Evil Minds Walk Amongst Us

Let me first preface this article by saying I have absolutely no background in psychology, psychoanalysis, psychiatry, or expertise in terrorism and criminal profiling. This article is simply based on what I learned from various sources over time. Do not expect an expert analysis and clinical accuracy as I am neither an expert or clinician. What I can share with you though is knowledge I have acquired on the subject over time from various articles, documentaries, and other sources. This is a long article as it covers quite a broad subject in some detail.

The psychology of the human mind is actually a fascinating subject. Obviously shows like Criminal Minds being so popular shows I am not alone in the fascination to understanding human psychology including darker manifestations of it. If you do not find such interesting to learn about or for whatever reason find any publicity of such people is not appropriate as you feel it disrespectful or morbid then obviously this article is not for you. I hope though people can put aside their reservations of understanding such people because I honestly feel until we understand there will continue to be more terrorist and acts of terrorism.

Maximilien de Robespierre:

Born- 6 May 1758 Arras, Artois, France

Died- 28 July 1794 (aged 36) Paris, France

Politics- Radical Left Wing Extremist

Summary- Intelligent, Charismatic, Radical, Revolutionary, Good Writer and Orator, Member of The Radical Organization The Jacobin Club, A Advocate For The Cult of The Supreme Being, Went From Being Anti-Death Penalty To An Advocate of Quick And Certain Death For People He Deemed As An Enemy To The People, Supported A Law That Allowed People To Be Killed On Mere Suspicion Of Being Enemies Of The Revolution, Was Instrumental In Beginning and Continuing The Reign Of Terror Which Left Over 40,000 Executed Often By The Infamous Guillotine, Contrary To Popular Belief Many Killed Were of The Middle and Lower Classes, Robespierre Was Arrested and Killed By The Very Same Guillotine He Was Responsible For Sending So Many Others To; The Ultimate Irony.

Famous Quotes:"If virtue be the spring of a popular government in times of peace, the spring of that government during a revolution is virtue combined with terror: virtue, without which terror is destructive; terror, without which virtue is impotent. Terror is only justice prompt, severe and inflexible; it is then an emanation of virtue"

"To punish the oppressors of humanity is clemency; to forgive them is barbarity."
Maximilien Robespierre, 1794 (He Was Killed That Same Year He Uttered Those Words)

When I hear people say things like 'another criminal or terrorist is born every minute' I actually find such a saying very ignorant. Criminals are not born there made, terrorist are not born their made, dictators are not born their made. No one comes into this world with hate, malice, desire to hurt others, extreme views, and other negative traits. Rather they come in this world, contrary to some religious theologians thinking, as a blank slate. Not completely blank as their is genetic, evolutionary, physiological information contained in the brain that allows one to survive and thrive given the proper support and care one needs. However when it comes to higher level reasoning; moral, altruistic, and cooperative thinking; and value judgements of what is right and wrong, besides what is inherited at birth or develops outside of exterior influence, these ideas and concepts must be taught and developed over time.

A child without major inherited developmental problems in a stable and loving home who is taught proper values and ethics to function in society will most likely develop normally and most will grow to become rational, compassionate, adults concerned about values and ethics. A child with or without inherited developmental problems in a chaotic and hateful home who is not taught proper values and ethics to function in society will most likely develop abnormally at least psychologically and many will grow to become irrational, selfish, never fully mature adults psychologically wise who have little concern for values and ethics required to function in society. Of course this is not an on or off concept most do not have a perfect upbringing but neither do most have an absolutely tragic upbringing, most fall somewhere in between.

