[DaleMN]

Nothing to see here....move along. The intent is obvious.

[PennBF]

The first sign of a "Sociopath" is that they believe they are "Victims". Does not mean all who think they are victims are in fact Sociopaths but it is a first sign.
Read "The Sociopath Next Door" as a great reference and intelligent discussion on the subject. All of these "Terrorist" believe in some way they are victims and can kill with no thought of the people, including children that they are killing. That is a pretty indication they are free of conscience. Unfortunately there is no cure for a "Sociopath" and therefore they will continue to kill at random.

[Taltarzac725]

Originally Posted by PennBF

The first sign of a "Sociopath" is that they believe they are "Victims". Does not mean all who think they are victims are in fact Sociopaths but it is a first sign.
Read "The Sociopath Next Door" as a great reference and intelligent discussion on the subject. All of these "Terrorist" believe in some way they are victims and can kill with no thought of the people, including children that they are killing. That is a pretty indication they are free of conscience. Unfortunately there is no cure for a "Sociopath" and therefore they will continue to kill at random.

I do not buy that approach. Look at what this psychiatrist has to say about Jodi Arias. Jodi Arias -- victim or sociopath? | Fox News

The book The Sociopath Next Door looks like its approach is quite more complicated than if someone sees herself as a victim or not. http://www.booksquawk.com/2011/07/so...next-door.html

And that brings me to the heart of this book's thrilling challenge. As with the consideration of any mental disorder, language is all. While I can agree with Stout's assertion that sociopaths can't form attachments and can only treat other people as objects or pawns, I can't accept the stretch from that to her constant refrain that sociopaths are playing games with these pawns. That they seek only to win. I don't credit sociopaths conceive like that. She should have maybe stuck at the point of stating that sociopaths are all about domination and control, but not taken an imaginative linguistic leap to being game players. The inability to see other human beings as human, means they have no way of perceiving agency and causation like we do. But just when the book threatens to lose your confidence, she comes up with a brilliantly simple expression of how sociopaths can be so charming and convincing, by explaining they can ape conversational emotions; That is they can talk about love and parrot the buzzwords, without actually feeling them.

[Taltarzac725]

Take a look at the very good movie Captain Phillips. You can get a good idea of what motivates these Somali pirates. Only one of them-- (actor Barkhad Abdirahman playing Bilal) looks like a sociopath, i.e. someone who seems to have no empathy for other people. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Phillips_(film)

[rubicon]

Originally Posted by PennBF

The first sign of a "Sociopath" is that they believe they are "Victims". Does not mean all who think they are victims are in fact Sociopaths but it is a first sign.
Read "The Sociopath Next Door" as a great reference and intelligent discussion on the subject. All of these "Terrorist" believe in some way they are victims and can kill with no thought of the people, including children that they are killing. That is a pretty indication they are free of conscience. Unfortunately there is no cure for a "Sociopath" and therefore they will continue to kill at random.

PennBF: Here we are now focused on the intent (constant to kill) and reason ( variable) issue and the methods( variable)( reason) terrorist criminal
jealous husband greedy partner (method) gun, knife, bomb, hands, car poison.

Now we can logically work out the puzzle and develop an actual workable plan

[2BNTV]

People do kill people and most murders happen by people's immediate family members. It sometimes is all about emotions, and losing control of them.

However, this a thinly veiled attempt, at the gun control issue. Whether or not, people should have a gun.

We can beat this to death, but if the NRA wins, after what happened at Newtown, I wonder if anything effective, will ever be done?

We can all condone one's actions in the "what if game"?

Even Al Capone on his way to jail for tax evasion said, "I have only given the people what they wanted, women and booze". Obliviously, he forgot he killed about 30 people and if he could rationalize his actions, anyone can!!!!

[rubicon]

Originally Posted by 2BNTV

People do kill people and most murders happen by people's immediate family members. It sometimes is all about emotions, and losing control of them.

However, this a thinly veiled attempt, at the gun control issue. Whether or not, people should have a gun.

