The Psychology of a Madman
Today we heard of a shooting at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. that appears to be the work of a single gunman, whom authorities believe to be a man in his late 80s by the name of James Von Brunn. If this is the suspect in custody, he is actually a World War II veteran and vocal member of the Holy Western Empire, which at this point, seems to be a white supremacy group.
It is sad to see people resorting to violence to settle their differences. And we have to be aware that we still need to be vigilant in our efforts to protect ourselves — despite the feeling of some Americans that security measures in this country have become too intrusive. It’s important to support our men and women in uniform, who at both the local and national levels, do a terrific job of keeping our country safe.
What this man did was an act of terrorism — domestic terrorism.
But the big question is: What’s the psychological profile of this shooter? If you look at some of the psychological profiles of past shooters, they are all different in their own way. However, there always seem to be some common themes.
Most of these people are angry at someone or a group of people, and share a psychotic belief that their misfortunes are predicated on the actions of those they hate.
Usually they are loners — they feel rejected by others or by society as a whole.
For some, substance abuse and depression are common themes, but even knowing these common themes, it is almost impossible to differentiate between who will just withdraw from society and who has the potential to snap and hurt innocent people.
I pray for those hurt in this tragedy and hope that we are able to create systems that could perhaps better identify high-risk people and prevent future tragedies from occurring.
Tags: Americans, criminal record, depression, domestic terrorism, Dr. Manny Alvarez, hate, Hitler, Holocaust, Holocaust Museum, Holy Western Empire, homeland security, James Von Brunn, Jews, loners, misfortunes, psychology, psychotic, security guard, shooting, society, terrorism, tragedy, veteran, Violence, Washington D.C., white supremacy, withdrawn, World War II
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We’ve now had 2 dramatic shootings in short succession. Are more to come? So many things are going wrong these days, i.e., against the Founders’ ideals for our country, that those on the fringe are being moved to violence. This can be avoided by getting back on track. But no, it looks like we are continuing down the road of
denying the bondholders their rightful claims as secured creditors, ruining the future of raising capita
allowing late term abortionists to continue to practice with medical license intact;
illegal immigrants being granted in-state tuition in state universities, free medical care, and citizen status for their kids born here while they are here illegally;
usurpation of states rights by the federal government under the doctrine of “interstate commerce;”
“czars being appointed as a shaddow government without Congressional approval as cabinet members;
and the list goes on.
The first two of the “three boxes of freedom” have been badly used, and the third is being picked up by these fringe characters. Wrong, yes.
Understandable, yes.
The three boxes of freedom are:
The Soap Box,
The Ballot Box, and
The Cartridge Box.
We elected a man only because he was black due to the widespread White Guilt written of by Shelby Steele. Had he been white, he wouldn’t have stood a chance of nomination. The only thing he’s not done badly is to be a black president.
It’s going to take the Blue Dog Democrats to pull our bacon out of the fire and get us back on course.
To The Family of; Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns,
Although we (Sunshine State Security Agency Midway, Florida) have never met Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns, we serve the same role in the security industry to protect people, property, to observe and report. Today Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns conducted himself in a professional manner and Sunshine State Security Agency ———- will always remember Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns, this moment and his job. Sunshine State Security Agency is writing to extend our deepest sympathies to his family and friends. God Bless
President
Sunshine State Security Agency
“Understandable?” I don’t think so Ken. Violence like this is never understandable. You make it sound like an extension of “make my day” laws…hardly. These people do have a history, diagnosed or not, of mental and substance abuse problems. Many people suffer from these same illnesses, but they do not pick up a gun and start shooting folks. Some people are purely evil, period. Age doesn’t matter. There are evil nine year olds and evil eighty-nine year olds. Medication and talk therapy can’t help them. Time only adds to their problems. At eighty-nine, this man had nothing to lose in finally acting on the evil thoughts in his head. Blaming society and the government is pointless. People like him have plagued mankind since the dawn of time. They can’t be “fixed”. They are responsible for their own actions, whether or they or we as a society want to admit it. Personally responsiblity, what a concept!
Now is the time to pray for the survivors and the fallen. Pray for our nation. Pray for strength.
Dr. Manny, It seems to me that the word “terrorist” is being misused these days. You contradict yourself in labeling the shooter as both a madman and a terrorist. A madman is a psychopath who commits hate crimes, is he not? And doesn’t a terrorist, who is not a madman, commit his violent acts as directed by an ideology that advocates violent acts?
This is indeed a very sad story. I am no doctor, but I have lived for a long time, and have seen people do inexplicable things. I don’t believe there is a way to foresee such actions. People one knows can suddenly do something so irrational and out of character, that even those close to them are shocked and unable to deal with it.
Certainly, in a country of 300 million people, there is no way to legislate human behavior to the point where people like Mr. von Brunn can be identified ahead of time. One cannot legislate human behavior at all, if you ask me.
