Psychoanalyzing the Jihadis can be a slippery slope

Submitted by Michael S (United States), Jan 19, 2015 at 00:41

Daniel Pipes replies:

The motivations differ.

That is true, Daniel... at least, it seems to be true. If it is true, it seems we are dealing with some of history's most vile psychopaths. The solution to the problem still seems the sme -- we who are not psychopaths have to kill them, before they kill again. If we do not do this because of cowardice, God will hold us more accountable than those insane criminals.

On the other hand, once we take upon ourselves to rid the world of religious psychopaths, we could fall into being ad hoc amateur psychiatrists, going after religious people who seem to have their religion upside-down. That can be a slippery slope. It might be better, just to treat the symptoms regardless of the cause. Those symptoms seem to put the Jihadis in the same group as Jeffrey Dahmer, Charles Manson and Al Capone.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".