In march 2017, a male, 52, born on Christmas in 1964 England, kills four on the Westminster bridge. A male born in a suburb of Paris, New Years Eve 1977 opens fire on the Champs-Elysees and kills a cop, april 2017. Belgian citizen Mohamed Abrini, born 1984 takes part in the coordinated attacks from Paris, in November 2015 and the blasts in Bruxelles, a year later - hundreds die.
It is estimated that over 4000 europeans are gone to fight for islamic terrorism groups, and a third of those are now back in Europe. A poll shows that 1 out of 4 french teens had a favorable attitude towards ISIS (in 2014).
How do people end up there, especially the youngsters?
Given the atrocity of terorism acts, it is assumed that the assailants suffer from mental diseases. But over 3 decades of studies disproved that theory - most terrorists did not suffer from any known mental diseases, being psychologically close to regular people.
It's also been speculated that terrorists could be psychopaths, but psychopathy does not imply auto-sacrifice: psychopaths are anti-social, they lack empathy, but are extremely egocentered, which does not make them candidates for suicide attacks. Even more, psychopaths do not act in groups.
Another common belief is that religion is the base of radicalized terrorism, but taking a closer look it becomes clear that this is a consequence, not a cause.
The essential question is not who are the ones that join extremist groups, but what they want.
Antrophologist Scott Atran studied both the oriental radicals, as well as the europeans that joined ISIS or Al Qaeda. Atran related that Daesh fighters in Irak were poorly educated and did not have knowledge regarding the Coran or the islamic religion. All the answers regarding their religion showed that they learned about it exclusively from ISIS propaganda. They all believed they will be eliminated by the enemy, if they did not take them out first.
Similarily, individuals that get radicalized in Europe, convert suddenly and in most cases did not have any religious traditional education. More than that, Salafi jihadism considers suicide a sin, because it interferes with the will of Allah, as Oliver Roy explains. Radicalism is in reality, their religion.
It seems that youngsters that join terrorism groups have a series of psychological characteristics that are specific to other groups; idealism combined with the belief that the world is a disaster and the change cannot be made peacefully, justifying their imoral means. Even though not everyone that feels and believes that becomes a terrorist, it becomes obvious why people that are so different both socially and professionally, choose to enroll in ISIS's fight, or at least they get to common grounds with their ideology. Terrorist groups take their frustrations for the surrounding world, identifies the responsible enemy for all the wrong-doing, and gives them a purpose by fighting against them.
"Most supporters and volunteers (of terrorist organizations) that represent normal categories in psychological terms are in general young people in transitional states: students, immigrants, unemployed, looking for a job, freshly out of the family life", said Scott Atran.
Over half of those that practice violence in the name of Jihad are immigrants from the second generation (born in the western world, coming from foreign parents), which do not have a strong western world identity or foreign identity - but were most likely witnesses of discrimination against foreigners. This identity vacuum is a fertile ground for radicalization, as Olivier Roy, expert in terrorism and professor at the European University Institute explains.
Practically, even though they are not mentally ill, ISIS accolites go through unbalanced situations.
Young people look for a purpose in life, The Meaning. ISIS gives them adventure and glory. And purpose.
The fight goes on over terrestrial and ideological purposes, and the most significant thins that a citizen can do, is not give up to terror.
Interesting thoughts
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