Tuesday, 22 August 2017

A Most American Terrorist: The Making Of Dylann Roof

quote [ In June 2015, he shot and murdered nine black church-goers in Charleston, South Carolina, hoping to ignite a race war. Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah spoke with Roof's family, friends, and the victims' families to unlock what created one of the coldest killers of our time. ]

This is where the party ends
[SFW] [people] [+3 Interesting]
[by ScoobySnacks@12:01amGMT]

Comments

Hugh E. said @ 2:33am GMT on 22nd Aug [Score:1 Insightful]
Interesting whose stories get told.
Kama-Kiri said @ 2:18pm GMT on 22nd Aug
Don't take this the wrong way, but GQ sending in a cosmopolitan, educated black woman to investigate might not have been the best idea if they wanted poor white people living in Charleston, South Carolina to tell their stories to a stranger. I mean, haven't they seen "In the heat of the night"?


HoZay said @ 3:03pm GMT on 22nd Aug
Freelance, I believe.
I decided that if he would not tell us his story, then I would. Which is why I left Charleston, the site of his crime, and headed inland to Richland County, to Columbia, South Carolina—to find the people who knew him, to see where Roof was born and raised.

And if the PWs have seen that movie, they should know when they're beat.
foobar said @ 4:47pm GMT on 22nd Aug
Can't say I really care about his story.
mechanical contrivance said @ 5:36pm GMT on 22nd Aug
If we can understand why one person became a murderer motivated by hate, it may help us prevent others from following the same path.
foobar said @ 6:42pm GMT on 22nd Aug
"He was allowed to buy guns" is enough for me.
mechanical contrivance said @ 6:49pm GMT on 22nd Aug
Being able to buy guns wasn't really the problem. Wanting to murder people was the problem.
HoZay said @ 8:06pm GMT on 22nd Aug
Kind of a two-part problem, really. One without the other = no problem.
mechanical contrivance said @ 8:36pm GMT on 22nd Aug
Not necessarily. Depending on the personality and current mental state of the murderer, he may have gone on a rampage with some other kind of weapon if a gun wasn't available. He could have gone on a stabbing spree or driven a truck into a crowd of people. He could have used homemade pipe bombs or poisoned a water cooler. Murder, uh, finds a way.
Kama-Kiri said @ 11:10pm GMT on 22nd Aug
The thing is reading that (very long) report did not make me any wiser. He fits the common profile: only child, separated parents, unstable childhood, yet unexceptional. His parents and peers are casually racist, he was presumably fed on a background diet of white supremacy and alt-right frustration, but he was not being "groomed" as a terrorist by anyone.

He comes across as lonely teenager harboring a deep-seated resentment. "I'm amazing, why doesn't everyone see how amazing I am." finding sympathy in the white power movement "Yes, you are amazing, because you are pure blood American!" A few drug-addled delusions of grandeur later, he decides he "has to" kill some black people.

The closest parallel would be Anders Breivik. I don't think there is anything "American" about it at all, nor is it even terrorism in the "organized group" sense. Just lone wolf crazy person with God complex.

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