Osama bin Laden:

Born- March 10, 1957 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Died- May 2, 2011 (aged 54) Abbottabad, Pakistan

Politics- Radical Al-Qaeda Jihadist Extremist

Summary- Intelligent, Charismatic, Radical, Revolutionary, Supported A Radical Interpretation of Jihad and Sharia Law, Believed Even Civilians Including Women and Children Should Be Targets Of Jihad, Supported The Elimination Of Israel, Supported War With The United States and The West, Wanted To Bankrupt The United States By Drawing Them Into War (Jihad), Rejected U.S. Foreign Policy Which He Blamed For The Hardship of Muslim Nations, Was Deeply Opposed To Shia Islam, Extremely Anti-Semitic, Was Offended By Western Culture, Beliefs, Traditions, and What He Saw As Rampant Immorality, Was Morally Opposed To Music, Was Morally Opposed To Much Of Modern Technology, Had A Privileged Childhood and Upbringing, Became More Radicalized When He Joined the Mujahideen Pakistani Forces To Fight The Soviets In Afghanistan, Formed The Extremist Group Known As Al-Qaeda in 1988, Helped Fund Militant Fighters And Had Involvement In The War In Kosovo, First Involved In Terror Around 1992, Banished From Saudi Arabia in 1992, Forced To Leave Sudan in 1996, After Establishing Afghanistan As His New Home In 1996 Declared War Against The United States, Was Connected With The U.S. Embassy Bombings In 1998, Issued Many Fatwas and Announcements To His Followers and Enemies, Directly Involved In The Planning, Financing, and Organizing Terrorist To Carry Out The Attacks On 9/11 In The U.S. Resulting In The Deaths of Nearly 3,000 Americans, He Was Already A Wanted Man By Many Nations Before He Carried Out The 9/11 Attacks, After The U.S. Found Out His Whereabouts It Ordered A Attack On His Compound Killing him May 2, 2011 In Pakistan, Federal Prosecutors In June 2011 Officially Dropped All Charges Against Osama bin Laden Due To Him Being Killed Making Further Money and Time Spent In Prosecution That Had Already Been Going On For 13 Years And Costing Large Amounts Of Money Rather Pointless, Some Conspiracy Theorist Maintain The Real Reason The Charges Were Dropped Was Neither He Nor Al-Qaeda Were Responsible For 9/11.

Famous Quotes- "In today's wars, there are no morals. We believe the worst thieves in the world today and the worst terrorists are the Americans. We do not have to differentiate between military or civilian. As far as we are concerned, they are all targets."

"The pieces of the bodies of infidels were flying like dust particles. If you would have seen it with your own eyes, you would have been very pleased, and your heart would have been filled with joy."

"I'm fighting so I can die a martyr and go to heaven to meet God. Our fight now is against the Americans."

"We say our terror against America is blessed terror in order to put an end to suppression, in order for the United States to stop its support to Israel."

"If inciting people to do that is terrorism, and if killing those who kill our sons is terrorism, then let history be witness that we are terrorists."

"We will continue to fight you as long as we have weapons in our hands."

"There is no dialogue except with weapons."

"And as I was looking at those towers that were destroyed in Lebanon, it occurred to me that we have to punish the transgressor with the same, and that we had to destroy the towers in America, so that they taste what we tasted and they stop killing our women and children."

"I am the one in charge of the 19 brothers I was responsible for entrusting the 19 brothers with the raids."

"We love death. The U.S. loves life. That is the difference between us two."

People are also shaped by many factors growing up. Experiences both positive and negative. The value systems both good and bad that is imparted on them. Their parents, siblings, friends, and other people they come in contact with play a part in influencing them. The books they read, television and movies they watch, internet sites they visit, games they play influence them. Events that happen and that they witness influence them. There own imagination and inner thoughts influence them. Countless mostly exterior things influence the makeup of the individual. The more dramatic the factor, that stayed in their mind, is the factor that will most influence them. There is not one thing or a few things one can look at to determine why someone psychologically developed the way they did. Rather it is many things and occurred over a long period from birth to the present time.

Timothy McVeigh:

Born- April 23, 1968 Lockport, New York, U.S.

Died- June 11, 2001 (aged 33) USP Terre Haute Terre Haute, Indiana, U.S.

