading through eye-witness accounts I was left with the impression that Hasan was not very skilled in the use of weapons. One soldier was shot at close range four times and thankfully, lived through it. Had he had access to more sophisticated weapons, it’s likely the death toll would have been higher but I doubt this would have been a result of Hasan’s markmanship.
The biggest problem here is the army’s inability to provide enough support for the psychological casualties of war: http://blog.psaonline.org/2009/11/10/put-up-or-shut-up/
Lot’s of questions about Info Warfare
——————-
I got to thinking, after looking at the yearbook pic of Hasan, the alleged Ft. Hood shooter, who might just be vet who snapped and is guilty…or on the other hand… the pics don’t look alike, but that just in passing. Here the more pertinent questions and issue.
http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/225310
How does a 16 year old Palestinian from near Jerusalem immigrate by himself to the United States, with enough money
to bring his wife one month later, and then open up two businesses? And why pick Roanoke? Does he have family back
in Jerusalem, and why did he come by himself, with just his wife?
According to the Roanoke local paper, Nidal Hasan was born in Arlington to Palestinian immigrants from near Jerusalem
who moved to Roanoke and later settled in Vinton, Ramada Road. By what measure were they “Palestinian”, since at
that time Yaser Arafat of the PLO did not even declare Palestinian statehood until 1988 (in exile)? His father,
Malik Awadallah Hasan, and his mother, Hanan Ismail “Nora” Hasan, ran the infamous Capitol Restaurant on the
Roanoke City Market from 1987 to 1995, which the Roanoke Times states “was a dive beer hall and diner with
a bad reputation and a lot of down-and-out regulars..the Hasans closed the Capitol to open the short-lived,
Mediterranean-themed Mount Olive on Jefferson Street.” They also owned the Community Grocery Store on Elm Avenue
in Roanoke. He had two brothers, his brothers, Eyad and Anas, and Hasan’s father died in 1998. Neighbors on
Ramada Road said he died of a heart attack in the house. Hasan’s mother died three years later.
Neighbors said she had kidney disease. http://www.roanoke.com/news/breaking/wb/225326
Roanoke City (web) Schools confirms Hasan attended William Fleming High School
for one year and graduated in 1988.
http://www.wset.com/news/stories/1109/675793.html
But why only one year? If his parents had enough money and were rooted enough in the community to have several
businesses, wouldn’t he be listed in all of the years? Or maybe he went to a different school locally or
elsewhere, which we haven’t heard anything about yet???
The Roanoke Times articles state the following: Virginia Tech confirms that he was not a member of the Virginia
Tech Corps of Cadets, nor was he a member of any ROTC program at Virginia Tech. But The Associated Press reported
he commissioned in the Army as a captain and was promoted to major in May. The Washington Post reported he enlisted
in the Army after high school.
“His parents didn’t want him to go into the military,” said Nader Hasan, a cousin in Northern Virginia. “He said,
‘No, I was born and raised here, I’m going to do my duty to the country.’ ”
“He would tell us the military was his life,” Hasan’s aunt, Noel Hasan of Falls Church, told the Post. He “did not
make many friends.”
He was unmarried and had no children.
The strange thing is that out of all the neighbors that lived around him, the one we hear the most from is a lady
that goes by the name of Patricia Villa (39), who moved in only a month ago… see
http://www.roanoke.com/news/breaking/wb/225326 .
Of course, it’s also strange that Seung-Hui Cho, the mass-shooter of 2008, was also from Virginia Tech, small
world, eh? I found an article about how Virginia Tech received an Award to create an engineering-oriented center for the intelligence community. The article states that “While engineering oriented, the program strives for cross-disciplinary involvement, and students from all majors who have an interest in pursuing national security careers can reap benefits.” (see http://www.newsleader.com/article/20091028/NEWS01/91028001/1002/Virginia+Tech++Howard+University+partner++receive+award+to+create+engineering-oriented+center+for+intelligence+community+ ). See also Intelligence and Information Warfare, http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/75M-to-CACI-for-US-Army-Information-Warfare-Support-under-TESS-Contract-05923/
From there, they have many opportunities, such as this:
Information warfare money seems to get doled out to companies in the area ( see CACI Awarded $75 Million Task Order to Continue Support for U.S. Army Rapid Development Fielding Initiatives , http://finance.yahoo.com/news/CACI-Awarded-75-Million-Task-prnews-2283101993.html?x=0&.v=1 ). The article talks about money for I2WD (Intelligence and Information Warfare Directorate), CERDEC (Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center), all under TESS(Technical Engineering Support Services) contracts.
