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<div class="">December 17, 2012</div>
<h1>What Drives Suicidal Mass Killers</h1>
<h6 class="">By
<span><span>ADAM LANKFORD</span></span></h6>
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<p>
Tuscaloosa, Ala. </p>
<p>
WHAT do <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/k/mir_amal_kansi/index.html">Mir Aimal Kansi</a>, <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/k/ali_abu_kamal/index.html">Ali Abu Kamal</a>, Hesham Mohamed Hadayet and <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/h/nidal_malik_hasan/index.html">Nidal Malik Hasan</a> have in common with Eric Harris, Dylan Klebold, <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/cho_seunghui/index.html">Seung-Hui Cho</a> and <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/s/school_shootings/index.html">Adam Lanza</a>? The first four claimed to be fighting the American government’s unholy oppression of Muslims; they struck the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1993/01/26/us/gunman-kills-2-near-cia-entrance.html">C.I.A. headquarters</a>, the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/24/nyregion/shots-send-empire-state-crowd-fleeing.html">Empire State Building</a>, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/05/us/los-angeles-airport-gunman-slays-2-and-is-killed-by-guard.html">Los Angeles International Airport</a> and the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/06/us/06forthood.html">Army base at Fort Hood, Tex.</a>, respectively. The last four seemed to be driven by personal motives; they shot up a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/21/us/terror-littleton-overview-2-students-colorado-school-said-gun-down-many-23-kill.html?ref=columbinehighschool">high school</a>, a <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/v/virginia_polytechnic_institute_and_state_university/index.html">university</a> and an <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/15/nyregion/shooting-reported-at-connecticut-elementary-school.html">elementary school</a>. </p>
<p>
For years, the conventional wisdom has been that suicide terrorists are
rational political actors, while suicidal rampage shooters are mentally
disturbed loners. But the two groups have far more in common than has
been recognized. </p>
<p>
Over the last three years, I have examined interviews, case studies,
suicide notes, martyrdom videos and witness statements and found that
suicide terrorists are indeed suicidal in the clinical sense — which
contradicts what many psychologists and political scientists have long
asserted. Although suicide terrorists may share the same beliefs as the
organizations whose propaganda they spout, they are primarily motivated
by the desire to kill and be killed — just like most rampage shooters.
</p>
<p>
In fact, we should think of many rampage shooters as nonideological
suicide terrorists. In some cases, they claim to be fighting for a cause
— neo-Nazism, eugenics, masculine supremacy or an antigovernment
revolution — but, as with suicide terrorists, their actions usually stem
from something much deeper and more personal. </p>
<p>
There appears to be a triad of factors that sets these killers apart.
The first is that they are generally struggling with mental health
problems that have produced their desire to die. The specific
psychiatric diagnoses vary widely, and include everything from clinical
depression and post-traumatic stress disorder to schizophrenia and
others forms of psychosis. The suicide rate was 12.4 per 100,000 people
in the United States in 2010 (the highest in 15 years). Suicide is
relatively rare, but it is rarer still in most Muslim countries. This is
a very limited pool from which most suicide terrorists and rampage
shooters come. </p>
<p>
The second factor is a deep sense of victimization and belief that the
killer’s life has been ruined by someone else, who has bullied,
oppressed or persecuted him. Not surprisingly, the presence of mental
illness can inflame these beliefs, leading perpetrators to have
irrational and exaggerated perceptions of their own victimization. It
makes little difference whether the perceived victimizer is an enemy
government (in the case of suicide terrorists) or their boss,
co-workers, fellow students or family members (in the case of rampage
shooters). </p>
<p>
The key is that the aggrieved individual feels that he has been terribly
mistreated and that violent vengeance is justified. In many cases, the
target for revenge becomes broader and more symbolic than a single
person, so that an entire type or category of people is deemed
responsible for the attacker’s pain and suffering. Then, the urge to
commit suicide becomes a desire for murder-suicide, which is even rarer;
a recent meta-analysis of 16 studies suggests that only two to three of
every one million Americans commit murder-suicide each year. </p>
<p>
The third factor is the desire to acquire fame and glory through
killing. More than 70 percent of murder-suicides are between spouses or
romantic or sexual partners, and these crimes usually take place at
home. Attackers who commit murder-suicide in public are far more brazen
and unusual. Most suicide terrorists believe they will be honored and
celebrated as “martyrs” after their deaths and, sure enough, terrorist
organizations produce martyrdom videos and memorabilia so that other
desperate souls will volunteer to blow themselves up. </p>
<p>
Similarly, rampage shooters have often been captivated by the idea that
they will become posthumously famous. “Isn’t it fun to get the respect
that we’re going to deserve?” the Columbine shooter Eric Harris
remarked. He had fantasized with his fellow attacker, Dylan Klebold,
that the filmmakers Steven Spielberg and Quentin Tarantino would fight
over the rights to their life story. </p>
<p>
Although we can only speculate, Adam Lanza’s decision to target
elementary school children in Newtown, Conn., may have been a calculated
attempt to get as much attention as possible. Despite misconceptions to
the contrary, many mentally ill people are quite capable of staging
their attacks for symbolic effect. In 2002, the Washington-area snipers <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/m/john_allen_muhammad/index.html">John Allen Muhammad</a> and <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/john_lee_malvo/index.html">Lee Boyd Malvo</a>
shot a middle schooler, then taunted the police with a note that said
“Your children are not safe anywhere at any time.” Mr. Lanza may have
realized that the only thing that generates more attention than killing
random innocent adults is killing random innocent children. </p>
<p>
It is tempting to look back at recent history and wonder what’s wrong
with America — our culture and our policies. But underneath the pain,
the rage and the desire to die, rampage shooters like Mr. Lanza are
remarkably similar to aberrant mass killers — including suicide
terrorists — in other countries. The difference rests in how they are
shaped by cultural forces and which destructive behaviors they seek to
copy. The United States has had more than its share of rampage
shootings, but only a few suicide attacks. Other countries are regularly
plagued by suicidal explosions, but rarely experience a school
shooting. </p>
<p>
I can’t help but wonder about Eric Harris, Dylan Klebold, Seung-Hui Cho
and Adam Lanza. If they had been born in Gaza or the West Bank, shaped
by terrorist organizations’ hateful propaganda, would they have strapped
bombs around their waists and blown themselves up? I’m afraid the
answer is yes. </p>
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<p> <a href="http://adamlankford.com/bio.htm">Adam Lankford</a>, an <a href="http://cj.ua.edu/faculty_and_staff/faculty/lankford/index.php">assistant professor</a> of criminal justice at the University of Alabama, is the <a href="http://adamlankford.com/mythofmartyrdom.htm">author</a>
of the forthcoming book “The Myth of Martyrdom: What Really Drives
Suicide Bombers, Rampage Shooters, and Other Self-Destructive Killers.” </p> </div>
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<br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)<br><a href="mailto:art.deco.studios@gmail.com" target="_blank">art.deco.studios@gmail.com</a><br><br><img src="http://users.moscow.com/waf/WP%20Fox%2001.jpg"><br></div>