By definition, anyone who kills in cold blood has a mental illness

[MannyGoldstein]

Sane people don't kill others, except in self defense. The decision to murder is a psychological process, and it is abnormal.

That's not to say that we shouldn't lock up cold killers - they are a threat to society.

So saying that Loughner was mentally ill is beside the point. Of course he was. Many Americans are.

The key point is why was his mental illness channeled in a way that caused mass murder? Clearly, it is Fox, Palin, Savage, Beck, and the cavalcade of swine that seek to incite.

For once, I'd like to see Obama rail against the Professional Inciters with the same vitriol he uses to call out people who want affordable, quality health care.

[villager]

1. another one of DU's quite-odd "unrecs"

But I agree - of course if you kill in cold blood you're mentally unbalanced. That really isn't the main point of figuring out these outbursts of violence...

[Cetacea]

9. Proudly unrecc. Total discrimination.

And , quite, frankly, I'm disgusted. There is no evidence that the mentally ill are more violent than the rest of the population. There are violent criminals who also have mental illness, however.

[villager]

11. what a mis-read of the OP

It's not saying everyone who's mentally ill, or has some form of mental illness, is a killer.

It's saying that cold blooding killing is, by definition, an act of mental illness. no one who is balanced, sane, etc., simply decides to start killing in cold blood...

[Cetacea]

15. Ok.

I still un-recommend it. You are certainly entitled to your opinion. Cheers.

[Common Sense Party]

2. So all assassins, contract killers, mobsters, are mentally ill?

They may be lacking in empathy, but I'm not sure if they could be classified as insane in every case.

[MannyGoldstein]

3. Lacking in empathy is a mental illness, no?

We may choose to find these people guilty of their crimes - but I believe that they are ill.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

7. Not always

Thou shalt not kill is a learned ethical behavior. Lack of it is not prima facie mental illness.

[GreenPartyVoter]

13. Agreed. Don't other primates also kill each other at times?

[Common Sense Party]

18. I don't think it is an illness. It is a choice.

While I find what the Nazis did to be barbaric, inhumane and, frankly, evil...I don't know that the entire regime and all the soldiers could in any way be classified as mentally ill. Ill is one thing, evil another.

[liberal N proud]

5. Something in someones mind has to be messed up to kill a human

Outside of war (and I don't think I could do there either), I would say any killer has some mental problem.

They may be totally normal in every other way but what allows anyone to kill another human and think that it is OK?

That does not mean they should not be tried and if convicted locked up for it because they should not be free to do it again.

[Cassandra]

6. Sociopathy is a form of mental illness...

although one that allows them to function (sort of) in society. If this was a more peaceful society, there would be no place for them but as it is, various people find them useful.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

4. Disagree, there is an ethics component which is learned

Loughner appears to be crackers to some degree. How much and what triggered him to do what he did is TBD and we need to acknowledge upfront that we may never know. Speculation is a good way to vent, but for now we really have limited information and little else to go on. The fog on this is truly amazing, including people seeding the net with fraudulent information.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[villager]

12. or are they "sane" in relative terms, in a generally insane time?

doing generally insane things for insane governments?

[sabrina 1]

16. They lack empathy also. Most of those mass killings, war,

eg, are for profit, rarely for anything else. To start one, profit and power must take precedence over humanitarian considerations.

Are they insane? I think almost all of those you mentioned suffer from a lack of empathy and integrity. They focus on revenge rather than justice. They have short-term vision and seem not to care that for every action there is a reaction.

I don't know whether they are mentally ill or not, but they do exhibit primitive tendencies and have not moved forward as the human race evolved. Back in the days when humans had to fight to eat, such traits were probably necessary. But today for the most part they are not.

I think of them as still residing in the early stages of human development, not yet evolved even to where the majority of human beings are, which is not very far.

[stray cat]

10. Not really

[hootinholler]

14. What if you just think about it? n/t

[Imajika]

17. You are completely wrong...

Your entire post is utter and complete nonsense.

"Clearly, it is Fox, Palin, Savage, Beck, and the cavalcade of swine that seek to incite."

Clearly? How do you know this? Your just making stuff up. You have not the slightest clue why Loughner did what he did, yet your making ridiculously uninformed statements about mental illness and assigning motives when you clearly lack the information to do so.

You simply have no clue what your talking about at all.