Jihadi John has been named as Mohammed Emwazi, a computer programmer from West London.

What sort of internal journey does someone go on to get where he is today? A part of me hopes he’s got a diagnosable mental illness, him ‘just being like that’ seems like a far worse alternative.

I do hope that he’s captured alive and gets to spend a very long time in prison/a mental institution.

A quick death would probably be the ‘martyrdom’ that a lot of these people wish for.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/jihadi-john-the-islamic-state-killer-behind-the-mask-is-a-young-londoner/2015/02/25/d6dbab16-bc43-11e4-bdfa-b8e8f594e6ee_story.html?tid=sm_tw

I doubt he’s anything more than a nasty bit of work with the motivation to go where he can do his thing. He needs to lose the mask if he wants to be another Che Guevara though.

Indeed. From what’s been published he’s a UK citizen who has had a relatively comfortable upbringing, the benefits of our educational system and a reasonably bright professional future ahead of him.

@wasawas I think the vast majority of those fighting with ISIS have no medical / mental condition at all.

I think the vast majority of those fighting with ISIS have no medical / mental condition at all

I fear you’re right.

People have a natural capacity for doing extreme harm to each other. Evolution. Temporal lobes too small, adrenal glands too big.

Intelligence is no guarantee of empathetic behaviour.

Don’t worry, humanity will cease to exist as a viable life-form soon enough…

Any report on Jihadi Paul, George and Ringo ?

No medical or mental condition?

I disagree; I think the violence attracts people with psychopathic tendencies. No well-balanced person would want to be part of that.

I disagree; I think the violence attracts people with psychopathic tendencies.

Yeah, no doubt, it depends where you draw the line between nasty and mad.

Probably spend to much time in his mums house playing call of duty,lots of the western isis people just seem like lost losers,isis is just hovering up the dregs,they’ll all turn on themselves at some point.

If you are bought up to believe another group of people are inferior then this happens, doesn’t take people with psychotic tendencies, just people who believe that they are right.
Just look at the 7/7 bombers (and the ones who attempted a repeat after), would they be classed as dangerous murderers/psychopaths prior to the events, most probably not?

Any report on Jihadi Paul, George and Ringo ?

😆

they’ll all turn on themselves at some point.

I bloody hope so.

Majority of human being are vile as very few are born into this world for the good. 🙄

I think the vast majority of those fighting with ISIS have no medical / mental condition at all.

Mass delusion, the same as any religious person. Just taken to an extreme degree.

If you are bought up to believe another group of people are inferior then this happens

Yes, but guns, beheadings and slave girls for $10 are the stuff of teen fantasy.

From a Kuwaiti well to do family eh?

Where have I heard that before…

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vu8CCJTJCQk[/video]

Yes, but guns, beheadings and slave girls for $10 are the stuff of teen fantasy

Are they?? Jeebus I had a sheltered childhood.

We are all somewhere on the spectrum between well-balanced and unbalanced, depending on our upbringing and genetics. Some of us who hover around the half way point are unlucky enough to be labelled by society. Others who harbour religious delusions are unbalanced enough to be able to justify murder in the name of our imaginary best friend.

He’ll be a full blooded psychopath. Sawing peoples heads off on camera takes a “special” type of person.

Sawing peoples heads off on camera takes a “special” type of person.

For millennia killings as brutal and worse were part of every legal system I can think of. Do you think everyone in the past was a psychopath?

If beheading ISIS people was legal there would be no end of willing participants in our flat roofed pubs.

Yes, but guns, beheadings and slave girls for $10 are the stuff of teen fantasy.

this

The police have been to the family home in Maida Vale, I imagine to advise them to stay elsewhere and/or to offer them protection.

Telegragph reported back in 2011 that Westminster College Student Union was being infiltrated by extremists

@jj Paddington Rec part of Madida Vale isn’t a well to do neighbourhood. It is certainly the type that an immigrant family would move to try and create a new life for themselves having arrived from Kuwait for example.

Surely it’s just an urge to fight for a cause? The barbarity of his actions are hard to swallow, but would suggest that blanket bombing and western military’s acceptance of collateral damage is equally hard to justify.
Heroism has always been a celebrated character trait, and one that governments capitalise on to feed the military with willing bodies; fighting for what they believe/told is ‘right’
I think that we (the west)have to take partial responsibility for propelling this notion and fueling what is occurring in the Middle East at the moment.

lemonysam

For millennia killings as brutal and worse were part of every legal system I can think of. Do you think everyone in the past was a psychopath?

And they were carried out by executioners. So, no. I don’t think everyone in the past was a psychopath. I can’t quite figure out how you extrapolate from state executions that everybody in “the past” decapitated people.

I can’t quite figure out how you extrapolate from state executions that everybody in “the past” decapitated people.

Back when I were a lad you’d be decapitated twice before breakfast and be grateful fer it.

blanket bombing and western military’s acceptance of collateral damage is equally hard to justify.

