Today's new terrorists were radical before they were religious (3/31/16)

[yallerdawg]

All we hear is Islam, Islamists, radical Islam, radical Islamic terrorism - or is this completely backwards?

WaPo, Fareed Zakaria

*****

Consider one telltale difference. Al-Qaeda and its ilk issued fatwas with detailed critiques and politico-religious demands. What are the demands behind the Paris and Brussels attacks? Writing about these young French jihadis, Olivier Roy, a French scholar of Islam, points out that almost none have a background in political activism (say, Palestine), fundamentalist Islam or social conservatism. “Their radicalization arises around the fantasy of heroism, violence, and death, not of sharia and utopia,” he writes. The Islamic State is the ultimate gang, celebrating violence for its own sake.

These young men — and some women — are usually second-generation Europeans. In fact, Roy points out that often they are revolting against their more traditional, devout immigrant parents. They are unsure of their identity, rooted in neither the old country nor the new. They face discrimination and exclusion. And in this context, they choose a life of rebellion, crime and, then, the ultimate forbidden adventure, jihad.

*****

Why are these findings so important? They paint a picture of a new kind of terrorist, one who is less drawn into terrorism through religion but rather who has chosen the path of terror as the ultimate act of rebellion against the modern world — and who then finds an ideology that can justify his desires. Radical Islam provides that off-the-shelf ideology, easily available through the Internet and social media. But it is the endpoint in the chain, not the start.

This still means that Muslims have to battle and eradicate the cancer in their midst that is radical Islam. But it does suggest that for Western law enforcement, bugging mosques, patrolling Muslim community centers and even fighting fundamentalist Muslims might be focusing attention in the wrong direction — if the goal is to find terrorists. Those people might instead be in the bars, drug alleys, unemployment lines and prisons, getting radicalized before they get Islamized.

Read it at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/todays-new-terrorists-were-radical-before-they-were-religious/2016/03/31/9cb8e916-f762-11e5-9804-537defcc3cf6_story.html?utm_campaign=93c1ac4103-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_03_23&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Fareed%27s

[Jonny Appleseed]

1. I've always said this.

The world has reached an apex of peace that is historically against the natural order of humanity causing what almost seems like kind of primal force driving people to rebel. You saw it with Brexit, Trump, the Arab Spring is no exception; only more volatile because of the conditions and history of ethnic clashing that has plagued it since the collapse of the Ottoman empire.

[yallerdawg]

2. Some people never discover the 'better angels of our nature.'

The more people there are - the more people will do extremely bad things. 1 out of 1000. 10 out of 10,000. And so on.

[eppur_se_muova]

3. Well, FINALLY ! I'd come to this conclusion long ago.

AND it's worth noting that the London attacker, like many terrorists who have acted recently, was native-born -- so much for blocking immigration of "potential" terrorists !