Andreas Lubitz appears to have intentionally crashed a plane into the mountainside, killing 149 people and himself in the French Alps this week.
Though it wasn't called one, it was a terrorist act. Whether it is a person on a plane or a person in society, an action like this is anger directed. When you boil it down, Lubitz was either angry at a person on the plane that day, or he blamed society in general (and, by default, the passengers on his plane) for his problems and failures. Mental illness is a simple theory that doesn't really explain anything, but that didn't stop so-called experts from trying to explain it all away.
Speculation began immediately about factors that might have resulted in such a horrendous act. Die Welt, a German newspaper, said Lubitz suffered from a severe "psychosomatic illness." German police seized prescription drugs that are typically used to treat the condition. Many "experts" will quickly dismiss this as the act of a madman, and the discussion will end there with a footnote, "We must find ways to prevent such tragedies without discriminating against the mentally ill."
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But they won't.
Psychosomatic disorder is a condition where the individual suffers physical symptoms of illnesses that don't exist, or are mentally contrived. Anorexia is one example. There is very little evidence that such a disorder would ever lead to someone crashing a plane into the side of a mountain intentionally. Lubitz was also said to have suffered from "severe subject burnout syndrome," but that is rather common and doesn't usually indicate homicidal/suicidal outcomes.
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As investigators perform post mortem on Lubitz' mental health history, the final word will be that airlines will adopt stricter scrutiny of pilots in hopes of preventing another tragedy.
That won't happen.
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Investigators will find pills and a past that allow the public to believe this case was a "perfect storm" that probably won't happen again.
But it will.
In fact, many intentional plane crashes have occurred, and angry acts of violence directed at innocent crowds of victims happen weekly in the world. According to the Aviation Safety Network, five commercial plane crashes since 1976 are believed to have been the intentional work of the pilot. The most remembered incident (other than those on Sept. 11) may be the 1999 crash of EgyptAir Flight 990. That plane plunged almost 14,000 feet in only 36 seconds and crashed off the Massachusetts coast.
By definition, that is terror. Terror is thriving. I have been studying the mental path to terror, and our global culture must deal with the basic factors of disenfranchisement if we are really to avert terror in our world.
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Mental-health experts have fixed their attention on two primary causes of terror. Jerrold M. Post of George Washington University suggests that collectivism is one cause of terror. Globalism has also contributed to the terrorist mentality, according to Georgetown University's Fathali Moghaddam. In "How Globalization Spurs Terrorism: The Lopsided Benefits of One World and Why That Fuels Violence" (Praeger, 2008), Moghaddam explains how globalism marginalizes the individual and makes them feel powerless against the larger community. This forces a "fight or flight" response that can result in joining terrorist groups, or exacting suicidal missions directed at the society that's made the perpetrator feel inadequate.
None of these experts suggest the obvious answers as solutions to these problems, as I see them, partly because it isn't politically correct to say we should be "less collectivist" or "less global." Things like capitalism and patriotism are scoffed at, and the power of the individual is consistently diminished in this culture. Whether perpetrated by a pilot on a plane or another person in society, that sort of terror blames others for personal failures. Conservative leaders are the only ones calling out the real depersonalization that has led us to such anonymous terror in our world. I have compiled a list of the Top 6 Societal Toxins Leading to Terror:
1) Global anonymity and multiculturalism: People are designed to want something to belong to, and something to fight for. God, country and culture used to be three of those big somethings. Global anonymity has diminished the Maslovian "sense of belonging" that makes this self-actualization almost impossible, and leads to neurosis and cultural decline.
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2) Abortion: There is no way to convince a society that every individual matters when we kill them by the millions. The message that schools, government officials and even parents try to tell children – that they matter – is convoluted and obviously discredited by a culture that randomly kills children for convenience.
3) Death of interpersonal charity: With the advent of collectivism and statism, the death of interpersonal charity follows. What neighbors, friends, families and churches used to do for one another, the state now does. That makes the individual feel both unneeded, and uncared for.
4) The self-esteem movement: The "everyone gets a trophy" movement teaches kids that they should get something for nothing out of life, and if you don't get what you want, you can throw a tantrum and we will talk about your "feelings" as punishment. This is tragic when that manifestation goes from childhood to adulthood. This has created an entire generation of narcissists.
5) Secular humanism: As my friend, Dennis Prager, puts it, secular humanism raises up humans and hates people. It also does a pathetic job of replacing religion. As a result, the individual in society is devalued, and curtailed in his search for meaning.
6) Political correctness: The abject disallowing of the individual to say certain things he believes or observes is the glue that holds the Top 5 Societal Toxins Leading to Terror together. If you even utter certain words, they can be used against you and destroy your life and career. You can be pegged a racist, a bigot, a homophobe, a sexist and more, even if your statement is based on fact or strong evidence. For example, men are physically stronger than women. Based upon clear mathematical averages, that is 100 percent provable. Yet the U.S. military is forbidden to even make such a statement. This should tell us that political correctness is a horrible truth destroyer, and one of the worst problems in our culture today.
Until those who search for answers to terror admit these are the real problems, and begin to address them, expect more acts of terror like the one in the French Alps.
