The Zone

The Zone

What Makes Killers Kill?

We are too opportunistic in diagnosing the motivations of mass killers

Ben Sixsmith's avatar
Ben Sixsmith
Nov 11, 2026
∙ Paid

As soon as an act of mass violence occurs, the race is on to diagnose the motivations of the perpetrators. Islamism? Nazism? Incelism?

The mass shooting in Kraków was no exception. Polish demographics meant that Islamism was unlikely, though not impossible. A Muslim convert was arrested on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack this year.

Neo-Nazism se…

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