“All of us - FBI included - want to make sense of these events with some kind of logic that fits together like a lego set. In my opinion, we are ignoring the main component - mental illness.”
Could be called mental illness...but this presupposes that we possess a system of logic and reasoning and evaluation capable of categorizing or characterizing the topic matter. I view it slightly differently and with respect, there is a certain amount of arrogance in what you suggest. The arrogance is the insistence that our system of logic and and belief and thought (our “machine”) is superior in the sense that we think we can apply it to Islam, turn the crank, and get our “conclusion(s)” that we believe are correct.
The Islamists feed our system into their “machine”, turn the crank, and get out 371 variations of “murderous hatred and certain intent”.
The conundrum is that the result of our calculus is “a better understanding”. The result of their calculus is our heads, yours and mine, severed from our bodies, both lying in a pool of blood.
It is like developing a system for betting on a game and deriving a near perfect system that accurately predicts results on an uncannily accurate basis yet results in gradually losing your entire stake.
We will be right about them, right about them, right about them, but if we do not develop the system that produces their destruction, their results will beat ours.
Good post.
Good points - I am not defending them. Rather, I am suggesting that those who promote hate through the vehicle of Islam often prey on the most vulnerable to carry it out.
Does not change the calculations in the end, but it should factor into our “understanding.” The most dangerous thing to me is not the radicalized Islamist. It’s the one who radicalized him or her in the first place.
When you study the Intifada in Israel you will quickly note that the suicide bombers were most often the biggest losers and most vulnerable. Pretty sad. They even used the mentally retarded to carry out attacks.
It makes me like them even less......