Why Do They Kill? Evil and Terrorism

Laughing as They Killed“

“They laughed as they killed,” read some reports from the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. I have been unable to verify these accounts but I tend to believe them.  Why do humans behave like this? Two vital questions beg to be examined:

1. Why are so many young people so easily engaged swept up into terrorism such that they become mass killers?

2. What will it take to eradicate terrorism and create a safer world?

The Psychology of Terrorism

In early 2003 I attended a conference called “The Psychology of Terrorism” at which some forensic psychologists for the FBI spoke.  They had developed psychological profiles of the 9/11 terrorists.  In a group photo of Mohammed Atta in Germany, his friends were smiling; he was somber and sad.  The psychologist drew poignant parallels between the lives of Atta and Timothy McVeigh. Both men were, in psychological terms, clinically depressed.  Neither ever had any real joy in life.  Neither one ever had a loving relationship with a woman. 

Good Boys Grow Up to Be Killers

The 20^th and 21^stcenturies are replete with pictures of horror:  Germans lining up naked Jews and executing them into the Babi Yar ravine; marauding bands of Hutus wielding machetes murdering Tutsis in Rwanda; roaming militias barricading people in their homes and burning them to death in Bosnia.  How many of these actions were carried out by young men raised to be good and decent sons by their mothers and fathers? How many of them laughed as they killed? How many of them were drunk when they killed or drank later to forget what they had done?  Few of these men ever step forward later to explain their actions.  Most disappear or hide in shame, if they are not killed after they commit their horrors. 

Evil is That Which We Cannot Understand

Those of us who have never succumbed  to such forces dismiss people who do with the word evil.  Evil is is inexplicable darkness, nihilism.  These are people who have given up on life and dedicated themselves to killing and violence.  Why?

The actions that world leaders are taking now to stop terrorist attacks, are vital to saving lives. This is critical work.  We must understand however, that this is a short term goal. It is only about stopping terrorists who are already in action.

The real question is how to prevent future terrorism, to eradicate it entirely.  To do that we would need to understand how and why so many young Islamic men, and increasingly women, and drawn to this way of life.  What needs does terrorism fill for them?  We would also need to understand how our actions in stopping terrorist attacks are feeding the supply of future terrorists.

Eric Hoffer Got It Right in 1951

Eric Hoffer, in his classic 1951 book The True Believer, argues that people are drawn to mass movements  because they want to be rid of an unwanted self.  They crave a “new life, a rebirth, a sense of purpose or a holy cause.”  Although Hoffer’s language is dated, he is talking about people who have given up on life, who see no possibility for themselves.  To sacrifice themselves in a movement for jihad may seem glorious.

Evil May Be Understood One Day

Much brilliant work is being done in the field of brain research currently.  Our understanding of depression is growing all the time.  Much more needs to be understood about how human beings, in despair, sever their loving connections to other human beings.  Under what conditions do people turn off their feelings such that they kill with glee?

Bringing Inspiration and Meaning to a Generation of Muslim Youth

If we want to end terrorism we have to find a way to bring inspiration and meaning to the lives of a whole generation of Arab and Muslim youth. This could not be done by the western countries of the world alone. It could only be done in partnership with the Islamic peoples of the world, all of us choosing together the kind of future we want for generations to come.

We have tackled some tough issues in this blog! What do you think? Join us in this discussion. Leave a comment.