Search Results: friend went to principal

Scott atran went to live in the places most associated with terrorism

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he is by nature and trade an anthropologist not a terrorist appologist.

he has been used as a consultant by the upper echelons of the government

and is concerned with truth rather than hype.

The war on error ...

here is the gist of his main findings

the context.

around 25% pf the world is Muslim. the word might as well mean person in a quarter of the world

only 7% of the Islamic world has any sympathy for bin laden

out of these only a tiny percentage would consider doing anything violent (including regular or terrorist)

this mentality is very rarely transgressed by any kind of action

crash of civilizations (failed states and dictatorships) not clash of civilizations (religious war/ east v west) creates the conditions in which this mentality can flourish

unemployment . failed states , worthless young life with time on its hands and few to no prospects

kids who feel spit upon make gangs with their friends but then feel the need for true empowerment via ''religious'' action rather than profit motive

people start off in a counter culture akin to that of any country and then feel not enough is being done and group off to ''do more''

young people don't listen to moderates. radicalism has its attraction in any young culture. it is the direction of this energy that is misplaced.

the picture itself is akin to black ''gangstas'' in hip hop culture or white fascists. the only real difference is the direction of this energy.

the true nature is one of a tiny percentage of the kids that would grow up to be a gang in one place eventually taking on a path of wanting ''to do something against the goliath'' in another

a misplaced sense of altruism and empowerment drives this path

the religion itself might as well be race or nationality

it just means brown ppl. the religion itself is secondary to the cultural identity which basically just means everyone around them

geo communications and the internet make things easier and establish a different culture to the one that existed a few decades ago.

transitional stage people are most likely to be vulnerable to this

people who are friends and grow up around each other are most likely to group together to get involved, same principal as the wests gangs and traditional soldier units

empowerment is the thing here. to some it represents empowerment, just as the election of Obama might or the events in Egypt represent other rival senses of empowerment to them

the sense of the alien created after 9/11 by the American media and government is ridiculous and misplaced.