5 Key facts on Threats to Prominent People from our latest ‘The Online Bodyguard’® Podcast with Dr Reid Meloy
1. Most threats are driven by a personal grievance: personal grievances, having four elements to it:
- loss.
- humiliation.
- anger.
- blame.
When you eliminate any of those four elements, the personal grievance is usually defused.
2. There has been a narcissism shift over recent years with regards to the motivation by attackers: from a desire for fame to an angry sense of entitlement.
3. The percentage of individuals that attack a public figure after having directly threatened is actually quite small, probably no more than 5%…..so in 95% of cases there will be no direct threat made.
4. Leakage is very common: there will be leakage of intent to a third party in 60 to 90% of cases of targeted attacks, including on public figures
5. The 3 most common proximal pre-attack warning behaviours are:
- Pathway to Violence
- Identification
- Last resort behaviour or language
For more information or help with any threats/abuse/intimidation – contact Defuse® at [email protected].
