This is where the philosopher in me comes out . . .
In the aftermath of a horror like Fort Hood, civilized people ask themselves, “What’s going on?”
I wish to explore a phenomena I have labeled “Self-Induced Jihad Syndrome” (SJS).
I’m sure the shrinks have a better word for it. When I say Jihad, I’m using the term almost for lack of a better word. That is, not Jihad in the original Islamic concept but in a larger, more symbolic meaning. While SJS certainly seems prevalent amongst members of the Muslim community, it is by no means constrained to those of the Muslim religion.
What I’m calling SJS is some kind of inner struggle inspired by religion, politics, philosophy, compounded by flawed logic and fueled by rage & frustration, that manifests itself by extreme & very lethal acts of violence.
Let me make something perfectly clear – the Fort Hood shootings were an act of terrorism, perpetuated by American traitor and Islamic fundamentalist terrorist Nidal Malik Hasan. The fact that he was homegrown in no way differentiates from anything al-Qaeda has pulled off other than the fact that he was a self-starter.
Consider, for example, Hasan’s choice of weaponry:
The FN Five-Seven — manufactured by FN Herstal, is a semi-automatic pistol chambered for a 5.7×28mm rifle cartridge. The weapon is popular in law enforcement SWAT roles, where criminals wearing body armor may be encountered.
A hallmark of Self-Induced Jihad Syndrome is extraordinary and extremely lethal means of inflicting mass casualties over a relatively brief period of time.
Of course the PC Police are going to jump all over me for using the term ‘jihad’ in connection with terrorism – to this I have two things to say: A) I am not now, nor have I ever been, “politically correct”, and B) I am not limiting “Self-Induced Jihad Syndrome” to Muslims.
Oklahoma City bombers Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols
According to my contemplations, Oklahoma City bombers Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were consumed by Self-Induced Jihad Syndrome.
SJS Indicators:
Reading material inspiring dangerous thought patterns:
The Turner Diaries, a novel written in 1978 by William Luther Pierce (former leader of the white Nationalist organization National Alliance) under the pseudonym “Andrew Macdonald” depicts a violent revolution in the United States which leads to the overthrow of the United States federal government, nuclear war, and, ultimately, to the extermination of all Jews and non-whites.
Disturbing, inappropriate comments:
FORT HOOD Texas (AP): Muslim Leader had Troubling Talks with Suspect
Those inflicted by SJS are mostly young males who view themselves as oppressed:
Russell Square in London after the July 2005 bombings
The 7 July 2005 suicide bombing attack on London’s public transport system was carried out by four British Muslim men, Mohammad Sidique Khan (age 30 – of Pakistani descent), Shehzad Tanweer (age 22 – of Pakistani descent), Hasib Hussain (age 18 – of Pakistani descent), and Germaine Lindsay (19) (of Jamaican descent, convert to Islam), all of whom were motivated by Britain’s involvement in the Iraq War.
Those inflicted by SJS view themselves as soldiers, although they belong to no army:
” . . . We are at war and I am a soldier . . .” – Mohammad Sidique Khan in video aired by Al Jazeera
An exception to the angry young male stereotype for SJS inflicted individuals is 88-year old James Wenneker von Brunn, indicted suspect of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum shooting incident:
Von Brunn was charged and indicted in federal court on June 11, 2009, with seven counts of first-degree murder and firearms violations, four which make him eligible for the death penalty.
According to the six-page indictment, von Brunn entered the building and shot security guard Stephen Tyrone Johns, who died from his injuries.
Von Brunn is a white supremacist and Holocaust denier. von Brunn holds a B.S. in Journalism, served as a PT Boat commander during World War II, worked as an advertising executive and film producer for twenty years and was a member of MENSA, the high-IQ society.
Von Brunn is also the author of many antisemitic essays, created an antisemitic website called “The Holy Western Empire”, and is the author of a 1999 self-published book, Kill the Best Gentiles, which praises Adolf Hitler and denies the Holocaust. He is an Obama citizenship conspiracy theorist, is vehemently opposed to the Iraq War, and feels that the September 11 attacks were an “inside job.”
Although operating under flawed, confused logic, those inflicted with Self-Induced Jihad Syndrome are typically persons of higher intelligence.
A feeling of righteousness pervades the thought process of those succumbing to SJS:
John Allen Muhammed, the DC Sniper, suffered Self-Induced Jihad Syndrome
“He made me a monster” - Lee Boyd Malvo
His accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, did not suffer from SJS – he is living proof that young minds are impressionable, and that a teenager can be convinced to do almost anything.
A final word – do not think that because I have identified SJS as some kind of mental condition, that this translates into: “These people are mentally ill and therefore are victims themselves.” Have a little faith – you don’t read STORMBRINGER to be exposed to this kind of nonsense.