Politics- Radical Right Wing Extremist

Summary- Troubled, Intelligent, Introverted, Radical, Extremist, Bullied and Ostracized As A Child In Which Time He Often Imagined Retaliating Against The Bullies, Computer Programer and Hacker, Felt Unable To Connect With The Opposite Sex, Obsessed With Violence and Firearms, Did Poorly In School Though Was Said To Show Promise In Computer Programming, Attended College Briefly But Dropped Out, At Age 20 in 1988 He Graduated From U.S. Army Combat Engineer School, Was Obsessed At This Time With War Tactics and Weapon Technologies, Was Reprimanded By The Army For Racist Attitudes On One Occasion, Served In The First Gulf War, Was The Top Gunner of The Division He Was Assigned To, Awarded The Bronze Star, Believed The Army Taught Him How To Switch Off Emotions, Desired To Join The United States Army Special Forces But Failed The Psychological Profile Test Which Categorized Him As Very Unsuitable For Such A Position, Do To The Disappointment He Left The Army And Was Officially Discharged In 1991, After Leaving The Army His Life Became Very Unstable and He Moved Around A Lot, He Became More Anti-Government During This Time In His Life, He Began To Become Preoccupied With Anti-Tax, Gun, And Anti-Government Propaganda, During This Time He Also Became Increasingly Paranoid Making Odd Statements Like He Was Being Tracked by The Government By A Microchip Implanted In His Buttocks By The Army, He Hated His Job And Life And Became Increasingly Frustrated By His Inability To Find A Girlfriend, He Helped Deal With The Pain By Taking Up Gambling and Racking Up Huge Debts, Then The Government Wrote To Informed Him He Had Been Overpaid By The Government For His Service In The Army By Over $1,000 This Caused Even More Resentment He Felt Against The Government, He Began To Read Radical Right Wing Literature And Talk With Radical Right Wing Sympathizers, He Even Left The NRA Viewing Their Stance As Too Weak On Gun Rights, He Was So Enamored By The Waco Siege He Drove To Waco, Texas Where He Distributed Pro Gun Rights Literature and Bumper Stickers, He Stayed There For A While And Continued His Pro Gun Message and Made Statements About Wanting To Assassinate FBI and ATF Officials, He Was Fascinated By The Radical Hard Right Wing Turner Diaries And Other Such Works, He Was Besides Being Vehemently Anti-Federal Government Was Also Opposed To World Government Bodies Like The United Nations, He Spent A Time Traveling The Country And Spreading His Message At Various Gun Shows, McVeigh Moved To Kingman, Arizona Where He Became Roommates With Michael Fortier And Experimented With Marijuana and Meth, He Left When He Got Tired Of Fortier's Drug Habit, He Moved To Michigan Where Terry Nichols Lived, They Were Both Upset At The Waco Siege and Nichols Began Teaching McVeigh How To Make Explosives, He From His Perspective Saw A Tyrannical Government Killing Citizens And This Greatly Angered Him, He Felt The Government Was Involved In A Coverup In Waco, He Began To Become Extremely Angry And Started Having Angry Outburst, Violent Episodes, and Breaking Things, He Became Very Radical In His Speech Speaking Of War Against The Government And Hinting At Killing Government Officials and Agents, He Became Increasingly Paranoid and Cleaving To Conspiracies, Finally He Decided He Had To Act And Decided To Carry Out An Attack Against The Federal Government After Rejecting Earlier Plans He Had To Assassinate Government Officials As Thinking Such Too Difficult, On April 19, 1995 McVeigh Drove A Truck Filled With Explosives In Front Of The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building In Oklahoma City, OK In Which After Lighting The Fuse And The Bomb Went Off 168 People Were Killed Including 19 Children and 450 People Were Injured, He Had Carried Out The Largest Terrorist Attack By A Single Individual In United States History, He Was Tried, Found Guilty, and Executed On June 11, 2001 At The Age Of 33, He Was The Classic Definition Of A Lone Wolf Domestic Terrorist. His Evil Act Will Cause Pain In Many American's Hearts For Decades To Come. After His Attack America Never Seemed Quite As Safe.