All we can do is pray to our respective God of choice that such violence never reaches us personally. If we ever evolve into a higher consciousness, then we may have a chance at averting such situations. But, being human, with human frailties, I am afraid violence will always be with us.
May Officer Johns be at peace in the arms of the Lord, and may God grant his family strength to get through this trying time.
The paranoid right wing Armgeddon predictions that pollutes the airwaves and drives the fringe movement is pushed by FOX more than any other network. Fair and balanced? That motto belongs flashing across the screen in Orwell’s 1984 during group hate.
Other than some surface level headlines, I haven’t seen a lot of profiling information on mentally unstable or religiously brainwashed or radicalized assailants. I’d like to see some or is that too much truth or too touchy for journalists?
Dr. Manny,
Did you comment about the terrorist who killed a soldier last week? What a madman he was?While I abhor this white supremacist nut job who killed the gallant security officer. Obama didn’t mention a word of condemnation for the Muslim terrorist. But he did make a statement about the abortion doctor killer, he made no mention of the terrorist who killed one of our soldiers right here at home. He didn’t have 60,000 deaths under his belt. I suppose if it had been a white male Christian who pulled the trigger Obama would have been right there in front of his teleprompter spewing his rhetoric.
While Ken makes some valid points. Understandable? I think not. What was his intentions? To shoot a bunch of people viewing the Holocaust Museum, how absurd. To what point. To blame the Jews for the world problems? To kill innocent people?
Dr. Manny, I clicked on you article thinking by the title you were going to comment on Kim Jong Il. Now there’s a madman for you. Doc I don’t mean to harp on you. I read a lot of your articles. But I truly think everyone is afraid to comment on the Muslim terrorist right here at home. I believe they are definitely more of a threat to our country than this nut was.
And I agree with Amie, it’s time to pray!
KEN,
You are so sick and evil. Like so many evil, small minded, racist, blood type A
white men, you want to now blame all the worlds problems on Barack Obama.
That racist, skinhead Nazi german, that shot the guard was a child of Hitlers
Germany. The German Nazis were allowed to come to the U.S. after Americans
went to war to make a pretense at saving the jews from them. BLACK SOLDIERS
were right there fighting and were treated as second class citizens upon their
return to thr US while the Nazis were given jobs, benefits and respect.
This man is not alone. This countrys largest ethnic white group are the Germans.
While I don’t think all germans are bad, old men like that racist bastard they should
have killed, still live here and pass hatred down to their desendants. I suppose you
are one of them. I know Sarah Pallin is nothing but trailor park trash and I suppose
she would have been a better choice to you.
Well, you bette know that white americans are hated all over the world including Europe.
If you all don’t stop perpetuating racism, and superiority around the world there will
be no place to go that will be safe for you. You are less than 10% of the the worlds
population. And the worlds population is growing. You better start being nice.
I agree with aime, some people are just evil, even as a child or an old person, evil is evil and people need to take responsiblity for their actions. Instead of medicine or therapy. It does’nt help at all it only gives an evil person a convenient excuse for their behavior! I agree with personal responsibility.
Ken:
everything you cited as a problem is psychological anathema to your founding fathers and my Democracy
Doctor, is the tendency to blame one’s actions on some other causative agent (real or imagined, whether a person or an idea) a sign of mental instability? It seems to me that more and more people are doing this in our society. There is a fear of taking personal responsibility. It is much easier to point a finger and excuse actions that we ourselves know to be wrong by blaming some person, or group, or ideology. That doesn’t make it right, but to some people it seems to be an acceptable excuse. I am in my 60’s now. It seems to me that there has been a steady decline in personal responsibility for decades now. If a child has an accident while riding his bicycle, it is NOT his fault–it is the fault of poor manufacture or design of the bicycle. If a father loses his job, it is due to reverse discrimination. If a political party loses an election, it is due to malfeasance of the winning party. Terrorist vs. Lunatic. Is there really a difference? Both have no real grasp of reality or personal responsibility. Are we as a society, or a nation, required to equally condemn every action. If I criticize one miscreant, but fail to criticize another at the same moment, does that mean that I am condoning the one not mentioned? Please, people, let’s be rational–not paranoid.
I beg to differ. The term “society” is being used here in a manner that is illogical. “Society”, or the machinations of the group mind, so to speak, is a local phenomenon. It’s all about what the dominant opinions are in a given region; and the group experience, be it engineered or circumstantial. You are generalizing here in a manner that makes no sense. Considering there are Neo Nazis being elected into German Government as we speak, these people may well be society if we continue to spread the notion that “society” is some elusive force that nobody can control, and everybody has to blindly follow despite what they think of the current trends of any predominant political trends.
