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Bad People

18. Lone Wolf: Who becomes a far-right terrorist?

Bad People

BBC

True Crime

4.41.1K Ratings

🗓️ 31 December 2020

⏱️ 37 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When far-right terrorist Anders Breivik murdered 77 people, many of whom were children, court-appointed psychiatrists declared him insane. Many Norwegian members of the public were angry that a diagnosis of a psychotic disorder would mean he would not be held accountable for his crimes and might even be freed early. He told doctors that he was the leader of a military group at war with Norway, committed to racist, anti-Muslim ideas. Breivik himself rejected the "insanity defence", insistent that he committed the mass murders with the aim of achieving high-profile media coverage at his trial. This episode of Bad People wrestles with the problem of giving media platforms to terrorists, radicalised by the internet A second evaluation found him to be sane. This time psychiatrists said that his symptoms were due to a severe narcissistic personality disorder combined with pathological lying and therefore he was accountable for his actions. 22 July 2011 forever changed Norway's relationship with homegrown extremism and it's hoped that the knowledge gained by psychiatrists about such terrorists will help to prevent future attacks. Warning: This episode contains descriptions terrorism, extreme violence and death, including the death of children. Archive credits: This episode includes audio from the United Nations, TEDx Talks and BBC News Presenters: Dr. Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen Producer: Paula McGrath Assistant Producer: Simona Rata Music: Matt Chandler Series Editor: Rami Tzabar Commissioning Producer: Hannah Rose Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins Commissioning Editor: Jason Phipps Bad People is a BBC Audio Science Production for BBC Sounds #BadPeople_BBC

Transcript

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0:23.4

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0:28.3

Newscast, listen on BBC Sounds.

0:31.4

BBC Sounds. B. C Sounds, music radio podcasts.

0:37.0

Three, two, one.

0:38.0

Sophie, I recently got some unsolicited feedback on this podcast.

0:43.0

Side note to everyone who sent us lovely supportive fan messages.

0:46.0

We love you too.

0:47.0

Oh, we love you more than anyone.

0:48.0

But I recently got some, let's just call it not fan mail.

0:52.0

And the dude who sent this was like why is this

0:55.4

podcast funny serious topics deserve serious coverage I'm shocked to hear

1:00.1

that that came from a man the men are usually not the first people to just join in and give unsolicited feedback, as you called it.

1:08.0

I mean, I sort of agree, you know, like if the news covered murder cases with just a bunch of jokes I feel like I'd be a bit

1:14.8

distraught too but the thing is we're not the news no we're not I was like oh I'm

1:20.0

so sorry to hear you're not enjoying our true crime times comedy podcast.

1:24.0

Comedy.

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