To feel sorry for the mother of the Tunisian gunman

[namechange4this123]

www.itv.com/news/2015-07-05/mother-of-tunisian-beach-gunman-says-he-refused-to-kill-a-mouse-because-he-couldnt-kill-anything/

I don't think her upset can even remotely compere to the grief of those whose loved ones were murdered in Tunisia.

However I can't imagine how awful it must feel to find out that your child has done such a terrible thing, and have to live with the guilt of this for the rest of your life.

No OP YANBU. Poor lady

I feel sympathy for her and all the victims and their families. Losing your child is terrible but knowing he was responsible for the murder of others as well must be the worst thing ever. Once your child grows up you can only hope they make the right choices in life but you can't control what they are doing. She will always wonder if she could have done something differently.

If he was radicalised as a child then
a) that means he was definitely a victim himself and
b) knowing what IS think of women, it would be the fault of his FATHER and his mother would just be yet another victim.

But nah, burn the witch

Where are people blaming her or getting their pitchforks out? She is a nonentity as far as I am concerned and the less I hear from her the better.

here must be some way to blame her surely?

But nah, burn the witch

No one is saying any of this, people, myself included are commenting on the UTTER insensitivity of claiming that the gunman was as much of a victim as the real victims. Other families manage perfectly well to say no comment. People are spouting absolute nonsense on this thread.

I have not seen the media hanging around the attackers victims homes waiting for a statement thankfully though there have been a few interviews

We usually get his along with the value of their house but for now the media attention is very much on him and his family

Can you not see what a simple basic life these people lead I am sure she has been educated but hardly worldly and knowledgable in the matters of how to handle the media should your son become a terrorist

BBC, itv and Channel 4 have all reported from his home town no doubt sky has too along with other local and international media teams

Why don't we just say that the whole of Isis are victims too. Sounds better than saying they're just pure evil doesn't it. All the Gestapo were victims too I suppose.

Seagreen, totally agree with you about the insensitivity of such comments.

But finding it in myself to be generous, "non-media savvy" is probably the kindest thing I can think of. Pah!

Well IF someone had raised that child to be a radical sinlamist, I would have thought it was his dad tbh.
He would have had the opportunity to go to the mosque with his dad not his mum so to be in contact with radical islamists that way (if he has indeeed been in contact with them as a child. It wasn't that common 20 years ago)...

So why is it that we are blaming her instead, finding her to explain herself, not pardon, to explain how he turned out like this.
Whilst forgetting that in any other situaton, we would say that she raised him but as an adult, it has always been up to HIM to make the right decision.

Leave the woman alone.

Well we could just call people evil or we can try to understand why people join such groups/cults

What makes people desire power so much and what makes those kill or harm others to gain acceptance and notoriety

What turns a little innocent child into an adult that one day takes a gun and shoots as many people he can who he can not identify with

We can either try to understand and try to prevent such atrocities or we can just call people evil and separating them from us. We are all capable of evil so what is it that makes someone act it out

We are all capable of evil

Are we? I don't agree. I think that we are all capable of wrongdoing, making stupid decisions. Even possibly decisions that cost lives. But all capable of evil...no.

I do feel sorry for his family.

I can't imagine my son growing up to commit an act like this.

But I can try to imagine how we might feel as his family, how I might feel as his mother, if he did. It's too awful to contemplate.

I know what it feels like to grieve for a child. I can't imagine how it feels to grieve for a child who has died while committing an act of terrorism, a child who has killed so many people before he was also killed to stop him causing more harm.

And his family are no doubt under siege by the media, wanting an interview, wanting an explanation, wanting a reason, wanting a reaction. They can't get to him. They can get to his family. They are not being allowed to stay silent.

When my children died I would have been in no state to put together an interview for the press. I can't imagine this family are thinking straight either. They are shocked and grieving, confused and angry and lost. They're not going to be thinking rationally right now.

I hope that his family were not involved in his radicalisation. At the moment we don't know, so at this point in time I can empathise with them and feel some pity for the situation they have found themselves to be in.

We are all capable of evil so what is it that makes someone act it out
Umm, the ones that are evil? No sorry I don't agree that we are all capable of evil. Absolutely not. Most of us thank heavens would rather do someone a good turn and could no more cause physical harm to another living creature than they could poke their own eye out. There is plenty of goodness on this earth but to deny that evil exists is stupid.

so what makes someone act out in an evil way the devil

thankfully the vast majority of us do not want to harm others but I would disagree that we are not capable of it it is just not in some of us to want to be

if you divide people into being evil and not being evil then are they born that way, do they become that way if so what is it that makes them that way

I cant debate with that - i just completely cant understand the mindset someone who believes in people being evil in the biblical sense.

Imo and backed by evidence, perfectly normal people are capable of doing evil things

Oh my... Some of the posts here have left me openmouthed that they were posted by a human being, not a chatbot.

Yes, I do feel sorrow for his mother, and yes her grief is comparable. No matter what the circumstances, her son is dead. I can only think that some past posters on this thread have only conditional love for their children, given their confidence that she does and should grieve less.

There is no such thing as evil.

There but for the grace of God go all of us.

It is a convenient lie that evil people are somehow "other". It means you don't have to contemplate the unimaginable - your child or your sister or your father doing something like this.

However that's all it is - a convenient lie which you tell yourself to protect yourself.

No one knows what they are capable of given the "right" circumstances. No one.

What circumstances is this mass murderer under that compels him to do just that? You can have the same set of circumstances and some people manage not to gun down innocents and others do. Hmmmm.

His mother was really courting the media when she was filmed, collapsed from grief and strain, being carried into a car a mere day after the events.
Some of you expect far more from her than you would from yourselves - unless you are to admit that your love for your children is conditional.

My God, imagine the dissonance of grief, repulsion, self questioning.

Actually Slaggy why would you let yourself be interviewed so sooon afterwards. It's an interesting reaction to both your son dying and such hideous crime being committed.

No one knows what they are capable of given the "right" circumstances. No one.

YY downgraded.

Sounds like the famous line from Chinatown: 'Most people never have to face the fact that at the right time and the right place, they are capable of ANYTHING.'

Totally agree with your posts MrsDeVere