Review: Role of Workplace Mobbing at Fort Hood, TX

The similarity between the case of Seung-Hui Cho, the shooter at VA Tech, and other mass shooters that were mobbed for months or years before striking back, and the current case of Ivan Lopez, is downright chilling.

by Glenn McBride

Specialist Ivan Lopez, 34, went on a shooting spree that killed 4 and injured 16 on April 2, 2014. News reports suggest that Lopez suffered from service-related mental illness. He should not have passed the background check to obtain the pistol that he used in his rampage. This is, by and large, where the official narrative ends.

There is another narrative evolving out of the extensive examination of the most recent rampage shooting at Fort Hood. Lopez wanted a transfer from Fort Hood because he was being harassed and tormented for months on end by his fellow soldiers. This is what he told friends and colleagues.

The DailyMail published a story here where he ranted on Facebook for months preceding the rampage:

DailyMail: Fort Hood shooter ‘wanted a transfer because he was being bullied by other soldiers’ claims official

Several academics have written case studies proving a causal link between workplace mobbing, i.e. group bullying,  and mass shootings. These academics include Dr. Kenneth Westhues, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Waterloo, and Dr. Janice Harper, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Tennessee.

In his 2007 paper, Mobbing and the Virginia Tech Massacre, Professor Westhues writes:

“Most of the people who go postal, however, in academic as in other workplaces, have been mobbed there in preceding months or years.”

The similarity between the case of Seung-Hui Cho, the shooter at VA Tech, and other mass shooters that were mobbed for months or years before striking back, and the current case of Ivan Lopez, is downright chilling.

Mobbing or group bullying being a catalyst in a tragedy at Fort Hood this year is enough to make a decent man or woman cringe. The fact that this scenario played out virtually identically in 2009 with Dr. Nidal Hasan’s mass shooting at Fort Hood makes one wonder just how broken and dysfunctional morale is within the U.S. Military.

Hasan also reported being harassed by colleagues. He also suffered from mental problems. He was harassed, to such an extent, that he confided in his family that he had hired an attorney to obtain a discharge from the Army in order to end the torment:

HuffingtonPost: Malik Hasan Cousin, Nader Hasan, Interviewed By Fox News: “He Was A Good American” (VIDEO)

Hasan’s case was particularly egregious, in that his car was vandalized, and, a Muslim bumper sticker was removed from his vehicle by his harassers.

A baby diaper was placed in Hasan’s car, a crude picture of a camel was drawn on his vehicle with the epithet “camel jockey”:

NYTimes.com: Fort Hood Gunman Gave Signals Before His Rampage

The question we must ask is whether or not we should continue our analysis based on simplistic vilification of the Fort Hood shooters as nut cases, or focus on the group dynamics involved in the all too common phenomenon of workplace mobbing, bullying, and harassment that pushes these unstable individuals over the edge with deadly consequences.