Famous Quotes- "I have great respect for human life. My decision to take human life at the Murrah Building I did not do it for personal gain. I ease my mind in that...I did it for the larger good."

"I understand what they felt in Oklahoma City. I have no sympathy for them."

"If there is a hell, then I'll be in good company with a lot of fighter pilots who also had to bomb innocents to win the war."

"You can't handle the truth. Because the truth is, I blew up the Murrah building and isn't it kind of scary that one man could reap this kind of hell?"

"If there would not have been a Waco, I would have put down roots somewhere and not been so unsettled with the fact that my government was a threat to me. Everything that Waco implies was on the forefront of my thoughts. That sort of guided my path for the next couple of years."

The mind is in a sense constantly being written to and read like a hard drive, memories stored, sometimes memories compressed to make room for new memories. These memories, ideas, feelings, concepts etc... are then recalled as they are accessed by consciousness. All of this combined; the mind and the things that influence it, makeup the psychological makeup of a person. Therefore in order to understand a person you must understand their mind and in order to understand their mind you must understand the things that influence their mind.

Anders Behring Breivik:

Born- 13 February 1979 (currently age 34) Oslo, Norway

Politics- Radical Right Wing Extremist

Summary- Troubled, Intelligent, Extroverted, Narcissistic, Radical, Extremist, Troubled Early Life, Parents Divorced, His Mother Retained Full Custody, Later His Mother Was Said To Be Cruel To Him And Was Said To Be Sexually Inappropriate With Him According To A Report By A Psychologist When Breivik Was Four Years Old, His Mother In The Same Report Was Said To Have Had An Extremely Difficult Childhood and Serious Mental Illness, After Child Protective Services Dropped The Case Breivik Continued To Live With His Mother And Half-Sister, He Regularly Visited His Father And Stepmother In France Until They Too Divorced When He Was 12, Anders Became Angry With Both His Biological Parents Liberal, Norwegian Labour Party Party Views, He Especially Became Upset With His Mother For Her Feminist Views, And His Self Described Radically Liberal and Matriarchal Upbringing That Lacked Discipline That He Viewed As Having Feminized Him, He Was Said To Be A Bright Student And Would Surprisingly Be One To Stand Up For The Bullied Students Perhaps Identifying With Them, He Was Confirmed Into The Lutheran Church In Norway At The Age Of 15, Since His Adolescence He Began To Become Rebellious, He Became A Prolific Graffiti Artist And Identified With The Hip-Hop Movement, By The Age of 16 He Had Become So Rebellious His Father Cut Off All Contact With Him And Has Never Been In Contact With Him Since, At That Same Age He Was Expelled From A Gang And Lost Contact With All His Friends, Breivik Was Obsessed With His Appearance And The Fitness Of His Body, He Even In His Early Twenties Underwent Multiple Cosmetic Procedures To Repair What He Saw As Flaws Of His Facial Features And Was Very Impressed By The Results, He Was Said To Be Unfit For Military Service After An Evaluation, He Begin Playing In The Stock Market And Made Large Sums Of Money Which He Later Lost A Lot Of It, He Finally Went To Work In Customer Service Department For A Company At The Age of 21, He Was Said To Have Been Kind To Most Everyone But Was Said To Have A Huge Ego And Become Very Frustrated With Those Of Middle Eastern And Asian Origins, At Age 23 He Started To Become Very Politically Radical, He Managed To Form His Own Computer Programming Company In Which He Manged To Set Up Several Offshore Bank Accounts To Hide His Money From Taxes, After He Was Found Out Doing This And Other White Collar Improprieties His Business Went Bankrupt, He Then Moved Back In With His Mother To Save Money On Cost Of Living, His Mental Health Greatly Deteriorated After This Point In His Life, The Extroverted Breivik Became Very Introverted, Withdrawn, And Isolated, He Finally Managed To Pull Himself Out Of His Depression and Form Another Company This One A Farming Company Growing Vegetables, He At This Point Had Several Hundreds Of Thousands Of Dollars In The Bank, He Though In His Free Time Became Obsessed With His Far Right-Wing Manifesto And Research, His Political Opinions Included Extreme Islamophobia and Hatred Towards Muslims, His Disdain For Multiculturalism, His Disgust Of Left Wing Politics, His Disdain For Feminism, A Strong Belief In Christianity and Zionism, He Hated The Direction He Saw Europe Moving In A Socialistic and Multicultural Direction, He Decided To Carry Out An Attack To Help Punish Those He Saw As Partly Responsible For This Shift And To Market His Manifesto Hoping To Encourage Other Like Minded Right-Wing Extremist, He Used His Company As Cover To Buy The Things He Would Need To Carry Out A Bomb Attack; Fertilizers and Other Chemicals, He Purchased Firearms, He Played Realistic War Video Games Like "Call Of Duty" To Practice His Shooting Skills And Improve His Reaction Time, He Carried Out Test Detonations At A Remote Location, On 22 July 2011 Breivik Bombed Government Buildings In Oslo, Norway Resulting In 8 Deaths, Unfortunately This Was Only The Beginning Of His Evil Plot, He Then Proceeded To Utoya Island Where A Labour Party Youth Camp Was Being Held And Begin Opening Fire On The Teenagers Killing Them At Point Blank Range As They Tried To Run And Begged For Their Lives Killing 69 In All Most Only Teenagers And The Youngest Victim Only 14 Years Old, He Was Described As A Mad Man Cold And Calculating Not Showing Any Emotion But Perhaps An Evil Cold Hard Angry Stare, He Was At His Trial At First Deemed Insane But Later After Further Evaluation He Was Deemed Not Insane Where He Was Sent To Prison For The Maximum Time Allowed In Norway Law Of 21 Years With The Possibility Of Him Being Confined For The Remainder Of His Life, He Had Become A Cold Blooded Terrorist Who Turned His Weapons On His Own Young Countrymen Committing The Ultimate Betrayal and Treasonous Plot.

