What causes a young person to become a terrorist?
They are looking for
an identity.
Many young people often join terrorist organizations because
they are looking for an identity for themselves. A 2010 study from the United
States Institute of Peace found that among “2,032 ‘foreign fighters’” who
joined al-Qaeda, being a so-called “identity seeker” was the largest reason to
join a terrorist organization.
Like many young college students, high school students and
adolescents, potential terrorists are looking to answer the question “Who am
I?” Having a traumatic experience as a youth in particular is a motivating
factor in deciding to become a terrorist — and terrorist recruiters recognize
this.
“The personal pathway model suggests that terrorists came
from a selected, at risk population, who have suffered from early damage to
their self-esteem,” said psychologist Eric D. Shaw in a 1986 paper.
American-born al-Qaeda spokesman Adam Gadahn, shoe bomber
Richard Reid, American Taliban John Walker Lindh, Puerto Rican dirty bomber
plotter Joe Padila, and underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab have been
cited as prime examples of this.
They have a need for belonging.
Terrorist organizations often grow their ranks by recruiting
youths who have a need for belonging. Randy Borum, a professor at the
University of South Florida, argued in a 2004 paper that future terrorists find
“not only a sense of meaning, but also a sense of belonging, connectedness and
affiliation” in terrorist organizations.
Since terrorists often attempt to recruit those most
vulnerable in society, becoming involved in terrorist activities, whether as a
passive supporter or an active supporter, may represent the first true meaning
a terrorist has had in his or her life.
Borum added in his 2004 paper that for some, this strong
sense of belonging for the first time in one’s life is the main reason for
staying in the terrorist organization and becoming an active supporter engaging
in terrorism rather than a passive supporter simply sympathizing with the
cause.
They want to correct what they believe is injustice.
Righting what a terrorist perceives as a wrong is a major
factor in youths deciding to engage in terrorist activities. This is
particularly true of the “lone wolf” scenario.
Georgetown professor Bruce Hoffman has said that recruiting
based on perceived injustices, especially by saying that the West is hostile
toward Islam, is a point terrorist recruiters drive home. Hoffman added that
these recruiters will argue jihad against the West is only option to correct
this, while the Hoover Institue says that righting perceived wrongs is a major
terrorist motivation.
Stanford professor Martha Crenshaw has written, “One of the
strongest motivations behind terrorism is vengeance, particularly the desire to
avenge not oneself but others. Vengeance can be specific or diffuse, but it is
an obsessive drive that is a powerful motive for violence toward others,
especially people thought to be responsible for injustices.”
They are looking for a thrill.
According to the United States Institue for Peace, so-called
“thrill seekers” accounted for 5% of the “2,032 ‘foreign fighters’” they
interviewed in 2011. This small group of individuals often were attracted to
violent video games and stories glorying jihad and war. The study mentions that
this type of future terrorist “often came from a middle- or upper-class family
and joined out of boredom.”
Borum also cited boredom as part of the process by which
youth become radicalized, saying, “They follow a general progression from
social alienation to boredom, then occasional dissidence and protest before
eventually turning to terrorism.”
According to research conducted by the Library of Congress,
instances of joining out of boredom are often found in the Gaza Strip,
especially among those with little education.
“Those with little education, such as youths in Algerian
ghettos or the Gaza Strip, may try to join a terrorist group out of boredom and
a desire to have an action-packed adventure in pursuit of a cause they regard
as just,” reads a 1999 report conducted by the Library’s research division.
They sympathize with
a group and self-radicalize via the internet.
Many youth often make the jump from a passive supporter and
sympathizer of terrorists to active supporter actually engaging in terrorist
acts through the internet. The internet can instruct future terrorists how to
build bombs, join an organization, fund terrorism, and share information. In
many ways the internet serves as a virtual training camp.
Much like the way non-terrorists use social media, the
internet has “become a virtual ‘echo chamber’ — acting as a radicalization
accelerant,” according to a United States Senate Committee.
The Department of Homeland Security has cited three ways
that young people find sites to become radicalized: browsing for entertainment;
searching for a community to belong to; and looking for information related to
heritage, traditions, or ideologies associated with a particular radical group.
A relevant case study of this is the example of American
Colleen LaRose, although not a youth, better known as “Jihad Jane.” LaRose
found herself going through a tough time. After attempting to kill herself, she
converted to Islam. Using the internet, she went from a passive supporter of
terrorism to and active supporter, and she was enlisted by an al-Qaeda
operative to fly to Sweden and kill the author of a cartoon depicting the
Prophet Muhammad’s head on a dog. She was arrested when caught by the FBI in
2009.
Reference :
Andrew Kaczynski, BuzzFeed Staff. BUZZFEED POLITICS
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