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/75M-to-CACI-for-US-Army-Information-Warfare-Support-under-TESS-Contract-05923/
Wierd stuff happening at Virginia Tech, with information warfare and who-knows-what going on…
Google the phrase “Virginia Tech Information Warfare”. Maybe throw in the phrase “Psy Op” as well.
What he did creates such horror in me but it is much easier to accept that he may have been suffering from some kind of psychosis. It is much easier for me and most of us military, ex-military to accept because why would a MAJ kill a PFC or a PVT that he does not know and has absolutely no dealing with?.
Perhaps a dissociative disorder. Maybe he was self-medicating. Perhaps the MAJ was suffering from paranoia. Perhaps because of his paranoia he always walked around with two pistols. Perhaps this was the day the his alter personality made it out. I can’t help but make reason of this senseless act. What are his fellow workmates thinking about now?
I work on Fort Hood and I did for the Hospital and had he been there longer, I would I have been one of the people scheduling Soldiers to see him, now I don’t even know what to think of all the other Psych specialists and all the other muslim soldiers. This is just sooo screwy….
I sure would like to hear him say something.
This man was withdrawn, scared, confused and he had a weak changeable mind. I don’t think he was this way when he joined the military.
A loner, no wife, no kids, conflicted and he had medications that could alter his judgement.
Too many red flags were missed… the US ARMY MAJ lived in the GHETTO— GHETTO. This is the most ghetto–ish portion of Killeen. This is a slap to the his Psychiatry team. Of all the folks to watch; right under their noses and they did not figure it out.
The man had to have an illness.
Why? MAJ
Why? Killed a pregnant PFC
Why? Killed soldiers.
Why? Picked this location. Anyone from Ft Hood knows what I mean
Why? Was a Psychiatrist
Why? No woman
Why? Obviously was not always this way or his behind would have stayed CPT for entire Military time.
I hope his blood was tested, because he had to be on something, perhaps a mind-altering medication.
This just does not make any darn sense.
“Look at me, I hate your war and am a loaded pistol just waiting to go off. Let me out of the service.â€
It looks to me that there was at least a part of him that saw where things were heading and didn’t want this to happen. His hateful and murderous emotions were in the driving seat and his rational self was in the back seat making an effort to be heard.
This is not an attempt to minimalise his horrendous crime; just and observation that emotionally unstable and confused people can be lead into doing this that their better self knows to be wrong.
What is up with the instant psychotherapeutic interpretations of Hasan? I agree. While we all have our personal reactions to this horrific act, an armchair “Psychology of Hasan” should not be passed on as any more than conjecture.
Your article is pure hokum. The killer was a Muslim whose faith allowed him to become a mass murder and receive the praise of the president of Iran.
American has a huge problem because its large Muslim population are a important to the Democrats and the President. It is too difficult for you to recognise this truth.
A thoughtful essay, though I would emphasize that for US Muslims, being pro-US is compatible, not the exception. An important source on military psychiatric casualties and related psychological issues is “On Killing” (rev. ed. 2009) by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman. I agree that burnout has nothing to do with an over-reliance on psychotropic medication. If anything, psychotherapy is probably more draining, though I prefer it to the current tendency to push pills in my much-conflicted profession of psychiatry. Dr. Breggin’s critique of American psychiatriy has some truth in it but has gone off the rails, unfortunately.
–ejl
To Umum Mudir: I respectfully disagree with you and urge you to learn more about this complex issue before commenting on it. This man was mentally disturbed and his distorted interpretation of his religions compounded his problem.
According to Wikipedia, American Muslims make up .2% of the population.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Muslim_population
The following information may also be pertinent.
Attacks on fellow soldiers – particularly officers – was dubbed “fragging” in Vietnam.
Between 1969 and 1971, the Army reported 600 fragging incidents that killed 82 Americans and injured 651, according to the Associated Press. In 1971 alone, there were 1.8 fraggings for every 1,000 American soldiers serving in Vietnam, not including gun and knife assaults.
