In the bad ole days of football, the early 1970s, extreme right wing organisations would recruit from football fans. It was easy. No mention of politics, ideology or social justice was required. Just the fact that if you joined the National Front (which no longer exists, being replaced by the also defunct British National Party with the remainder going on to UKIP), you would get the opportunity to fight. Lots of people and very often. Where do I sign? Will a ‘X’ do? And thus the skinhead movement, which had started as a kind of extension of the Mods for those who preferred reggae to R&B, became hi-jacked by the Nationalists and later the two became blurred. I’m not sure if you can still be a skinhead without nazi affiliation, I need to read the rules.

The point is that sociopathic nutters are not born political, they’re just born plain nasty. Or possibly raised in an environment that accentuates their nastiness. And are easily exploited by evil political, or quasi-religious organisations who offer them what they really want, which is the opportunity to act in a sociopathic way.

Mohamed Bouhlel, the Bastille Day murderer, was just such a soul. Mentally unstable, violent and sadistic and pretty much a worthless individual with no value system. He became ‘radicalised’ 2 weeks before his suicide mission. 2 weeks. Not really sufficient time to embrace the entire mis-reading of the Quran from a jihadi viewpoint, just long enough to be given a fantastic excuse to perpetrate an horrendous act of mindless violence.

He hadn’t even lived as a Muslim. He was bisexual, actively so, drank, took drugs, beat his wife and, (this is always mentioned so I feel I have to), ‘ate pork’. As if acting outside religious dietary laws is a strong indicator of militant tendency.

So in 2 weeks he grows a beard, just to show which side he’s now on, and learns how to increase his own violent leanings in an exponential way.

ISIS claimed responsibility but they would. They’d claim a fender bender in Wyoming if someone got hurt. There is no evidence that Bouhlel was approached or in contact with ISIS. He didn’t need to be. All he needed was some radical tosser telling him that his worthless life can not only have value but, that if he dies a martyr all his previous sins and misdemeanours will be forgiven.
As if any ‘god’ of any religion, any colour, any stripe, would condone such a thing. And Mo had some ‘form’. Lots of it, crimes, drug offences, many blots on his record and was in need of some forgiveness.

Mohamed Bouhlel was a disaster waiting to happen. He could just as easily have become a killer for the Front Nacionale or the IRA. The cause was irrelevant. He was simply a violent act waiting to happen. He just needed the right ‘push’.

And he was pushed. And it did happen.

That’s even more worrying.

Happy Tuesday

A xxxx