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Depression, Motivation and the Language of Terrorism

Germanwings Flight 9525: Depression, Motivation and the Language of Terrorism

The language of supposedly rational classification and categorisation has done terrible things. In the desperate need to find links, corollaries, causation, or simply correlations, we package, box and categorise like addicts in search of fixes. And when it comes to suspicious catastrophe, the next pundit will venture into the dangerous world of kiss and tell – what was the motivation for that particular act?

The loss of all those on board Germanwings Flight 9525 is another blight on the air industry, the next disaster story in the aviation chronicles. Again, it is dwarfed by frequency and lethal accidents in other forms of transport. But the spectacular nature of such an event – no survivors, suspect conduct by a pilot – have propelled various individuals into the expert seats to fill media slots.

Why the seemingly senseless mayhem?

One thing that careful regard is being paid to is the use of a word that has become an impulsive point of reference where infliction of mass death is concerned. Evading the issue of “terrorism” meant that other forms were sought. The character profile of co-pilot Andreas Lubitz was rapidly psychologised – it was a case of mental illness and concealed depression, which supposedly the thorough Lufthansa program would have rooted out. Alison Griswold, writing in Slate, wondered if “better psychological testing” could “prevent a tragedy like the Germanwings crash”. The short answer: “Probably not.”1

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The Daily Mail decided to add to the account with its own thesis: that the pilot was suffering from a vision deficiency. “A haunting new image has emerged of killer co-pilot Andreas Lubitz as it was claimed he may have sought treatment for problems with his vision in the weeks leading up to the moment he deliberately flew a Germanwings passenger plane into the French Alps.”2

Impaired, with psychosomatic illness, depression – this is the picture of Lubitz being conveyed through the tabloid currency, and even the higher brow accounts. It has led to warnings that such matters should not be stigmatised. Depression should not, on its own accords, prevent a pilot from taking to the skies. “That is wrong,” claimed Professor Simon Wessely, president of the Royal

College of Psychiatrists, “as much as saying that people with a history of broken arms shouldn’t be allowed to do something.”3

If the individual had sported a capacious beard, a dark countenance, and a few other culturally cosmetic additions, that would have made for a different set of observations. The uncomfortable reality about designations matter for what, effectively, is the same outcome. Prosecutors in this case were quick to dispel suggestions of a terrorist cause, excluding any political or religious motive.

Yet it is hard to forget that, in those last few minutes, passengers were subjected to an act of pain filled terror that would qualify, in any substantive sense, as terrorism. Refined terminology on such infliction of fear hardly helps before being obliterated in the Alps. The aim of the entire act did resemble that of any misguided martyr – to make a sorrowfully impressive mark, or at the very least an etching, on the history records. The black dog that is depression can be truly vicious.

ends

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