Such incidents have dropped dramatically. But in recent years there have been several incidents in the United States and Iraq. As tallied by NBC News and the Associated Press, they include:
• May 11, 2009: Five soldiers shot dead at Camp Liberty in Baghdad by Sgt. John Russell.
• Sept. 8, 2008: Spc. Jody Michael Wirawan shoots himself to death after killing 1st Lt. Robert Bartlett Fletcher at Fort Hood.
• Feb. 25, 2008: Dustin Thorson, an Air Force technical sergeant, fatally shoots his son and daughter at home on Tinker Air Base in Oklahoma in domestic dispute with ex-wife. He had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after returning from Iraq.
• June 7 2005: Two National Guard officers are killed by a grenade at headquarters in Tikrit. Staff Sgt. Alberto Martinez is later acquitted of murder in a court-martial.
• March 23, 2003: Army Sgt. Hasan Akbar tosses grenades into three tents and then fires a rifle at Camp Pennsylvania in Kuwait, killing one and injuring 14. Akbar later receives death sentence.
• Oct. 27, 1995: Sgt. William Kreutzer goes on shooting spree at Fort Bragg, killing one and injuring 18 in a sniper attack during formation. He is serving a life sentence after a death sentence was overturned.
Source: http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1106/p02s10-usmi.html
As a european reader, I am not entirely surprised at the vitriol poured out by your (I assume) mostly north american audience. This poor man obviously lost his marbles, and the prospect of his mission to the middle east MUST have triggered all sorts of conflict. He is a US born palestinian moslem but most of the psycho-killers you have the misfortune of boasting of as a nation,are NOT.
Explanations anyone?
People lose control this way for their own reasons. Just because his reasons had to do with the war doesn’t make it strategic, anymore than a man who loses it when his wife leaves him is strategically taking on the NOW.
If there were organized plotters behind this, it would have been more damaging.
Those of you who have a problem with the attempts at gaining some psychological understanding of the killer have got to appreciate that this is a site on mental health and psychology that seeks to gain such an understanding of everyone and every situation.
This is our space (those of us who have this interest)for exploring these ideas. We do not post these type of messages on sites that do not have this as their remit that would be inappropriate.
This sort of reflection is legitimate on a site of this nature. Please try to understand and respect that, even if you don’t personally appreciate it much yourself.
No matter what the circumstances are or how much stress you are feeling, it is never justification for cold-blooded premeditated murder. I have no sympathy for Hasan or any other killer. I don’t care about his mental health – now or ever. There is also no evidence that he is mentally ill. If anybody should know when to seek professional psychiatric help, it’s a psychiatrist!
The immediate reaction by the media was to attempt to make Hasan a sympathetic figure. I was completely outraged to hear him almost being portrayed as a victim. Americans must learn to call it like they see it. In this day and age, being politically correct is not very smart. We shouldn’t rush to judgment, but we would be wise to use judgment.
happyred – we have every right as Americans to be furious about soldiers being murdered by a major in the U.S. Army. It doesn’t matter to me whether the killer is Muslim, Christian or whatever. Hasan should be charged with treason.
TNLady: “I don’t care about his mental health – now or ever. … The immediate reaction by the media was to attempt to make Hasan a sympathetic figure. I was completely outraged to hear him almost being portrayed as a victim.”
I didn’t see it as an attempt to portray him as a victim as much as it was to try to understand his motivations. As for him being mentally ill — anyone who walks in amidst other human beings and without provocation or regard for their humanity, begins shooting at them — cannot possibly be considered mentally well. Hasan went over the deep end. In addition to expressing any grief and outrage we have to ask ‘Why?’. The purpose of doing so is an attempt to find meaning in his actions as well as try and prevent something similar from happening again.
I also know that when these kind of events occur the perpetrator’s actions can become inflated by our own grief and fears, casting the appearance they were far more skilled, far more capable, and far more powerful than they really were. Today I see reports that the Taliban/Al-Queda are claiming links to this action and why wouldn’t they? They can twist it into something that serves their purpose — inspiring fear and stripping people of their sense of safety.
