James Alex Fields Jr.

[Airbrush]

Does anyone know details about the life of 20-year-old fan of Hitler, Jim Fields, who crashed his car into a group of protesters of a racist rally?  In the interview with his mother, see below, Samantha Bloom seemed to have no clue of her "son's" political following.  She thought Jim went to a "Albright" rally, related to Trump.   She must be his step mom because of a different last name.  Maybe she knew little about the boy's upbringing.  Jim had his own apartment by age 20.  What about his father, Jim senior?  What did his father have to do with his son's racism?  Was his father a "repugnant" kind of guy?  Or was the father simply always absent and the boy "raised himself" getting help from white supremacists on the internet?  The kid reminds us of Dylan Roof.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/mother-charlottesville-suspect-knew-rallyi-thought-trump/story?id=49185691

Edited August 15, 2017 by Airbrush

[CharonY]

Unless there is a psychological evaluation in order to understand motives in an abstract sense, I feel that ignoring such individuals is the better course of action. Also it may feed into glory fantasies of some people. 

I read in an interview with a researcher that many of the younger supremacists are not radicalized within their household, but via the internet, which draws interesting parallels to certain subgroups of jihadist extremists. I have not tracked down the original reports yet, though.

[swansont]

16 minutes ago, Airbrush said:

She must be his step mom because of a different last name.

Or she was never married and the son took his father's last name. Or she remarried.

The father died before he was born

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/13/us/james-alex-fields-charlottesville-driver-.html

[Airbrush]

Thanks for the info.  He was a fatherless child, self-radicalized by the internet, raised by his mother, Samantha Bloom, and she didn't know much about him either.  Or did she?  A teacher called him bright, but misguided.

"Bloom said she knew her son was going to a rally, but that she tried to “stay out of his political views.” She said that she thought the rally “had something to do with Trump,” adding, “Trump’s not a supremacist.”

Edited August 15, 2017 by Airbrush

[EdEarl]

There is another story about one of the demonstrators, whose family disinherited him. They say they taught him to be tolerant, but somehow he changed. Thus, it seems that not all the nazi demonstrators were the result of bad parenting.

[Area54]

Attempting deep psychlogical examination based upon scanty news articles and internet discussion, without specialised training in the field seems a rather pointless exercise.

[swansont]

Funny (not ha-ha funny) how such curiosity about parenting/upbringing and possible fragility of psyche is investigated for white terrorists, but nobody else gets the same level of apologetics. 

[MigL]

He is responsible for his own actions.
Send him to Guantanomo with the rest.
See how he makes out.

[Manticore]

10 minutes ago, MigL said:

He is responsible for his own actions.
Send him to Guantanomo with the rest.
See how he makes out.

I'll drink to that.

[Airbrush]

The "Unite the Right" rally was a gathering of misfits from society.  James Fields could not even handle the military.  He threatened his Mom with a knife and she called 911 on him more than once.  Maybe if they found a good, MEANINGFUL job they wouldn't be so hateful, blaming others for their own failing.  "Jews will not replace us!"?  They are worried that Jews are taking jobs from them?  Does anyone understand that chant?

"Blood and Soil refers to an ideology that focuses on ethnicity based on two factors, descent blood (of a folk) and territory. It celebrates the relationship of a people to the land they occupy and cultivate, and it places a high value on the virtues of rural living."

 

[CharonY]

On 8/16/2017 at 4:14 AM, swansont said:

Funny (not ha-ha funny) how such curiosity about parenting/upbringing and possible fragility of psyche is investigated for white terrorists, but nobody else gets the same level of apologetics. 

It is probably a trivial observation, but it is very dependent on how much you can identify with the perpetrators. If one (subconsciously or not) feel more similar to them, one starts to wonder how one can deviate so much from oneself. If the people exhibit outward differences, it is far easier to attribute whatever happens to the differences.

Same in the opposite direction, you are more likely to have positive feeling and/or excuse gaffes in another person that exhibit traits that you can identify with (which is often very apparent in hiring processes or other evaluations, for example).

[Airbrush]

On ‎8‎/‎15‎/‎2017 at 11:16 AM, EdEarl said:

There is another story about one of the demonstrators, whose family disinherited him. They say they taught him to be tolerant, but somehow he changed. Thus, it seems that not all the nazi demonstrators were the result of bad parenting.

"...Evidently Peter has chosen to unlearn these lessons, much to my and his family’s heartbreak and distress. We have been silent up until now, but now we see that this was a mistake. It was the silence of good people that allowed the Nazis to flourish the first time around, and it is the silence of good people that is allowing them to flourish now."

Bad parenting is very common, but even good parenting is sometimes not enough, as an exception to the rule.

[Delta1212]

12 minutes ago, Airbrush said:

"...Evidently Peter has chosen to unlearn these lessons, much to my and his family’s heartbreak and distress. We have been silent up until now, but now we see that this was a mistake. It was the silence of good people that allowed the Nazis to flourish the first time around, and it is the silence of good people that is allowing them to flourish now."

Bad parenting is very common, but even good parenting is sometimes not enough, as an exception to the rule.

Is it actually that much of an exception, statistically speaking? What are the numbers?

[Sensei]

Somebody can become racist, enemy of some nation, intolerant for homosexual people, etc. etc., because of traumatic personal experience, f.e. being harmed by other race person, being harmed by other nation person, or f.e. because of being raped in the past.. And almost none good/bad parenting or education can help with this.

Because of bombarding and occupying eastern countries you're just making more and more enemies, from people who previously were neutral, after they lost family members, friends, homes, jobs, life.. It's called by milliary officers as "collateral damage". I could call it "how to make new enemies".

It's extremely hard to forgive.

 

Edited August 17, 2017 by Sensei

[Airbrush]

On ‎8‎/‎17‎/‎2017 at 11:08 AM, Delta1212 said:

Is it actually that much of an exception, statistically speaking? What are the numbers?

My assumption is that good parenting generally, with some exceptions, produces better citizens than bad parenting.  How can you disagree with that assumption?

The first problem is defining exactly what is "good" or "bad" parenting and that's not easy.  Neglecting your child is probably bad more often than good.