Description
Introduction
The topic of this interview is concerned with two amok runs that took place in Vienna (Austria) on March 8, 2018, and Munster (Germany) on April 7, 2018. The interview was conducted via Skype with my brother who is currently residing in Vienna. The interview was taped.
The chosen research format of an interview is indeed methodologically suitable as there is a good reason to believe that its application will enable a researcher to discover the in-depth subtleties of the issue in question.
Method
The conducted interview is best defined as semi-structured. Most of the questions that the interviewee was exposed to are open-ended. A fair share of them is contextually reactive. The rationale for conducting this type of interview has to do with both the participant sample of one person and the fact that the data, collected through conducting a semi-structured interview, is assumed to have a wide scope of discursive implications (Castillo-Montoya, 2016). To ensure the interview’s ethical soundness, the interviewee was asked to provide informed consent (Bell, 2010).
Results
The main idea that underlines the discursive significance of the obtained responses from the interviewee is that it is the government’s fault that the amok runs, such as the ones in Vienna and Munster, continue to take place throughout the EU regularly. As he stated, “It is either the elected officials begin to act responsibly… or they will end up being booted out of their offices”. The emotionally charged sounding of the interviewee’s answers is suggestive of the fact that he indeed takes the issue close to heart.
Evaluation
It took 10 minutes to conduct the interview. Its transcriptive and analytical phases lasted for about 20 minutes each. The interview’s main ethical issue appears to be reflective of the fact that the obtained responses do not correlate with the official stance on what should be deemed the significance of both tragic incidents. This confirms the appropriateness of choice in favor of the semi-structured interview format.
Evaluation 2
The main disadvantages of using interviews as a research method are as follows: a) the procedure’s time-consuming nature, b) presence of the element of perceptual bias in the would-be elicited responses, c) difficulty in ensuring the cross-sectional integrity of the data that a researcher seeks to obtain (Noaks & Wincup, 2004).
Among the method’s foremost advantages can be named the fact that the would-be collected data is going to be reflective of the interviewed participants’ values and the fact that such data will provide researchers with many clues, as to what prompted the interviewees to handle the questions in a certain way.
Semi-Structured Interview
Living in Vienna, you must be aware of those amok runs that have taken place in that city on March 8, 2018, and in Munster on April 7 of the same year?
Yes, of course. There is a strong public controversy going on in both Austria and Germany, because of these tragic events. People complain about the fact that they no longer feel safe being out on the street while blaming the government for its unwillingness to do anything about it. They also say that the authorities have been trying to downplay the significance of both attacks.
What is your personal opinion about all of this?
I pretty much share the public sentiment, in this regard. The authorities are trying to keep as much of a low profile about what has happened, as possible. For example, the official stance on the Vienna attack is that the attacker was not driven by any political motives, which is why this event cannot be classified as an act of terrorism. This, however, is not the case – the attacker was an Afghani refuge-seeker, known for his radical Islamic views. Yet, the public is told that the perpetrator was not fully adequate, in the mental sense of this word.
From what I have heard, the amok run in Munster was indeed perpetrated by a person with mental problems, what do you think of this specific incident?
Yes, the media kept describing the attack in Munster as having been essentially incidental, as the person behind it did not have anything to do with ISIS or any other terrorist organization. I disagree with such a point of view. There is no doubt in my mind that the guy must have been inspired to turn berserk by the media reports of Islamic terrorists plowing trucks through the crowds of innocent bystanders – something that began to take place throughout the EU regularly.
What do you think is the actual significance of both attacks?
From how I see it, they signify the fact that government officials and politicians in Austria and Germany have effectively ceased acting on behalf of these countries’ ordinary citizens. Our cities have been taken over by the newly arrived immigrants from Africa and the Middle East, who hate Europe and all of its values with passion.
Once here, they refuse to even try integrating into the society. Instead, they preoccupy themselves with raping women and killing people out on the street. The Afghani attacker is quite exemplary, in this regard. The government, however, tells us that all of this should not have any effect on the people’s willingness to “celebrate diversity”. Sometimes I feel as if I am living in Alice’s wonderland, where the rules of logic do not apply.
Do you believe that both tragic incidents could have been prevented?
Yes, I do believe so. Had the country’s immigration policy been compatible with the notion of sanity, nothing like that would have happened. I could not care less about the specifics of the Vienna attacker’s early upbringing, suggestive of him having been the victim of sexual abuse – something that the journalists like to talk about on TV. All I care about is why the millions and millions of people like this guy are given a green light to come to the EU and settle here, in the first place?
