So the guy was a legal resident, no apparent ties to radical groups, who legally rented a truck ā and used it to kill over 80 people and injure over 200.
I would not want to be the security officials tasked with trying to prevent another attack of this sort.
True, the guy did have a history of domestic abuse and angry outbursts, but huge numbers of other people do as well, and obviously the vast, vast majority of them do not carry out such attacks.
I just donāt see how, realistically, this could have been prevented by tighter anti-terror security arrangements. What can you do, set up anti-truck barriers any time hundreds of people are gathered? Require a detailed background check for all truck rentals, and keep all privately owned trucks and other heavy vehicles under armed guard 24/7? Canāt be done.
At the same time, itās probably not real politically palatable for leaders to just say āsorry, nothing can be done, weāre just gonna have to live with itā¦but remember, statistically itās very rare.ā
Which means an attack like this plays right into the hands of demagogues like Donald Trump, offering simple, sweeping answers ā since thereās no way to know for sure that a given Muslim might not be capable of an act like this, gotta āban 'em all, let God sort 'em out.ā (Of course the same ālogicā wouldnāt be applied to Christians just because Timothy McVeigh considered himself one.)
The manās name was Mohamed.
Barack Obama will not utter the words āradical Islamic terrorism.ā
The event was therefore Obamaās fault, and we must go to war withā¦someone.
Obviously, the guy was crazy. He was sending up red flags but there is no foreseeing something like this.
This is the world that we live in now, itās riskier than ever before. The worldās wackos connect on the internet and are loaded to the gills with guns and explosives and terrorists rejoice and want to take responsibility for the heinous crimes.
The threat is real and we are all on watch.
Youāre exactly right, Professor.
This is the trade-off for living in a free society. We put ourselves at risk at the hands of those few hellbent on carnage. Itās a risk most of us understand and accept. (Assault weapons being another issue entirely.)
Unfortunately, people like Trump will demagogue this; implying there can be both complete freedom and safety. Or that by taking away freedoms from āothersā, we can be safer. Of course, taking away freedoms from anyone means less freedom for everyone.
Yup. Look at what Trump said yesterday:
āItās going to be a whole different world. Weāre living in a whole different world. There is no respect for law and order. Thereās no respect for anything or anybody. And this has to be dealt with very harshly.ā
The authoritarian appeal, in a nutshell. In a world gone mad, only a āstrongā leader, who will unflinchingly carry out the harshest of measures, can restore āorderā and make us safe again. Ugh.
leftflank, respectfully, if I may ask kindly, the mental health community is actively involved in a campaign, trying to de-stigmatize mental health disorders. Words like crazy, nuts and loon only reinforce this negative stigma. Iām not one of those preachy people, so, Iām just asking as a mental health professional, that you be aware of this. Whether or not you want to conform to this movement or not, is completely up to you. While I understand, with whole-heart, the frustration that actions like this cause, using the word crazy blankets all the good men and women, who face the struggle of their respective mental illnesses everyday, and show true strength in doing so. As liberals, I believe weāre better than that, and we should set the example. So, I hope youāll join us in this good fight.
What weāve got here, folks, is an epidemic of troubled young men ārunning amok.ā Itās all being fed by the media and, in particular, the darker corners of the internet. Iām not sure what the solution is, but waging a āwar on terrorā isnāt going to cut it.
Sure, and thanks for asking so nicely
What, I ask, is it that you recommend?
Crazy seems crazy to me but I never put an ounce of thought into it.
The PC description is probably some sort of āchallengedā Iād imagine.
I just put two and two together and think that a person that could premeditate such a scheme then actually pull it off is literally crazy. He ran over children and people on bikes, aimed at them even. Killed 84 humans and wounded over 2 hundred more.
It is really hard for me to imagine.
Sane enough to plot and perform but not nearly sane enough to know better or at least to stop himself.
I guess itās like calling all colas a Coke or that sort of thing, crazy is just what comes to mind.
And thanks again. I appreciate your effort and understand. I have family with mental issues. Ex-family actually but I never really wrote them off.
With all due respect, Radical Islamic ideology seems to have a constant flow of mentally challenged men and women within their ranks. The ideology attracts them and then trains them to commit these heinous attacks. Those radical Islamic Imams and those in positions of authority recognize and groom those with these ādisabilitiesā in order to carry out these acts of terror and evil.
As more info is revealed about the circumstances surrounding this latest attack we are sure to see a point in time where he was radicalized to hate westerners and western values.
I would contend that radical ideologies and mental illness are at the center of ALL these attacks and although it is getting very little play in the media, he used a gun in the attack as well as the truck in a āgun free zoneā yet the ban on trucks as well as guns seem equally absurd!
With all due respect, President Obama was quick to the soap box on the Orlando massacre framing it as a āgunā thing vs. any sort of āmental illnessā or āradical ideologicalā thingā¦(long before ALL the information surrounding the attack were realized) looking to get out in front of the story and framing it in a way that fit his anti gun agenda at the same time dismissing other relevant facts that fair minded people might form a different opinion on!
Politicians are are gonna politic regardless of whether it is Trump or Obamaā¦just sayin!