Another mass shooting, this time in San Bernardino by two
Islamic extremists. Before that, a mass
shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic by a Christian extremist. And of course
there are others before those too numerable to mention, from heinous elementary
school slaughters to movie theater massacres. Are these people psychopaths,
murderers, heroes or martyrs? The sad
truth is that they are all of the above.
I read a book several years ago about the Columbine
shootings. The author provided evidence
that the two boys were psychopaths, not just troubled teenagers who had somehow
been traumatized into a murderous rampage by adolescent grievances. These types of killings (Sandy Hook, Colorado
Movie Theater, Virginia Tech, etc. etc.) are clearly the result of twisted
minds.
How does someone shoot down people in cold blood without being
somewhat of a psychopath? Even in
moments of burning rage, I cannot imagine doing what these people have done.
The perpetrators of these ghastly crimes come from very
different backgrounds and appear to have a wide variety of motives. For some, the act must simply be an
expression of a deep sickness and tortured soul. For others, the act is inspired by some sort
of political or religious zeal – white supremacy, radical Islam, radical
Christian or others. In decades past,
revolutionary and ideological fervor was often the cause of such attacks.
We cannot ignore the fact that human beings are violent
creatures. When we line up on opposite
sides based on tribe, or country or ideology or religion, we do not hesitate to
commit the most hideous torture and murder imaginable.
The assailants in Paris a few weeks ago were generally
miscreants with criminal backgrounds.
But somehow they were converted to deep religious belief that inspired
them to kill innocent people and sacrifice their own lives in the process. The murderous San Bernardino couple is a bit
more troubling. They did not appear to
have the traits of psychopaths or criminals, but were somehow convinced that
the community around them was their enemy and that the murder of their
colleagues was justified. They probably
believed they were doing a noble deed in the cause of their faith. And they will be hailed as heroes and martyrs
by more than a few people.
At first this seems irrational. How can the murder of innocents ever be
justified? But of course every government
rationalizes the murder of innocents in its efforts to implement its military
and political goals. Oh no, you say, we
never purposely target innocent civilians.
Sadly, though, that is not true.
We try to ‘minimize’ collateral damage, but the cold calculus of war
often ‘requires’ the sacrifice of innocents.
In World War II, the allies purposely targeted civilian populations and
killed millions of ‘innocent’ civilians in order to break the will of the
enemy. War has no conscience.
We are always at war; at war against Islamic extremists, at
war against Christian extremists, at war against Hindu extremists, at war
against white supremacists, at war against drug gangs and cartels. One group’s madman is another’s hero. Many of the horrible deeds are done by
psychopaths, but some are done by thoughtful, introspective intellectuals. The human psyche is still a mystery.
We make heroes out of killers, because they further our
cause. Is a Navy seal who kills whomever
he is ordered to kill under any circumstances a hero or a villain? He is both.
We are all capable of becoming killers.
I would kill to protect my family, or perhaps even to avenge it. And so it goes on.
How many potential Islamic extremist killers are out there,
waiting for the opportunity to wreak their mayhem on our society? How many Christian extremists, or
anti-government nutjobs are sitting in their gun-filled basements, preparing for mayhem and destruction? We
just don’t know.
But one thing we do know:
only a tiny, tiny fraction of the Muslims in the U.S. will ever commit a
violent act, and only a tiny, tiny fraction of the Christians in the U.S. will
do the same. Will we allow ourselves to
abandon our principles of fair treatment, multi-culturalism and a free society in a desperate and
futile attempt to feel safe? I hope
not. The world will never be totally
safe. We are infinitely more likely to
die young from an auto accident or an illness than from a terrorist act.
In the end, we must choose love over hate, while doing our best to stay safe and prevent these tragedies from occurring. We are awash in weapons, in hateful speech and uncontrolled emotions. We must learn from the best models available how to preserve our democracy while being vigilant. Compromise is in order - let's allow the NSA to listen more closely so that we can identify potential terrorists of any stripe (and put safeguards in to avoid misuse of that data), but let's also get rid of every military style weapon in the country. Australia and Scotland did it and they have reaped the rewards. Let's learn from others!
