By:Linda Sapadin
I am writing this column one week after the tragedy that none of us will ever forget. It is 2 o'clock in the afternoon. I am exhausted and want nothing more than to sleep. My mind is simply not clear enough nor focused enough to be of much value to you today. Hence, I believe the best way I can make use of this space is to share with you excerpts of an essay written by Dr. Philip Zimbardo, president-elect of the American Psychological Association.
"A small band of commandos armed with only pocket knives did what no other global super power has been able to do to the United States. They are the new breed of terrorists, who embody "creative evil" at its worst, and in a form that could become most terrifying to all democratic nations.
"This creatively evil enemy cannot be underestimated any longer. Moreover, we have to change our perception of this attack as 'senseless violence,' as it has often been described. Of course, this tragic destruction of lives and property does not make sense to us because it is incomprehensible that any individual or group would engage in such evil deeds. Calling it 'senseless,' 'mindless,' 'insane,' or the work of 'madmen' is wrong for two reasons. It fails to adopt the perspective of the perpetrators, as an act with a clearly defined purpose that we must understand in order to challenge it most
effectively. And such negative labeling also lulls us into thinking it is
random, not comparable to anything we do understand, and is disrespectful of the high level of reasoned intellect behind these
deeds, however distorted it may be.
"Constructive efforts at preventing future similar acts of international violence might best begin with attempts to understand not only the 'Who' question, but the 'What' question as well. Our national leaders will seek out those who orchestrated this destructive attack against our nation and bring them to justice. But even if the identifiable terrorist leaders were to be eliminated, would that stop future terrorism? Unlikely, unless the root causes of the hatred against America is modified, unless the ideological, political, and social bases of the mentalities of the next generation of potential terrorists are changed.
"Evil has always existed in many forms, as recorded since Biblical times, and will continue to flourish in different ways in different places. Surely, there are individuals we acknowledge as embodying evil, i.e. Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and other national tyrants. They are all dead, yet evil flourishes throughout the world with nameless conductors orchestrating ever new violence. It is well for us now to go beyond our tendency to focus on dispositional evil as a peculiar property or characteristic of despicable particular individuals. Instead, we might consider focusing on the situational determinants of evil in order to recognize the generic forces of evil, to identify the breeding grounds of evil that can seduce even good people to become perpetrators of evil. Even while acknowledging our individual and national need for retribution and punishment of the leaders of these terrorist attacks, we must also realize that without altering the fundamental sources of anti-American and anti-democratic beliefs and values in other nations, new replacements will emerge for each tyrant leader we punish or kill.
"Much psychological research reveals the ease with which ordinary people can be recruited to engage in harmful, sadistic behaviors against their fellows. Most Nazi concentration camp guards were "ordinary men" before and following their years of perpetrating evil. Many more examples could be culled to illustrate reasons why we
should not demonize or medicalize these terrorists as an alien breed.
Instead, we should focus on a better understanding of the mind control
tactics and strategies that might make even good people engage in evil deeds at some time in their lives, and how generations of young people are recruited into lives of terrorism. We need also to better appreciate cultural ways of being that differ from our own, as well as acknowledge 'the dark side of religion' in terms of how religiously-based value systems can be perverted to justify and reward the most horrendous of human deeds.
"Terrorists create terror; terror creates fear and anger; fear and anger create aggression; and aggression against citizens of different ethnicity or religion creates racism and in turn, new forms of terrorism. It is easier to make war than to make peace, so we must redouble efforts to try the harder way in our own lives by creating a peace zone around each of us that embraces others and enriches existence rather than diminishes it."
Linda Sapadin, Ph.D. is a psychologist in private practice who specializes in individual and family therapy as well as personal coaching.