Neo Nazis are obsolete, and this man is a relic of a bygone era— with the new zealot being the environmental extremist. He was obviously embittered by some formative traumas. He killed what he perceived to be his enemy, and by all intents and purposes, this was an accurate interpretation given his belief system and cultural indoctrination. He was a simple victim of location if you consider he’d have had plenty of moral support back in Germany…
More than a little bit scary, eh?
What needs to happen here is an in depth study as to why this man got this way in the first place. What were the specific events that led to this. What are the root causes and what were the stimulus’ as he got older to make him and others, all races included, to get this way. Instead of ignoring the underlying problem I think its time to all sit down and start asking questions why people get this way in the first place and and what can be done about it in the future. As far as domestic terrorism why hasnt the media or the government classify gang members in this country domestic terrorists? A drive by shooting isnt terrorism? Or is that word reserved for certain situations.
Well, this was almost a thoughtful comments section (unusual for Fox News web site) until Shuemaker and Ann showed up. In any event, it is impossible to stop an individual that simply decides he’s going to go out and take someone’s life. It is an unfortunate and, thankfully, a rare manifestation of the dark side of our humanity. However, this incident also displays a part of the bright side: Officer Johns distinguished himself through heroic actions that clearly saved many lives, sacrificing his own in the process. I am proud of, and grateful to, him for his sacrifice. I pass along my condolences to his family and colleagues during their time of mourning. To them, I also pass along my gratitude and admiration for the roles they played in developing and supporting such a heroic man. God bless you all.
M. Scott Peck wrote a great book, ‘People of the Lie’ about the psychology of evil. I don’t think it matters what gender, color, race etc. that you are, there is that potential for evil in everyone. I think the best way to stop it in its tracks is to help people reach their potential whenever possible and try to put as much love out there as you can. Best to all!
Dr. Manny is correct. This was an act of domestic terrorism. Establishing a Psychological Profile for this old geezer is only useful if it aids in identifying others in the future who may “snap” and commit violent acts; however, even if such identification became scientifically possible (which I doubt), the left-wing loons would brand it profiling and no one would use the techniques due to the percieved political incorrectness. Mr. Von Brunn is not crazy or mentally ill, he’s just plain mean. As a mean and despicable person (who purposely developed his state of mind over many years) he simply needs to be dealt with on that basis. He’s personally responsible for his actions and should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
As for Ann and Ken: of course they’re both morons of the same ilk who’ve added nothing to this discussion.
Ann,
Ken is right Barack Hussein Obama does suck and you are a weak minded individual that walked like the other two legged sheep and voted for him. Shame on you for spitting on the constitution by voting for that socialist! You dont throw money (stimulus) at the problem and expect it to work. You dont bow down to other countries presidents. He has no business telling a ceo in the private sector to step down (socialism). He has no business forming a nationalised health care program THATS NOT THE BUSINESS OF THE GOVERNMENT (socialism)! He has no business to tell the private sector how much money the executives can make (socialism). And the list goes on. Yes and I am sad that your such a white hater. You must have been indoctrinated by your local university.
If loners feel rejected by society and others, is it assumed that the loner was not in fact rejected, he simply felt that way, due to his limitations? Or does society, those immediately around him, in fact reject loners, in a death by a thousand cuts kind of way?
What Von Brunn did was despicable. I mourn for Ofcr Johns and his family. We need more people like Ofcr Johns and fewer people like Von Brunn.
But no one is a two-dimensional standee of a villain. Humans are complex creatures and as long as society, any grouping of humans, continues to shrug off, dismiss, cast aside, ignore “loners,” it would serve us better to stop acting surprised when they finally lose their minds. It would serve us better to not let them be loners.
Think of how many times you tried, at whatever age, to call your parent’s attention to something they did or didn’t do that had a bad, negative, counter-productive, hurtful or all the way to criminal impact on you, but they refused to take responsibility.
Now think of the times you felt all alone. Many of us would rather reject even just imagining it, because it feels too alone.
There are many coping methods out there. Coping does not equal healing. It means getting by just enough so the people around you feel they can safely ignore you. In any event, any coping had run out and no healing reached Roeder, Muhammad or Von Brunn in time.
Someone please tell me how Sarah Palin “qualifies” as trailer trash, if there is actually such a thing? And by the way, I have lived in brick homes, wood homes, mobile homes, and had family that lived in a concrete home. I believe we all need to ask ourselves how Jehovah God, the one and only true God, sees us. How do other people see us? Do we have the right to be so judgemental and self-righteous about other people? Look to yourself first if you want to judge someone and call someone a name. I am not going to engage in political issues right now because I really need to concentrate on starting this day with loving thoughts towards others, and the thought of what is happening to this wonderful, Christian nation is so horrible that I just am not up for it yet today. God bless The United States of America, the greatest nation on earth!