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Terrorism or mental health problem?

Police are describing a yesterday's knife murder in London as having a mental health factor. The same thing has been said of recent incidents in France and Germany.

The trouble with writing off those who perpetrate these attacks as having mental health issues is that people will keep their distance from anyone who looks as if they might be a Muslim. This stirs up racism and makes matters worse than if the authorities were honest and open about these Jihadi incidents.One also has to wonder what is the reason for the striking correlation between Islam and mental illness?

Worse still, it encourages politicians to regard these terrorist attacks as isolated happenings and so they do not take the action that is needed. At this point the situation may just still be containable. If left for much longer it will not be. Communal violence verging on civil war will then erupt. There is a limit to what people will tolerate.

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