How then San Bernadino terrorists don't fit the typical American husband and wife criminal narrative
By The Horse
@TheHorse (218491)
Walnut Creek, California
December 4, 2015 9:31pm CST
As Laurie Anderson sang in "Let X =X," it was "Oh boy. Right again" for me concerning Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Malik.
I had just heard an "expert" interviewed on KCBS news radio. He had said that in most cases where husbands and wives commit crimes together, the husband heavily influences the wife. He said he expected this to be the case in the terrorist attack in San Bernadino.
My experience as a psychologist for Department of Corrections in California confirmed this his overall assessment. Many of the women I worked with were incarcerated because of things they had done with their husbands. But I knew he was wrong about this case, even as I was driving and listening to the radio.
Syed Rizwan Farook had worked for several years for the organization he eventually attacked, and he had only done so after he married Malik.
According to articles I'm reading to today, Malik had moved from her native Pakistan to Saudi Arabia when she was two, and her father had become increasingly "conservative" and increasingly estranged from the rest of his family as the years progressed.
Today, we're hearing that she had pledged allegiance to a Jihadist leader shortly before the attacks, and that she may have been instrumental in "radicalizing" her husband.
It may be that the usual rules don't apply when it comes to Jihadist terrorists.
15 people like this
14 responses
@DeborahDiane (40288)
• Laguna Woods, California
5 Dec 15
I agree with you completely. I have a feeling that the only reason she was on a dating website with American Muslim men (which is how they met) is because she was an Isis plant and they were trolling for a good prospect that could get her into the U.S. and put her in exactly this position. It's very scary.
3 people like this
@TheHorse (218491)
• Walnut Creek, California
5 Dec 15
Good information. I hadn't realized they met on a dating website. Was he another lonely, isolated American, like others who wind up shooting people? Was she an Isis plant? Or acting on her own, influenced by her father? We don't know yet.
1 person likes this
@troyburns (1405)
• New Zealand
5 Dec 15
It's true that women are usually the subservient partner in a folie a deux, but this latest situation is far from unique. Joanna Dennehy is a recent serial killer who dominated her male partners, while Martha Beck is probably the classic example of this. Then you have women like Teresa Lewis and Kelly Gissendaner who talked male sidekicks into killing on their behalf. From what we know of Syed Farook's bio so far, it seems he had several qualities which made him vulnerable to someone like Malik.
3 people like this
@troyburns (1405)
• New Zealand
5 Dec 15
@seren3 - I read that she declined to drive in America too. In fact, she was happy to be invisible to all outside the Farook family. I'm still trying to work out if her apparent submission to Islamic feminine ideals was part of Syed's radicalization process, or if there is something else going on.
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
6 Dec 15
I saw what you said on the news tonight, That it was the woman who was the instigator. It turns my stomach to think a woman with a baby could do that, to behave that way, using her baby to look like a normal woman instead of a freak.
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (218491)
• Walnut Creek, California
6 Dec 15
It's disgusting my our moral standards. But these people are different. I admit to not understanding them. I've worked with garden variety American criminals. Some "got caught up." Some were raised in terrible "families." And others are just psychopaths. But this is different.
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29413)
• Eugene, Oregon
5 Dec 15
It could be that way. He was this "nice, quiet guy" I have read, yet how could she have done this as a mother? How could he as a father? What they did was not "Islamic;" it was barbaric.
2 people like this
@TheHorse (218491)
• Walnut Creek, California
5 Dec 15
@JamesHxstatic It seems that a lot of mass-killers are socially withdrawn.
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29413)
• Eugene, Oregon
5 Dec 15
@TheHorse I read at least one comment like that. He did seem withdrawn though.
1 person likes this
@crossbones27 (49401)
• Mojave, California
5 Dec 15
I have been reading a lot about online terrorists how they become radicalized online. Just seems they are just weak minded. How can you become so impassioned over something without even living it? Internet world I guess.
1 person likes this
@slund2041 (3314)
• United States
5 Dec 15
What a great post you have here. It is sad about the attacks. I take it she was an ISIS plant here.
1 person likes this
@TypicalRussian (747)
• Budennovsk, Russian Federation
5 Dec 15
I don't find it useful to discuss their background, mental illnesses, family relationships, gender influences, reasons, rights - they are both "peaceful" Muslims who killed many people. Society can discuss their problems and discrimination, but they will continue their terrorism
@TypicalRussian (747)
• Budennovsk, Russian Federation
5 Dec 15
@TheHorse Muslims always invent something bad even living in wonderful life conditions (USA, Europe). Religion rules their brain, and all the overtolerant rulers forget about it.
@TheHorse (218491)
• Walnut Creek, California
5 Dec 15
@TypicalRussian But not all Muslims are bad people. I've worked with many.
2 people like this
@Cofee_Brewin (28)
• United States
5 Dec 15
I believe that there is still quite a bit that we don't know about the couple and their acts. But one thing I do believe is that we need to close our doors. Until we know excactly who is who? If they are questionable then they are not allowed in for any reason.
1 person likes this
