The Sociopathic Religious Leader and Terrorism

The Sociopath Religious Leader and Terrorism Naturally, when one is given the task to explore terrorism, the first thing one would think to do is look up the definition to establish a deeper understanding. Merriam- Webster defines terrorism as: “the use of violent acts to frighten the people in an area as a way of trying to achieve a political goal”. This definition can lead one to believe that the word terrorism is nothing more than a subjective, blanketed term that is used loosely to label any act charged with hatred towards the government.
This can also lead one to believe that “Terrorism” is not a word that can be easily fined but definitely has to deal with a basis for political hatred. Currently, scholars can not agree upon a more precise definition for the word. It’s meaning varies from country to country, and even person to person. The media leads the general population to believe that terrorism is any violent act committed by a person with radical political beliefs that is pointed towards high government officials but actually takes the lives of innocent civilians.
Of course, the events that happened on September 1 lath, 2001 echo this sentiment and the media tells every American that this is the definition of terrorism. But does an act of terrorism always have to be committed by a radical thinker from the middle east with a deep-seeded hate for America? Does it always have to be politically charged? Absolutely not. Politically aimed terrorism is Just one end of the spectrum; however, both Merriam-Webster and the Mass Media would disagree. Both lead one to believe that all terrorism is politically driven. Many scholars also believe there is another fuel behind terrorist attacks.

On the other end of the spectrum lies Religion. This world contains religious fanatics that are Just as passionate about their beliefs who are also capable of omitting the same heinous crimes against humanity. To take this one step further: imagine what could happen when you have a passionate person that obsesses and idealizes their beliefs to the point of a mental disability. Many scholars agree upon the fact that there is a level of psychopaths and/or sociopath behavior that is present in the minds of most terrorists. So what happens when you mix a psychopathic brain with extreme religious views?
As Americans, we tend to forget that prior to September 1 lath, 2001, the most devastating act of terrorism in the United States was the Oklahoma City Bombings. If one delves past the surface of Timothy McVeigh, they may be surprised at what they find. Timothy McVeigh was more than a man that was angry with the government. Studies done on Timothy McVeigh reveal inherit psychological problems. Studies “… Suggest that there may be consistent neurological deficits of the prenatal lobes, anterior Cingular gurus and left temporal region behind murderously sociopath behavior. Timothy McVeigh was the textbook definition of a sociopath and while he may have denounced his religious views once he was caught, a closer view into his case study proves otherwise. Once you begin to look into his core beliefs you’ll discover that he was heavily influenced and involved with the Christian Identity Movement. This “… Theocratic form of faith that developed in the late sass and movement was a spread like wildfire through rural communities throughout the U. S. In the sass. ” Their extreme views are what motivated Timothy McVeigh to put action behind his strong beliefs.
The chief guidebook of the Christian Identity Movement was a piece of fiction entitled “The Turner Diaries” written by William Pierce. In this book, Pierce counts a certain faith-fueled appraisal that happened to be the exact framework for McVeigh bombing. It is as if Timothy McVeigh used this extreme piece of fiction as a step-by-step instructional on how to carry out the bombing. “In the book, the revolutionaries blow up a federal building as part of their intergovernmental war. In real life, the bombing of Oklahoma City’s Alfred P.
Murray Building was almost a carbon copy of the incident in Pierce’s book. ” McVeigh even had photocopies from pages on the book on him at the time of his arrest. This event was Just as much faith driven as it was politically charged. As tragic as the Oklahoma City Bombing was, Timothy McVeigh only had one other believer in his cause, his co-conspirator. Over the past couple of decades in America, there have been devout sociopaths that have convinced hundreds of believers to do some peculiar and gruesome things.
During the bizarre Heaven’s Gate tragedy in 1997, Marshall Applicable convinced 38 people to take their own lives in order to get to Heaven. He convinced them all to eat applesauce laced with a Phenobarbital that contained both arsenic and cyanide. How did he do this? With his smooth talk, convincing tone and personable demeanor. Even ore inexplicable is how another Bible-toting holy-roller by the name of Jim Jones convinced more than 900 people to kill themselves by drinking Cool-Aid. Both Marshall Applicable and Jim Jones had a way with words that could convince people to do absolutely anything.
Fortunately for the general public of America, these two monsters didn’t have their followers take innocent lives before taking their own. Charles Manson on the other hand was an advocate of getting his followers to commit murder. Charles Manson and his story are both interesting because here is a man with an extremely devoted religious following. His followers committed several orders in cold blood to include shootings and gruesome, multiple stabbings in the name of their leader. Charles Manson proclaimed himself to be both God and the Son of Man and his followers hung onto his every word.