It’s frightening to consider that Hasan was part of a much larger network but I don’t want any potential fears to be used against me by those who can benefit from fanning and inflaming their inflation. This is part of what motivates my own actions to better understand what has happened and why. I need reliable information — not conjecture, speculation, bias, prejudice, assumption — so I can make a rational evaluation of risk. The goal is not to be fearless, it’s to be fearful only when it is appropriate to actually be afraid.
My own feelings at this time are that Hasan’s behaviors are more consistent with a mass-shooter like Cho than a suicide bomber. If Hasan had walked into that building with explosives strapped to his chest I would likely arrive at a different conclusion.
“In addition to expressing any grief and outrage we have to ask ‘Why?’. The purpose of doing so is an attempt to find meaning in his actions as well as try and prevent something similar from happening again.”
Thank you Spiritual Emergency – very nicely put.
TNLady, thank you for bringing common sense back to the table.
Note to “Ticker”:
It is my understanding that Hassan was BORN in the U.S. SO, with that in mind, where would you have him deported TO???
Signed,
Very Confused at Ticker’s Statement!!! :-/
Confused Fort Hooder: “What he did creates such horror in me but it is much easier to accept that he may have been suffering from some kind of psychosis.”
The desire is to define these kinds of actions within a framework of “insanity” but psychosis is rarely the culprit. This article may have more information in that regard. Note that in some respects, Hasan’s actions fall into the categories of political and disgruntled employee.
============================================
One of the difficulties in gathering data on the mass murderer is that he or she often commits suicide. The terrorists involved in the World Trade Center and Pentagon tragedies died when the planes they hijacked hit their objectives. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris committed suicide after their mass murder at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, on April 20, 1999. Therefore some information about types listed in this entry is limited.
Kelleher outlines seven categories of mass murderers who have somewhat different motivations and profiles. These categories include perverted love, politics and hate, revenge, sexual homicide, execution, psychotic, and unexplained. Ronald and Stephen Holmes, in their book Mass Murder in the United States (2000), provide a different typology. Holmes and Holmes use some types from Park Dietz, including the family annihilator, the disgruntled type, and the set-and-run type. The authors then added the disciple killer, the ideological mass murderer, the disgruntled employee, and the school shooter. Both Holmes and Holmes’ and Kelleher’s typologies were created before the attack on the World Trade Center and the rash of suicide bombings; however, the string of early-twenty-first-century events falls under Kelleher’s category of politics and hate. …
Meloy and Hempel found that 70 percent of their sample were termed “loners,” 62 percent abused alcohol or drugs; many were preoccupied by violent fantasies; 42 percent had a credible history of violence against a person, animal, or property; and 43 percent were bullied by others. Forty-one percent had a history of at least one sexual-affectional bond with a female. Only 23 percent had a history of psychiatric hospitalization or at least one visit to a mental health professional, and only 6 percent showed evidence of psychosis.
Source: Psychological Profiles of Mass Murderers
http://www.deathreference.com/Ke-Ma/Mass-Killers.html
Recommend Karl Weick’s work on sense-making in this case, and multi-perspectivism. There will not be an all embracing explanation of this event. There will be strands at the macro (culture/nurture) level, the meso (social) level and the micro (cognitive/neurological/nature) level. Add to this context and situation and the constellation of factors that we can draw on to ‘explain’ the event or massive and complex.
Looking at the ‘wicked’ problem (Rittel Webber) requires effortful thinking and is probably the reason why alot of people find it easier to conclude that the guy was an ‘islamist psycho’ and be done with it. Sure this might an explanation. It is simply one rationalisation.
It seems that people hanker after rationalisations rather than explanations. After all as Jeff Goldblum said in The Chill – they’re more important than sex…ever gone a day without a rationalisation!
Part 1: It is obvious the Military Heads were asleep at the wheel to ignore the red flags displayed by this man. It is military understanding that any act of this nature during war time is: “treason”. Which means death.
Part 2: Military ruling on advancement strict training, not taking 6 years to complete a 4 year college, and still advance to Major in 6 years??? It shouldn’t have happened.
Part 3:He has shown every sign of an Islam Jihad Radical—– a loner, no close family ties, acclaimed Islam first, American second—premeditated attack on Americans, knowing would be too obvious acting as a suicide bomber ( all strapped up, so—- became a suicide shooter with same intentional end results expecting he’d be shot away instead of bombed away to that 70 virgins gloryland???? they are promised??
But—he survived, what next??