Famous Quotes- "To send a political activist to an asylum is more sadistic and evil than killing him."

"People will understand me one day and see that multiculturalism has failed. If I am right, how can what I did be illegal?"

Now it would be intellectually lazy to just assume terrorist had abnormal childhoods and negative influences throughout life that made them become terrorist. This may indeed be true in some cases but in many cases there is much more to it then that or that is not even true of their background at all. Some terrorist like Osama bin Laden even had privileged childhoods and many influences that should have influenced them positively throughout life.

Still though there was a turning point where they began to turn in a negative direction.

• Often this turning point occurs in the persons teens and twenties.
• They may have been troubled children before but now their troubles become more pronounced and severe.
• They tend to have a bit of a psychological break which puts them on a downward spiral. They begin to be preoccupied with radical often political, social, or religious obsessions.
• They tend to feel victimized somehow by society, a portion of society, or outsiders. They may feel their family, friends, and fellow citizens are also being victimized. The aggressor they may see as the government, multinational corporations, environmental polluters and those who they view as harming nature, foreigners, those of other races and ethnicities, religions, sexuality, political preference, social classes, backgrounds etc...
• They tend to look for examples to justify their hatreds and ill will they feel towards this group or entity they see as being the enemy.
• They tend to have exaggerated self esteem and feelings of self importance. Some feel they even have a divine purpose. They may even display narcissistic qualities.
• They tend to become isolated as they have trouble relating to others but some are on the opposite extreme and very charismatic mostly fueled by their overinflated egos.
• They often have failed in life somehow, either in school, their career, in their romantic life, their lack of achievements, etc... They often mask this feeling of inadequacy by blaming others or groups for their hardships and troubles. Due to this feeling of inadequacy they may if they join an extremist organization try that much harder to go above and beyond so others in that movement will feel proud of them.
• It may seem contradictory to have both superiority and inferiority complexes but they tend to exhibit both. Often more outward feelings of being superior mask their deeper feelings of feeling inferior.
• They are often quite intelligent which may surprise many. Not necessarily a higher IQ then the average person but more interested in learning. They can exhibit an extraordinary gift of writing, oration, persuasion. They can spend countless hours in research.
• They often become heavily involved in research into radical philosophies and movements.
• They begin to read extremist and radical literature such as articles and books, watch radical documentaries, and speak with other like minded extremist. In doing this it just reenforces and builds upon there already extreme views. It is a vicious circle of reenforcing irrational and extreme ideas.
• Some will join radical groups and organizations either officially declared or self identified.
• They tend to become hardened over time. They begin accepting ideas they never would have accepted before. They begin doing things they never would have done before.
• The internet for all its good also today tends to play a sinister role in self radicalization. Social networking involved around extreme philosophies are not uncommon as is blogs and digital archives of extremist literature. It is very easy for some people to get caught up in alternate universes online. Where the normal, rational, and ethical standards do not apply. Some of the most radical extremist sites are not even on the public internet but in hidden portals on the internet often encrypted and walled off from the general public. Some of them have even been used to carry out planned terrorist attacks. While the Feds may be able to access many of them and monitor them for chatter new ones spring up making it hard to keep ahead of extremist groups.
