A mother’s anguish: A nightmare

IN a country as susceptible to brainwashing as any — after all, we had a notorious Republican described as a political prisoner just last week — we should listen carefully to the words of Radhia Manai.

Her son, Seifeddine Rezgui, killed 38 holiday makers, including three Irish people, on a beach in Tunisia last week.

“God bless the victims... and their poor families... someone was pressuring my son to do this. My son is a victim like all the others. I want to know who is the head of all this... and I want them to go to prison or be killed.”

The heartbroken woman could be any one of millions of parents around the world trying to understand their children’s response to the world they have made for them.

And, just like her, millions of parents cannot comprehend their children’s reaction to — or rejection of — the social values once so very cherished and honoured.

It is hard not to think, though, that active, loving parenting could not have averted this carnage.

After all, the evidence is all around us — the decent, well-behaved, and sane majority.