Thinking Matters

An open mind and what you have in it.
Henry Kellerman, Ph.D., psychologist/psychoanalyst/practitioner, is the author/editor of more than 20 books. See full bio

Kellerman reply to Dr. Vee on Fort Hood violence

Destructive belief system can motivate violence.
Henry Kellerman, Ph.D.
This post is a response to The Case of Nidal Malik Hasan's Shooting at Fort Hood by Henry Kellerman, Ph.D.

Yes, this is a good comment. I've referred to it directly in my blog entry
in analyzing the issue of how anger and ideology is linked to acting-out and
violence, to wit: "If the strength of the anger is stronger than the strength
of the resilience of the person, then the anger is likely to be acted out.
This is true even under the rationalized or intellectualized condition of
seeing oneself as a messenger of goodness or justice. In such a case the
acting-out is given 'permission' and the consicousness of the anger, although
felt, is rather held in virtual state while an intellectualized ideological
rational takes over that okays the acting-out."

The key idea that the Dr. Vee and I both share is what he states in his
comment: "Yes the rage is all too real, but the ideology gave him
justification for the expression of that rage..." That's very well put. And
I also agree with his direct definition of how a destructive belief system
can motivate violence.

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