Do you feel unsafe living in Vienna because of what happened?
Affirmative. One can never know when yet another asylum-seeker goes berserk, gets in a truck and drives into pedestrians at full speed, or pulls out a knife and begins stabbing people in a broad daylight. We feel unprotected, especially given the fact that most of our politicians prefer to turn a blind eye to the situation, which has gotten out of control a long time ago. Instead, they talk volumes about the perils of the imaginary “Russian aggression.”
I don’t see any Russians driving vehicles into the crowds of people out on the street. It is specifically Russian immigrants in Vienna whom these “Allah Akbar” yelling refugees fear more than they do our toothless police. This confirms once again that the political process in the EU has ceased being even slightly commonsensical. How very sad.
You seem to be blaming everything on refugees from the Middle East and Africa, but as you know, the amok run in Munster was carried out by a native-born German. So, maybe these people are not the sole culprits?
I never blamed these asylum-seekers per se, but rather our rotten politicians. It is all a part of the same picture, you see. The Munster attacker was a psycho on a psychiatric watch, but the authorities still allowed him to roam free – all for the sake of promoting “tolerance”. The same authorities refuse to investigate the cases of Austrian and German women having been gang-raped by the “ethnically visible” immigrants straight from Africa. Do you know why? Because doing it would be against the spirit of “tolerance”. As I said, it’s Alice’s wonderland here. Sometimes I wish the Russians do move to occupy the EU – this would put an end to all of this nonsense.
What do you think needs to be done to make sure that the incidents, such as the ones that have taken place in Vienna and Munster, never occur again?
The answer to this question is rather straightforward – Austria and Germany should revoke the status of an official policy to the insanity of political correctness, close their borders, and deport the newly arrived refugee-seekers from the Middle East and Africa back to where they came from.
Also, those mental patients that are currently out on a loose should be locked up inside nuthouses, where they belong. This, however, is easier said than done, because there is more to the issue than it may appear initially.
I am not too sure what are you referring to. Could you please specify?
You see, there is a certain oddity about the mentioned amok runs, as well as the ones that have taken place earlier across the EU. It is just that these attacks tend to take place on the next day or two after a particular high-ranking politician comes up with the public statement that the time has come to lift economic sanctions against Russia, as being strongly counterproductive to the EU’s economy itself.
Are you suggesting that there is some kind of conspiracy behind all of this?
I am not suggesting anything. All I am saying is that there are many odd qualities to the epidemics of unmotivated terror attacks that have been taking place across Europe through the last few years.
What do you think ordinary citizens should do to be less likely to fall victims to the berserk attacks, such as the ones that we talk about?
It is very little that can be done, in this regard. It is the government’s responsibility to make sure that no maliciously minded individuals are allowed to come to the country. Our government, however, does exactly the opposite. How is it possible not to think of conspiracy because of it? I can still come up with a few basic recommendations, though. First, avoid spending much time in crowded public places.
Second, be on alert at all times when venturing out of your house. Third, carry a concealed weapon, regardless of whether the law allows it or not. If the government fails to live up to its duty of protecting citizens, it is up to the latter to protect themselves by whatever means possible. It is better to be safe than sorry.
How do you think the perpetrators of both berserk attacks should be dealt with?
They should be lynched right on the spot. These individuals are worse than most vicious animals and they should be dealt with accordingly. This suggestion may sound bloodthirsty, but the relatives of those who have been murdered during the attacks will agree. The attackers willingly choose to detach themselves from the rest of the people, so it will only be logical to treat them in the most unforgiving manner.
From what I have heard, the Munster attacker was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. After that, he will be most likely to spend a few years in a psychiatric clinic and eventually be released out in the open again. Then, it will be only a matter of time before we hear of yet another amok run having taken place.
Before we end this interview, can I ask what would be your concluding thought about what we have discussed today?
I think that the situation when we hear of more and more people being killed by crazed psychos on an amok run, with the government not being able to do anything about it, is intolerable. It is either the elected officials begin to act responsibly, in this regard, or they will end up being booted out of their offices in the most intolerant manner by those who have had just about enough of “tolerance”.
References
Bell, J. (2010). Doing your research project (5th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Education.
Castillo-Montoya, M. (2016). Preparing for interview research: The interview protocol refinement framework. The Qualitative Report, 21(5), 811-830.
Noaks, L., & Wincup, E. (2004). Criminological research: Understanding qualitative methods. New York: SAGE Publications.