It is important to note that Charles Manson committed no killings with his own hands. Everyone that died under his guidance was killed by one of his lowly but loyal followers. Imagine a religious leader as influential as Marshall Applicable, Jim Jones or Charles Manson with thousands of followers that felt the need to inflict harm upon the general public. Shook Sahara was an extreme religious fanatic in Japan that had a rather extensive following. He was the sole creator of the religious affiliation Mum Sonority.
His beliefs were originally rooted in Christianity and the Bible but took a drastic turn for the worse once his sociopath mind started to further develop his own personal ideologies and started applying them to his made-up religion. Sahara believed that he was the Son of God and began to preach this to the masses. This man had a way with words and he was able to accumulate a cult-like following of nearly 10,000 people residing in Japan and 30,000 more in Russia. Sharma’s cult was truly unique because of its followers: “… At seems most remarkable about this apocalyptic cult is that its leading members include Japan’s best and brightest: scientists, computer experts, lawyers and other highly trained professionals. But according to cult expert Margaret Singer of the University of California at Berkeley, these demographics are not unusual. “Cults actively weed out the stupid and the psychiatric cases and look for people who are lonely, sad, between Jobs or Jilted,” she says. ” This is more than likely the main reason behind the widespread following and the high volume of people that read into all of Sharma’s beliefs.
Sharma’s international claim to fame name in 1995 when he initiated a terrorist attack upon the general public that resided in Tokyo. Under Sharma’s guidance, a Saris nerve gas was released into the enclosed and confined spaces of the Tokyo underground subway system. The effects of the gassing were catastrophic. There were 13 untimely deaths and more than 5,000 people were seriously injured. Using religion, Sahara convinced 27 co- conspirators to cause harm to thousands upon thousands of people in the name of God. Sahara is one of the ultimate examples of how a sociopath coupled with extreme religion can wreak havoc on society.
What if there was a man with an extensive following like Shook Sahara and the motivation to carry out his own dirty work like Timothy McVeigh? Faith-driven terrorist acts committed in the name of God would cause mayhem in residential streets across America. All of these men mentioned, whether they committed acts of terrorism or not, have had many characteristics in common with most terrorists that have been psychoanalysis professionally through an institution. They all exhibit some of the same key certain traits. First, most terrorists are very convincing.
Whether they use deceptive charm or descriptive stories to make their followers believe their truth, they can alter pinions and change views in order to make people see their altered view or reality. In the cases of both Timothy McVeigh and Shook Sahara, this rings true. Secondly, terrorists and sociopaths alike are characteristically known to be highly intelligent. This is evident in the case of Sahara because in order to attract intellectual people, Sahara had to be intellectual himself. Sahara charmed his followers with intelligence and conversed with people on their high level.
And lastly, Sociopaths are delusional to the point that they have convinced themselves that their babbling is the absolute truth. There is nothing more convincing that a man that has absolute, 100% confidence in the words that he is preaching. Whether it is a complete lie or not, an unwavering confidence in delivery combined with a zealous belief that it is the truth is enough to motivate thousands. One day in the United States of America, there will be a sociopath religious leader that has a strong cult-like following who is widely accepted and loved by the general public.
Business men and politicians alike will endorse his personal views on religion and the major marketing giants will have him on the covers of magazines and on the front page of newspapers . Rappers and singers will mention him in their songs, and he may even have a verse or two on a hit-song himself, making him a household name. He will make cameo appearances in hit box-office movies and win over audiences across America. Both he and his devoted underlings will have an extreme zeal and undying faith for what they believe.
If this sociopath religious leader has a destructive vision that is characteristic of all terrorists, evil and destruction will be a result. His zeal coupled with mass appeal, along with the notion of “Our work is favorable in the eyes of God” ill result in catastrophic terrorist events nationwide and may even unfold to be the beginning of something much bigger, something that is already written. While the thought of a politically charged terrorist attack is awful, the endless possibilities of faith-driven acts of terrorism are absolutely mortifying.
The politically driven terrorist has a rational consequence to deal with: backlash from the government and the citizens. On the other hand, the faith-driven terrorist has an irrational view of consequence or concern for his actions because the only audience he is worried with is God. The faith-driven terrorist is liable to do so much more harm to innocent lives because his psychopathic brain may see his work as acceptable according to his beliefs and favorable in the eyes of God.
It is his disregard of the consequences that is unbearable and leaves the doors wide open for any and all kinds of terrorist attacks to ensue. The faith-driven terrorist is not bound by the constraints of this world and it is because of this, that the sociopath religious leader is the ultimate terrorist.