It’s been a little over a week since Jared Loughner’s assassination attempt of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. It was an extreme act of violence that has attracted considerable attention. Why did he do it? The primary explanations offered have been political and psychiatric. Each theory uses the tragedy to generate a prescription—according to the first account, we should amp down the political incivility; according to the second, we should provide better mental health care for the seriously disturbed.
An alternative way of viewing the attempted assassination (one that isn’t incompatible with either of the other accounts) is suggested by a Secret Service study described in an NPR broadcast on January 14. The study, conducted by psychologist Robert Fein and Secret Service agent Brian Vossekuil, collected information on 83 people who had completed or attempted assassinations. Besides studying documents about these assassins or attempted assassins, Fein and Vossekuil interviewed many of them in prison. They found that, though political rhetoric was sometimes expressed, for the most part the assassination attempts weren’t politically motivated. And, though many of the perpetrators had mental health issues, they weren’t illogical in their reasoning about the attempt or too disorganized to be able to plan and carry out a plan of action. Instead, the feature that was particularly important in instigating their violence was that most had experienced recent failures and disappointments, and they felt as if they were invisible. As Fein explained to NPR “They experienced failure after failure after failure, and decided that rather than being a ‘nobody,’ they wanted to be a ‘somebody,’ ” The act was chosen, then, as an effective way to gain notoriety and fame. Many didn’t have a single individual they planned to kill, but switched from one target to another as the opportunity presented itself.
Fearing that one hasn’t amounted to much and wanting to do something that will have an impact on the world are of course not states of mind exclusive to potential assassins; most of us have had such thoughts at one time or another. As Ernest Becker puts it in Escape from Evil, “[W]hat man really fears is not so much extinction, but extinction with insignificance. Man wants to know that his life has somehow counted, if not for himself, then at least in a larger scheme of things, that it has left a trace, a trace that has meaning.” The desire for significance may lead one person to mentor ghetto youth, another to write a blog, and, if Fein and Vossekuil are right, it can lead still another person to attempt an assassination. Becker details a variety of ways in which the desire to avoid insignificance can produce both individual and collective evil. Yearning to be somebody can at times be a terrible thing.
March 13, 2011 at 6:20 pm
This is a pretty scary finding Dr. Ritzema. Am I to understand that the people who performed the assassination or attempted assassination didn’t actually have ä particular victim in mind? That’s horrifying! If we think of the implications of this it means That anyone who achieves success on the public eye is in jeopardy and if there are others around them to enjoy their speech, work, or company they are at risk too? I’ve heard it said that fame is a lonely place to be and I can imagine that if this information gets out it would lead to more loneliness for those in the limelight. I wonder if it will affect future great leaders? I mean…if we know that. Our success could warrant someone wanting to gain notoriety through our death would it stop us from gaining success? We aren’t just speaking of movie stars working for “touchy subjects” like, gay marriages or religious freedoms …our government officials are here to serve us with rather benign subjects such as better roads, more teachers, or where tax money is dispersed…so what if the best person for the Job never gets there for fear of their lives…not because of the policies they may put into place but because they are known? How do we thwart such atrocities if this is the case? When do we say it’s healthy and when it’s not? Are there tell Tale signs for us to look out for? Interesting writing Dr. Ritzema. Thanks for sharing.
February 14, 2013 at 9:11 pm
I Feel article, “Assassination and the Search for Significance Life Assays” was indeed spot on!
I reallycan’t see eye to eye along with u more! At last appears like I reallydiscovered a blog really worth reading through. Thank you, Chauncey
February 15, 2013 at 12:42 am
Thanks, Chauncey. I hope you find more posts that interest you.