Good article…
==============================================
Is Ft. Hood like Columbine? That’s the gist of the question I’ve been asked repeatedly the past 24 hours, in various incarnations. It’s a natural question, which has been running through my own head incessantly. My brain is about to bust with all the apparent parallels to Columbine, Virginia Tech and 9/11, and the startling differences to each as well. But the only responsible answer to that question is I don‘t know yet.
If we have learned anything from these tragedies, is that we won’t get a firm handle on why for weeks, months or even years. At this distance from Oklahoma City, we were convinced it was the work of Arabs or Muslims, and what was the difference between those two anyway? The Columbine killers’ journals–far and away the most revealing evidence–were released in 2006, more than seven years after the murders.
The Ft. Hood perpetrator appears pretty transparent. The “obvious†factors include:
– His religion
– His ethnicity
– The ridicule he endured for each
– His profession as a soldier
– His profession as a psychiatrist
– His exposure to guns
– Relentless exposure to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in his patients
– Opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
– Imminent deployment there
We have heard a lot of facts related to each of those factors already. I expect that most will turn to be true. Historically, we get the what right pretty fast. But we have a terrible record on why. An oddsmaker could reasonably predict that some of those items will prove relevant and others true but unrelated to the crime. The problem is predicting which is which.
If we guess now, the myths will be us forever…
Read more: Is Ft. Hood Like Columbine?
http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/nurtureshock/archive/2009/11/06/is-ft-hood-like-columbine-guest-blogger-dave-cullen.aspx
This guy seems to have been under a lot of pressure! It looked that he wanted to get out of it but no one listened to him. And no one wondered about “difference†– you do not put a physical handicapped one to run and one of a different religion to go fight with those people if they do not want to do it voluntary! Not when you are a country in which religion still… obviously… counts! Too many are just pointing at, discriminating: “Muslimâ€, after they didn’t think of “differencesâ€!
Am I crazy because of considering all the people just human beings? Then the above who have the same opinion and Christine from the same site http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2009/11/09/the-psychology-of-hasan-the-ft-hood-shooter/, or other journalists interested mainly in WHY it happened and what could be learned/learnt from that, are as crazy as I am! For these “kind of crazy†people I admire the Americans!
When my child was bitten by a dog (a small one that got scared of the child’s brutal approach, even to pet it), I taught my child to be more careful when approaching others because the dogs are like people, some that are more afraid, scared, some braver and willing or learning to bear an approach. Later, since my child wasn’t afraid by dogs, she got bitten by a friend’s dog that she knew well. I told her that each one is different and she insists to play when that dogs wants to do something else (like hiding its bone) she might get misunderstood and get some consequences. Even though I was worried about my child, I laughed and asked the dog to be vaccinated in order not to have gotten any disease from my child. I let my Canadian neighbour friend to deal alone with his dog without feeling to ever accuse him… The child is not afraid not even now by dogs but she learned to approach them differently. I am proud of my child (and of me!) because of that!
My PTSD has erupted and developed here; where, after emigrating, I thought that I would be safe and the big stress was gone. But my child and I was threatened again by white “Christian†males, (I am white and born Christian too!) Even though the danger and the background stress weren’t as bad than maybe in the past, I had a breakdown diagnosed PTSD… because I let myself hope for better!! But when I saw the same could happen to me with the second child (that I thought I “saved†from worse!) immigrating in one of the most developed and tolerant countries on Earth; I simply couldn’t take it! We had started to recover, and then we were threatened again and again and even though it wasn’t as bad; it affected us. The last time was by a Muslim family! For more than a year we had nightmares (mostly my child who trusted them and treated them as any other human being because I am against any discrimination and respect the differences too!) That time I knew a few nice Muslims and I purposely get closer with more to show to my child that not all of them are the same and it doesn’t matter what religion, country, skin or eye, hair colour has someone… It wasn’t easy for me… but I did what I thought it was “fairâ€!
Sometimes I fear people who do not have a mental diagnosis more than those who have one and they are already under some control!
I would never want to be a psychiatrist or psychologist and I would not recommend it even to my child if they would not have more conditions to release their stress. Or do they have to be supermen and superwomen?! They are human beings like anyone else but under much, much more daily added stress! In Europe (I don’t think that only in my native country) any psychiatrist, psychologist who dealt with clients/ patients has to do (yes, it’s mandatory) his/her weekly hour of therapy! And like teachers, they work less than others! I don’t think that the latter is possible anymore and the increased level of stress pushed more people to need their services.