• Lone wolfs are often the hardest to track of all because while they often read such extremist literature and watch extremist videos on such sites they do not participate in such sites. Therefore they are radicalized on theses sites but do not leave a paper trail or any ideas of what their plans are.
• One must also keep in mind many ideas for terrorist attacks and explosive devices are found online. Many videos exist and literature teaching one paramilitary tactics and attacks. Things exist online as well offering tips on these extremist sites how to avoid detection, cover ones tracks, plant a device without being spotted, etc.... Basically Terrorism 101 and 202. Essentially a terrorist training manual and university. Most of these sites are through organizations like Al Qaeda in their affiliates, white nationalist type movements, violent extremist libertarian and anarchist fringe groups (Yes I know most libertarians and anarchist are not violent extremist but a few on the fringes are).
• They also often order products online to carry out attacks. Purchasing online allows them more anonymity and would stop questioning from store clerks of why they are making such unusual purchases. Many times they can make these purchases online anonymously without even using their credit card or debit using certain internet services to avoid leaving a paper trail or to not allow investigators who may be currently monitoring them to know what purchases they are making.
• Lone wolfs often times keep very tight social circles sometimes not any social circle whatsoever. They may tell only one or a few of their planned attack or often will tell no one at all. They as the name implies are lone wolfs in wait for their prey. Malevolent individuals with an axe to grind planning in their thoughts how to carry out an attack which they feel will send a message or bring some change about they are seeking. They may plan for many weeks, months, and sometimes years. Again evidence of their obsessive preoccupations.
• Before a terrorist has carried out an attack they have often planned out every detail in their mind and may visualize the attack in their head, at least the most dangerous ones. The more mentally unstable ones may plan it as they go along. Few things are more dangerous then an intelligent individual gone mad but still fully mentally competent with an axe to grind. Osama Bin Laden for example was one such a man.
• One day they have sank so low in their humanity they decide to carry out an attack against innocents because at that point all that matters is the cause and the end results.
• Their cause varies but often is political in nature often masked in social or religious causes to win more popular support.
• They in their warped minds think that killing people is the only way or the best way to see their agenda laid out, get a message out, to warn the "aggressors" they will be punished for their "evil" ways, or to simply kill and maim those they see as the "enemy".
• They begin justifying the unjustifiable.
• They carry out the attack, people suffer and die and property is destroyed, yet obviously the changes they want to see do not happen. That is unless those changes are sheer malice for humanity and society and wanting society to suffer and fear for what they see as injustices society has done against them or the cause they believe in.
• They still may feel some empathy for those killed but they see them as necessary martyrs for a wider cause. That some have to die so that others may live.
• Still for some in their warped mindset there are no innocent victims, we are all guilty we all deserve to die.
• As far as some of the foreign terrorist their evil mindset; we kill their children in war then they feel they reapy us in kind by killing our children in terrorist attacks.
• The mind of a terrorist is a warped, sinister, and very malicious mindset.