Mayhem

Nidal Malik Hasan, who has been a member of a large cult of murderous followers since just after high school, recently shot up a bunch of other cultists and killed several of them. He was eventually shot by Kimberly Munley and at the moment still lives.

Hasan’s group exists to destroy things and people at the behest of its commander in chief. That’s what its members do. Oh, sometimes they build bridges and buildings, but that’s a sideline to destruction. Hasan was on a heavily guarded training ground when he went off the deep end and started killing the wrong people.

Although all of the cultists go through a process designed to make them act alike and look alike and do whatever they’re told without question—essentially to dehumanize them—they’re still people. More and more, even after months of training, killing people is proving to be emotionally difficult for the cult’s members, and before the shootings Hasan’s job had been to counsel people who had been traumatized by witnessing and participating in murder and destruction.

Hasan tried to help them feel better about themselves, even though they might have done horrible things to people they didn’t even know, helped destroy a country halfway around the world, and might be expected to do it again. At least they killed the right people.

The organization exists to inflict mayhem on any target designated by their overlord and paymasters in Washington, D.C. They all approve of murder, but only with the right story attached. The cult is dedicated to the pre-eminence of its nation only and has bases and thousands of people stationed around the world. They’re not supposed to kill each other, though, and that’s why Hasan was shot four times by Munley, who belongs to an allied cult. He shot the wrong people. Conversely, Munley shot the right people—Hasan.

Hasan was scheduled to go to a killing zone soon and apparently wasn’t looking forward to it. Maybe he was afraid of getting shot.

Hasan apparently got a poor performance review and counseling at the hospital where he worked for six years until last July. Yet he seems to have done reasonably well as a counselor himself and had attained some rank in the organization. One of his superiors, Kimberly Kesling, said, “Up to this point I would consider him an asset.” I foresee another poor review.

Hasan clearly had tremendous anguish and inner conflict, and no wonder. The Huffington Post says, “Hasan’s family said in a statement Friday that his alleged actions were ‘despicable and deplorable’ and don’t reflect how the family was raised.” I can see why he left home right out of high school.