We haven’t seen blanket bombing since Vietnam. In fact the use of targeted weaponry has meant armies/terrorists now chose to fight and shelter in civilian areas. There is far less collateral damage and civilian casualties today than there was for example in WW2, 15,000 French civilians died as a result of misguided Allied bombing as part of the Normandy landings. 15 million Russian civilians died in WW2

What sort of internal journey does someone go on to get where he is today?

I imagine it started with him being annoyed by pop-up ads on internet forums.

So, no. I don’t think everyone in the past was a psychopath. I can’t quite figure out how you extrapolate from state executions that everybody in “the past”

Aside from the fact that it’s not really true to say that – executions were carried out by all sorts of people and were even treated as community events at times. Even where carried out by executions many – possibly most – people revelled in it, treated it as entertainment and took palpable joy in the murder of those they disagreed with.

Heroism has always been a celebrated character trait

Not sure how you would imagine that cutting the throat of another human being who is trussed up like a Christmas turkey whist wearing a mask to hide your identity is in anyway an act of heroism ?

DrJ 🙂

Is cutting someone’s head off that different from other executions, it certainly appalls us in the West and is used a recruiting tool but overall I’m not so sure it is that different ?

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9r78Jq8bHss[/video]

Any report on Jihadi Paul, George and Ringo ?

I think they’re back In The U.S.S.R.

jambalaya

DrJ

Is cutting someone’s head off that different from other executions, it certainly appalls us in the West and is used a recruiting tool but overall I’m not so sure it is that different ?

As a method of killing, no. Not really. The end result is the same. But this is murder for the purpose of propaganda, and the method is chosen for maximum shock value.

lemonysam

Aside from the fact that it’s not really true to say that – executions were carried out by all sorts of people and were even treated as community events at times. Even where carried out by executions many – possibly most – people revelled in it, treated it as entertainment and took palpable joy in the murder of those they disagreed with.

Reveling in the spectacle is one thing, actually doing it is entirely different. Yes, public executions were widely attended but they were contrived to be with entertainment laid on in addition to the execution. If someone was to be made an example of, the more people who saw it, the better. I still don’t subscribe to the idea that 300 years ago, everyone was running around lopping off heads.

This is a pretty good article about Isis that covers motivation for it’s members.

http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2015/02/what-isis-really-wants/384980/

blanket bombing and western military’s acceptance of collateral damage is equally hard to justify.

“We haven’t seen blanket bombing since Vietnam. In fact the use of targeted weaponry has meant armies/terrorists now chose to fight and shelter in civilian areas. There is far less collateral damage and civilian casualties today than there was for example in WW2, 15,000 French civilians died as a result of misguided Allied bombing as part of the Normandy landings. 15 million Russian civilians died in WW2”

I used the term blanket bombing to illustrate the inevitability of civilian casualties being caught up in military targeting.
Is even one loss of innocent life ever justifiable?

Heroism has always been a celebrated character trait

“Not sure how you would imagine that cutting the throat of another human being who is trussed up like a Christmas turkey whist wearing a mask to hide your identity is in anyway an act of heroism ?”

I don’t personally find that heroic. just as many friends that have served with the military don’t find their experience of ending another’s life heroic. My opinion though is that both ‘terrorist’ and soldier find themselves at that point in their lives for not dissimilar reasons.

I am pretty much convinced by the article below describing ISIL as an end of days cult. Albeit bigger than Waco… Thing is, once you start down the path that had you looking for the signs of the apocalypse things can get detached from reality pretty quickly. And there’s a whole load of justifications if you want them – he probably started with lots of lesser evils that made each step easier / more compelling and probably believes he’s some kind of chosen one by now.

article

People have a natural capacity for doing extreme harm to each other.

I don’t know if that was suppose to be a serious point but there have been plenty of studies which have concluded that it is not “natural” for a human being to kill another human being. It is very rare for an advanced mammal to kill a member of their own species. Violence and harm towards another member of their species is far more common but death if it occurs is usually accidental.

Knowing what ISIS expects their followers to do suggests that those who are attracted to them have unnatural/abnormal physiological problems.

So this so called Human Rights organisation CAGE is trying to blame the UK security services for radicalizing this terrorist by not letting him travel abroad !

link

I don’t know if that was suppose to be a serious point

I think there is a lot of truth in the assertion, people can become extremely violent especially if they feel their life/livelihood is threatened or they wish to extract revenge for something they feel has been done to them directly or indirectly. There are 10,000’s of people who have gone to fight with ISIS, I stand by my comment that only a tiny minority have a mental issues as such. They are deeply misguided but they are not mentally ill.

Clover, the linked article is not avaialbe. Would like to read it.

Clover, your linked article is not available. Would like to read it.

In every discussion I think you could easily substitute “Nazi Party” for “ISIS”.