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Vaknin, Sam, 1961-

"Terrorists and Freedom Fighters"


They seek omnipotence through murder, control (not least self
control) through violence, prestige, fame and celebrity by defying
figures of authorities, challenging them, and humbling them.
Unbeknownst to them, they seek self punishment. They are at heart
suicidal. They aim to cast themselves as victims by forcing others
to punish them. This is called "projective identification". They
attribute evil and corruption to their enemies and foes. These forms
of paranoia are called projection and splitting. These are all
primitive, infantile, and often persecutory, defense mechanisms.
When coupled with narcissism - the inability to empathize, the
exploitativeness, the sense of entitlement, the rages, the
dehumanization and devaluation of others - this mindset yields
abysmal contempt. The overriding emotion of terrorists and serial
killers, the amalgam and culmination of their tortured psyche - is
deep seated disdain for everything human, the flip side of envy. It
is cognitive dissonance gone amok. On the one hand the terrorist
derides as "false", "meaningless", "dangerous", and "corrupt" common
values, institutions, human intercourse, and society. On the other
hand, he devotes his entire life (and often risks it) to the
elimination and pulverization of these "insignificant" entities.


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