We can beat this to death, but if the NRA wins, after what happened at Newtown, I wonder if anything effective, will ever be done?

We can all condone one's actions in the "what if game"?

Even Al Capone on his way to jail for tax evasion said, "I have only given the people what they wanted, women and booze". Obliviously, he forgot he killed about 30 people and if he could rationalize his actions, anyone can!!!!

Hi 2BNTV: I stated at least twice that my reason for this thread was not "a veiled attempt at the gun control issue" but to focus on what in my view is at the heart of the matter reason(s) I have no dog in this fight. I don't own a gun and have no desire at buying one; albeit at times I wonder if I should.
and yet people keep returning to the gun issue because it is easy and simple but unfortunately never addresses the fundamental cause. Politicians love it because it gets them off the hook, and they can generate the populist spin which side tracks people

Your parting remarks regarding Capone killing many people is instructive as to reasons, he was a criminal, and method as he used many gun knife ,bat, concrete etc and support my position. I need to leave for my work out shortly

Personal Best Regards

[JourneyOfLife]

This is one of those complex situations where there are many interconnected issues and problems.

Some people seem to be able to render it down to a one dimensional POV that is the predominant issue in their mind.

I am more conflicted about it.

The one thing that always stuck in my mind was: Who is making money from all of the weapons in the US?

They make money selling weapons, accessories, and ammo to all sides. They make money selling the guns and ammo to the people that kill people or victimize them through crime. They make money selling guns and ammo to people that think they need to protect themselves, etc.

Pretty soon there are more guns than people.

Think about how that business model sustains itself.

We've been had!

[PennBF]

I think it is unfortunate that in a number of cases Sociopaths or Borderline Personalities are excused as being something less than what they are. Based on some experts it is not uncommon to have this as an assumptions. In addition to the "Sociopath Next Door" another good book on the subject is "Without Conscience". The Sociopath Next Door was written by a Harvard Psychiatrist who pretty much spent her life studying the subect. Both agree that not all sociopaths kill. They do agree that about 1 in 25 are Sociopaths. I am a loss to understand how someone kills innocent people (e.g. 9/11, Boston, etc) and have a conscience. To allow them to "skate" and be identified as some form of normal resistence is to misunderstand the sickness of these people.

[Taltarzac725]

Originally Posted by PennBF

I think it is unfortunate that in a number of cases Sociopaths or Borderline Personalities are excused as being something less than what they are. Based on some experts it is not uncommon to have this as an assumptions. In addition to the "Sociopath Next Door" another good book on the subject is "Without Conscience". The Sociopath Next Door was written by a Harvard Psychiatrist who pretty much spent her life studying the subect. Both agree that not all sociopaths kill. They do agree that about 1 in 25 are Sociopaths. I am a loss to understand how someone kills innocent people (e.g. 9/11, Boston, etc) and have a conscience. To allow them to "skate" and be identified as some form of normal resistence is to misunderstand the sickness of these people.

I see mass murderers like those involved in the 9/11 and the Boston bombing as motivated mainly by anger, religious fervor, and often TOO MUCH empathy for a group of people these mass murderers identify with in some form. It also often involves dehumanizing whomever these terrorists are targeting. These seem like a far different set of motivators than those of a sociopath. Profile of the Sociopath

The dehumanization of the terrorists' targets is the big problem. This is usually part of institutionalized dehumanization of a group of people. I had a close Iraqi friend Mahmood while I was getting a MA in Librarianship and Information Management at the University of Denver. He was from Mosul and had a brother whom I believe was some kind of higher up in the army of Saddam Hussein. My friend was often making very crude jokes about Kurds which bothered me quite a bit. This was in 1983-1984 as the Iran-Iraq war waged http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Iraq_War and saw horrible atrocities on both sides. I wrote my friend letters for a short time but his anger took over his thinking as he seemed to be buying into an institutional hatred of the West fueled by the war. He was a good man when I knew him but I never found out what happened to him after 1986 or so. The University of Mosul Library also fared quite badly during the wars in Iraq with staff hiding books in their homes.