Jahar's abnormal behavior

One of the reasons demonstrating the peculiar behavior of Jahar is his lack of care about the gravity of the condition created by the bombing attack. The author narrates from the report that Jahar was arraigned at the federal courthouse in Boston on 10 July, and instead of thinking about the intensity of the event, he just yawned, grinned, and slouched in his chair as if nothing important had happened. In comparison, Jahar did not seem to completely grasp the severity of the assault and his capture. "What the hell is going on here? " in the courtroom.

Additionally, the abnormality of Jahar's behavior is exhibited in several of his tweets. From the article, the author quotes Jahar tweeting that he uses his high-school essays for his English class and that he likes answering his own questions because no one else can. Such statements reveal Jahar's abnormal cognitive behavior and a show of disregard to his teachers' assistance. Besides, some of Jahar's friends, such as Sam, describe him as referring to other people as corny, and always spending time in the car and getting high. That also exhibits Jahar’s lack of self-cognition.

The abnormality of Jahar's behavior can also be determined by several revealing statements he made in his tweets in his teens. Jahar made various sophomoric jokes and complaints regarding his perpetual lateness, his roommate, certain rap music, and he occasionally developed deep thoughts. Such behaviors were not normal, according to his friends, and the conclusion was that he was homesick and suffered from insomnia, characterized by a significant lack of cognition and moral character. Besides, Jahar experienced repeated zombie dreams, always thinking of his dad. Such emotions had great contributions to the abnormality of Jahar’s behavior.

Q 2. The perspective of abnormal behavior that best describe Jahar's thought processes and behavior leading up to the bombing attack is a change in his cognitive behavior. One of the indications of Jahar’s change in cognitive behavior is his conduct of echoing his brother's religious fever. According to the article, Jahar wrote on his tweeter post that, knowing that he was free from hypocrisy was more dear to him than the weight of the whole world in gold. Besides, Jahar declared on his Twitter account that "Never underestimate the rebel with a cause," which substantially reflects his change in cognitive behavior that has a close link with the events of the bombing attack that followed.

Another indication of Jahar’s change in cognitive behavior was his comment that the country spent $15 billion on the Summer Olympics and imagined if that money was used on feeding individuals in need across the world. In Jahar's view, the government considers the value of life as shit nowadays, and he considered that tragic in his tweet. Such Twitter statements give a clear indication of Jahar's abnormal cognitive behavior, which might have led to the bombing attack.

Additionally, Jahar believed that the 9/11 attack was an inside Job organized by the American government to taint the Islamic faith. Before the bombing attack at the Olympic events, Jahar had wondered why it was hard for most of his Twitter followers to accept that the 9/11 attack was an inside job. In fact, Jahar got obsessed with the 9/11 attack blame on Muslim terrorists that he made vulgar statements on the people he described as real patriots. Besides, Jahar stated that he could not argue with fools who claim that Islam is terrorism, and emphasized the “let an idiot remain an idiot.” Therefore, Jahar’s belief that the 9/11 attack was meant to taint the Islamic faith might have contributed to his actions during the Olympics.

Another indication of Jahar’s change in cognitive behavior was his act of downloading Islamic militant tracts from the internet to his computer. For instance, he downloaded an article whose title read "Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom," which provided detailed guidelines on how to use a pressure cooker, shrapnel, and explosive powder from fireworks, as well as other readily available ingredients, to make an IED. The access to such materials gives a clear evidence of Jahar's involvement in the bombing attack during the Olympic games.

Also, when Jahar returned home in March for spring break, he was driving in a flashy black BMW car with the “TERRORISTA” joke license plate. Besides, he was putting on a brown, new, military-style jacket that appeared as swag to his friends. Jahar's change of behavior to relate himself acts of terrorism significantly reflect the events of the bombing attack that followed. Additionally, according to the article, Jahar and his brother went to a firing range where Jahar rented two 9mm handguns, bought 200 rounds of ammunition, and resorted practice of target with Tamerlan, his elder brother. Such abnormal behavior exhibited by Jahar also gives one of the best descriptions of his thought processes and behavior leading up to the bombing attack.

Q 3. One of the factors related to Jahar not getting help for his increasingly disturbed thinking is his lack of openness to his friends. Jahar never shared details of his family issues with his friends, even the closest ones, and it was difficult for his friends to detect his abnormal cognitive behavior. Jahar spent several weeks at home during Christmas break and his friends did not detect anything different about him, except his desperate attempt to grow a beard with little success.

Additionally, Jahar’s beliefs and thoughts sank deep into Islamic religion that he could not listen to any opinion that was contrary to his cognition of the Islamic teachings. In one of his tweets, Jahar said that his religion is the true faith. Besides, according to one of his tweets, Jahar believed that people get into others’ lives to hurt them. Therefore, it was not easy to receive assistance for his increasingly disturbed thinking since he was not ready to listen to none-Muslims’ advice.

Q 4. The stress in Jahar's life may have affected his thinking and behavior in a broad range of ways. It was difficult to understand the contents of Jahar's psyche. Jahar was under acculturative stress, which made him think that the United States was against Muslims, an attitude which adversely altered his way of cognition and behavior. Besides, the stress in Jahar's life made him develop the feeling of being alienated, or not connected, or listless, which contributed to his engagement abnormal acts and thoughts.

Additionally, Jahar's acculturative stress got characterized by silence, which made him think differently. In fact, not of his friends knew he had any family issues apart from his parents' divorce. Therefore, Jahar's stress made him a secretive person, and his close friends could not easily notice his thoughts and behaviors.

Jahar appeared to utilize a broad range of coping strategies. One of such strategies was being emotionally focused and his engagement in meaningful activities while at school. He focused on and participated in boxing as a means of coping with acculturative stress, as well as part of his ex-curricular activity. By taking part in sports, Jahar, enhanced his sense of enjoyment and happiness, as well as expanded his social connections with other people of different religious and ethnic groups. Another coping strategy utilized by Jahar was getting social support from family members and friends. Developing and maintaining social relationships with friends gave him a sense of connectedness and positive feelings. Jahar also used positive emotion as his coping strategy. Although some of his friends expressed their opposition to the Islamic religion, Jahar, in most cases, did not engage them in contrary arguments.

In my view, such coping strategies hurt Jahar's ability to cope with stress. That is because his interactions with friends did not help him reduce the level of stress resulting from living apart from his family. Besides, Jahar was not ready to adapt to the cultures and beliefs of his friends, who were had opposing views of Islam. Also, Jahar never utilized his coping strategies to share his thoughts and feelings with friends. Instead, he kept his issues to himself, which made it difficult for him to cope. Additionally, despite remaining active in his interactions with friends, Jahar's negative cognition of the American people seemed to be unchanged, a situation which adversely hurt his coping ability.

Works Cited

Reitman, Janet. "Jahar's World."Rollingstone, 2013, http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/jahars-world-20130717.