Those who succumb to Self-Induced Jihad Syndrome are a special type of criminal – a type of serial killer, and they are also terrorists – and they need to be treated the same way.
Some thoughts on appropriate punishment for these types of criminals? I like the way Charles Barkley said it; “If I was Governor, there wouldn’t be a Death Row, there’d be a Death WEEK.”
“We Search for the Truth
We Seek Justice
The Courts Require It
The Victims Cry Out for It
AND GOD DEMANDS IT!”
- spray painted on the ruins of the Murrah Federal Building, Oklahoma City by Rescue Team 5, 19 April 1995
Originally published at Stormbringer on November 16, 2009.
5 responses so far
1 teabag // Nov 16, 2009 at 2:41 pm
For you this is a well thought out piece, and one that is not making political capital out of tragedy which again is unusual for you.
Congratulations on a good piece of work. I would however reserve judgment on the Fort Hood shootings until ALL the facts are in. I am pretty sure yo are right but it’s better to wait and see.
2 balconesfault // Nov 16, 2009 at 3:37 pm
As I wrote elsewhere:
Now, what I don’t understand is why people would make a big deal of Husan’s religion, and not be concerned about the mysogeny that’s still formented in our culture that can breed a Sodini, the anti-government lunacy that can motivate a Poplawski, the white victim rhetoric that empowers a Von Brunn, or the Christian fanaticism that turns a Roeder into a killer and celebrates the murder he carries out.
This article does a good job of contextualizing that issue. Yes, we have to be looking out for jihadists – but that’s just one facet of a greater danger.
3 advocatusdiaboli // Nov 17, 2009 at 9:04 am
I agree with most of your essay but difference on two points.
First and foremost, I don’t trust the state and the average juror enough in their fact-finding and decision-making to allow them to have the right to take a life. With the introduction of DNA evidence, we are finding out that a shocking number of innocent people have been executed–and some states, such as Texas, have government officials covering it up and in denial. Life imprisonment at hard labor and in solitary at a Devil’s Island? Yes. Not medical care? Yes. No contact with the outside world, no TV, no radio, no music, no visitors, no air conditioning, no heat? Yes. But no state-sponsored killing.
Second, I do think you could have searched a bit and found a better term than Jihad. It implies a religious extremism that I don’t think is necessarily present in all these cases of paranoiac psychotic behavior.
4 sinz54 // Nov 17, 2009 at 9:58 am
balconesfault:
And I explained it to you elsewhere: The worldwide body count being racked up by Islamists dwarfs any other terrorist cause extant at the moment. Islamists are active in dozens of countries–and they have no compunctions against mass slaughter. They are the MAIN threat we face.
There have been far more innocents killed by Islamists–worldwide–than by Christian abortion clinic attackers, or neo-Nazis.
Let’s review some cases you may have forgotten:
The Chechen rebels were Islamists. They committed such atrocities as the Beslan massacre, in which over a hundred young Russian schoolchildren were tortured and shot.
Islamic terrorism in the Philippines, groups like Abu Sayyaf, have killed hundreds of Filipinos and foreign visitors. This includes twenty who were beheaded.
The Libyan Islamic Legionnaires invaded Chad.
The Janjaweed of Darfur are Arab Islamists. You liberals made a cause celebre out of Darfur. But you always carefully avoid mentioning the ideology underpinning the slaughter: It’s Arab Muslims massacring innocent black Africans.
Central Africa has become a battleground in which Islamism, sweeping down from the north, is converting or killing central Africans they encounter. (BTW, they’re not deterred by America. In fact, Islamists find most central Africans already contemptuous of America, which they regard as decadent and immoral.)
9-11, the wanton slaughter of nearly 3,000 Americans, was perpetrated by Islamists.
In war, you always focus on the main threat.
There’s no “balance” needed here. The bloodthirstiness of the Islamists dwarfs just about everybody else.
I’m sick and tired of you liberals making excuses for Islamism, or trying to “contextualize” it by just listing it as one more bunch of terrorists alongside some individual nut who attacked an abortion doctor. You’re doing it in order to avoid facing up to Islamist terror, something you would prefer not to deal with. Sorry, ain’t gonna work.
Islamism is a world WAR, and we have been drawn into that war.
To quote Trotsky: “You may not be interested in war–but war is interested in you.”
And that war is very interested in Obama as well.
5 balconesfault // Nov 17, 2009 at 1:47 pm
Islamism is a world WAR, and we have been drawn into that war.
I will take Islam seriously as a threat to the world when China does.
If we decide to wage war against 1/4 of the worlds population, while the Chinese build alliances, we will paint a rather bleak future for ourselves.
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