I think we should all start to judge someone after what someone is doing and less about who is (discrimination has so many facets when you do not think of differences!). There are no excuses and no one, who is trying to analyze “why†something happened, could be accused of “finding excusesâ€
I was abused but that’s not giving me any right to abuse others! If I abuse and people find “why†that doesn’t mean they absolve me of my fault!
A crime is a tragedy no matter what and how someone reached there and because of others that were affected too! No matter what, it’s our fault too and we have to see “why†a tragedy happens as no one grows up or lives alone… if it was so who would affect someone back then?! Usually people are reacting to someone else than the one that should deserve that… just venting their frustration. If we don’t stop that we shall have a PTSD-affected- humanity! Isn’t it enough that there are already people (big part of populations) that have that syndrome or disorder? Sometimes I think that Israeli might be one! With so many wars and conflicts we can see a lot of states and people from those states already there, too.
It seems that Americans are not a race of “bullying†how others like to present them! But as I said, when arguing with some of my European, or from other continents, friends… the Americans’ people, values and theories have to first be admired and follow up in other states and then, when everybody starts to point to the immigrant root, the Americans wake up to appreciate their own people, theories, values – now validated and already used and highly transformed by others… Strange! There are centuries of such things and they still don’t learn their lesson. But no one is prophet in his own country, are they?!
It’s funny to see that outside U.S., people tends to see the Americans as a race… as they are treating their own people inside their country; no wonder they will prefer to say Deming was Romanian, Franklin was Canadian, and so on; instead of saying they were Americans! I wonder if Einstein ever moved, worked in (and died in) U.S.!!
If Americans run to the roots even for those born there, when something bad happens, why not to do the same for what they are doing good?!
“And so it goes†by John Denver! Or maybe “Forest Lawnâ€!
More findings are summarized in this article:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,574546,00.html
Here’s the most damning part, reported by NPR earlier:
It’s amazing to me how his supervisors could sit in a meeting, sharing such serious — potentially lethal — concerns, and then back down from taking action because, apparently, it took too much effort to remove him. Astounding.
“Physician heal thyself.” No wonder physician’s liability isurance is so high. They do not police their own. Why was Hasan ever allowed to be a psychiatrist? How did he graduate from college for that matter when he didn’t even correctly complete his assignments?
Another question: Would the shrinks who manage this website say that the guys who flew into the twin towers were mentally ill? I don’t think any court of law would.
Re: Dr. Grohol’s comment below…I doubt this is the reason – just my opinion. I suspect they (the final decision makers) left him in the program because they wanted to gather more intelligence from continuing to monitor his communications – for the purposes of infiltrating a possible terrorist cell, getting more names or locations of terrorist leaders, etc. It was all too easy to collect the information at a military base where communications are routinely monitored anyway.
Dr. Grohol @ 9:35 a.m. on November 14th, 2009:
“It’s amazing to me how his supervisors could sit in a meeting, sharing such serious — potentially lethal — concerns, and then back down from taking action because, apparently, it took too much effort to remove him. Astounding.”
But my guess is good as anybody’s….
Officials considered kicking Hasan out of the program but chose not to partly because firing a doctor is a “cumbersome and lengthy†process that involves hearings and potential legal conflict, sources told NPR.
I do fear for the remaining Muslims who are serving in the military now. The majority of mass shooters here in the US are non-Muslim, and I cringe at the thought of how those who practice Islam will be treated from fellow military members. I hope this doesn’t affect more innocent people in that way. There are others who practice Islam in the military…throughout many job fields. Anyone with an average imagination can consider the ramifications…
As far as being sent over to kill other Muslims – it’s obvious it could be a conflict for some…but I would not automatically think because someone was Muslim, that they would be against serving in the war. Christians have fought and killed Christians throughout our war history. There may be some living here affected by cultural influences of the Palestine/Israel confict, etc., but there are plenty of non-Muslim groups here in the states who are passionate about their social justice causes as well..and don’t kill.
The (few) Muslims I have known here in the states would fight for this country….and love this country and appreciate being here.
Comments are closed.