Germany :(

[nuttymango]

And now Germany - an axeman has attacked people on a train.
BBC breaking news - www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36827725

[DonkeyOaty]

[Igneococcus]

Wuerzburg is my hometown, we only came back from visiting my family there last week.
German online news don't have any more information yet than the BBC.

[nuttymango]

Igneococcus I hope that all your family and friends are OK.

[DontBuyANewMumCashmere]

I hate what is happening. Maybe I've never noticed it as much, or it's happening much more lately.
So sad. Thinking of you igneo, hope it's no one you know.

[DonkeyOaty]

Uncalled for comment from Statesman

Quite quite horrid

[TwistedReach]

I agree bertrand. A horrible post. Poor people on the train and poor 17 year old. (I appreciate this amount of empathy is too much for some).

[AnneEyhtMeyer]

I cannot understand your empathy for someone who has just attacked people with an axe, Twisted. Whatever their age.

[BertrandRussell]

I don't have empathy for someone who has attacked someone with an axe.

[MiniMinor]

Bigger picture ...

[BertrandRussell]

Sorry- posted too soon. I wait for the facts to emerge before commenting.

[TwistedReach]

Dont you? I do. I also have empathy for lee rugby's killer who had schizophrenia. And children who hurt others.

[TwistedReach]

I don't believe in evil and wrongly assumed from your username that you didn't either.

[AnneEyhtMeyer]

I think you are trying to show off Twisted. It isn't really working.

[TwistedReach]

An odd response Anne? I truly believe that people who hurt need help.

[TwistedReach]

Although perhaps I should feel hopeful that having empathy even for those who commit atrocities is seen as showing off

[PickledCauliflower]

Poor axeman.
Let's be honest here - would you have that view if he attacked one of your family members?
Some people are so bloody cool and right on!

[PickledCauliflower]

Some offenders do need help.
And you also have cold blooded killers who need locking up.

[DailyMailEthicalFail]

I agree Twisted that it is a tragedy for ALL involved.
Of course any victims take priority in compassion stakes but
If a killer is 17 he is barely more than a child. Terribly sad.

[SemiNormal]

I feel somewhat sorry for this 17yr old. I mean what 'normal' (for want of a better word) 17yr old goes out and does this kind of thing? What kind of shit must have gone on in his life? IDK, he's kind of lost his life too IMO. Of course my sympathies lie with the victims and their families but it seems to me that this 17yr has been severely let down somewhere.

[ZansForCans]

I do have empathy too Twisted. I think a lot of the atrocities are committed by people who aren't well and respond to the ISIS propaganda because of that - though also I feel sorry for the other people who are so brainwashed they end up losing their lives this way. It doesn't mean I don't feel sorry for the victims.

But I've said stuff like that before on MN and got flamed, that's what happens.

[MumOnTheRunCatchingUp]

Does a British white paedophile also get same amount of sympathy/empathy?

[WhatWouldLeslieKnopeDo]

Awful news. Those poor people and their families.

I think that trying to empathise with attackers in these sort of situations is really important. If we can understand what motivates people to commit atrocious acts then perhaps we can find ways to intervene before they get to this point.

Empathising isn't the same as excusing.

[TwistedReach]

half of children in care end up in the criminal justice system- that is shameful (to a society who should be looking after abused and neglected children). An adolescent from Afghanistan who commits such heinous crimes is undoubtedly traumatised and out of his mind.
Yes I have empathy too for british white peodophiles (the children they were and their victims).