This study makes a statement that is absurd on its face when it says that “religious practice” plays no role in “violent radicalization,” when in reality we have seen time and time again that jihad terrorists are devout, observant Muslims who appeal to peaceful Muslims by invoking the Qur’an and the example of Muhammad and portraying themselves as the true Muslims. But nonetheless, this study debunks once again one of the core assumptions of the Washington foreign policy establishment: that poverty causes terrorism, and that therefore throwing money at the problem of jihad will make it go away.
“Risk factors for violent radicalization: youth, wealth and education,” from Medical News Today, March 21 (thanks to LA):
New research from Queen Mary University of London has found youth, wealth, and being in full-time education to be risk factors associated with violent radicalisation. Contrary to popular views – religious practice, health and social inequalities, discrimination, and political engagement showed no links.
The pioneering research assessed population prevalence of sympathies for terrorist acts – a key marker of vulnerability to violent radicalisation – and their relationship with commonly assumed causes of radicalisation. The community study surveyed over 600 men and women of Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Muslim heritage in London and Bradford, aged 18-45.
A small minority of people (2.4%) expressed some sympathy for violent protest and terrorism, whilst over 6% remained neutral – i.e., they did not show sympathies but nor did they condemn such acts. However, sympathy levels increased among those under 20, those in full time education rather than employment, those born in the UK, and high earners (£75,000 per year or more).
Interestingly, migrants and those speaking a language other than English at home, and those who reported having poor physical health, were all less likely to show sympathies for terrorist acts. In addition, those who reported suffering from anxiety and depression were no more likely to display sympathies, provoking some new research questions about the relationship between radicalisation and mental health.
As part of the study, researchers developed a new way of measuring radicalisation based upon on asking participants about their sympathies for or condemnation of 16 different actions that fell under the heading of terrorism (for example, use of suicide bombs to fight injustice).
The study was undertaken with support from relevant community agencies, and public engagement informed the study design and execution. This ground-breaking research shows the value of Life Sciences, whereby medical and social scientists are working closely with researchers from the humanities and the public to solve the greatest challenges in global health and security.
Kamaldeep Bhui, lead author and Professor of Cultural Psychiatry & Epidemiology, Queen Mary University of London, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, comments:
“It is important to note that sympathy towards terrorism is uncommon. However, we know it’s a crucial indicator for being recruited into violent radicalisation. From a public health standpoint, if we can pinpoint population contexts that promote sympathies for terrorism, we can then work to shift them and hopefully reduce overall vulnerability to radicalisation. But up until our research, there was no way of measuring this.
“We now need to continue working closely with local communities and carry out larger studies to put this new measurement into practice. Our aim is to discover population contexts that promote sympathy towards terrorism and violent protest, and come up with interventions to reduce this.”
Experts have argued that radicalisation is a staged process that starts with pre-radicalisation and moves through stages of self-identification, indoctrination, and finally Jihadization.* In this study, researchers believe a preventive intervention needs to interrupt the ‘pre-radicalisation’ phase, a period when individuals begin to develop sympathies for extremist ideas or terrorist movements without becoming directly involved.
This fits in with the preventive approaches taken on other public health issues, where common ‘warning signs’ are targeted for intervention. However, to apply this method to the issue of radicalisation, we need a better understanding of the personal and situational characteristics that would act as warning signs (or markers of risk) for this early phase.
One of the key challenges up until now has been the absence of a measure of the early stages of radicalisation. Because the perpetrators of many recent, high-profile terrorist attacks were citizens who worked and were educated in the countries they attacked, a core issue for prevention is how to identify people who have no history of criminal behaviour but have become radicalised enough to commit acts of terrorism.
Kamaldeep Bhui continues:
“As a nation, we spend a great deal of time, effort and money on counter-terrorism – but virtually no attention is given to researching preventive interventions. Health practitioners and local government have targeted preventive initiatives on many issues such as gun crime and domestic violence, but as yet the same approach hasn’t been applied to radicalisation. We believe this is because we don’t, at the moment, have a proper understanding of who is at risk and that is why our research is so vital.”
“Once terrorists are captured, there is often debate about what motivated their behaviour. Whether they came from disadvantaged backgrounds, have mental health issues or a criminal record, and whether their acts were purely political. Characteristics identified during interrogation are uncritically assumed to be of relevance to the early phase of radicalisation. But in reality, there’s little empirical research on the early stages of radicalisation and it’s still unclear what factors make potential recruits open to persuasion to join a terrorist movement. This ‘open-to-persuasion’ phase is marked by growing sympathies for terrorism and violent protest, and must be investigated further.”
The study is published in the journal PLOS ONE.
45charledton says
Many are well educated and have good jobs . Also have good family lives.
River Warrior says
Education helps them to feign moderation.
Employment gives them access to victims.
Affluence enables them to fund The Project.
kikorikid says
In short, They had the “liberality” to pursue
a radical agenda. Makes sense to me. They had everything
but immortality in Paradise. Dying in Jihad
gives them that.
kikorikid says
The NYPD were correct when they monitored Mosques
for “radical Islam” stuff. But it is not the Mosque,
it is the Imam. A Jihadi is a guy who was a “Moderate”
and then, one day, decided to answer the Imams call
to Jihad. jihad is an Obligation and Duty to achieve
“True Believer” status. And if a Jihadi gets killed
on Jihad-ZING- straight to Paradise streams, cheapwine,
whores by the dozen, boys…
Dave says
Speaking of well educated muslims going rogue, seems like the Malaysian airline disappearance will go down in history as the worst case of sudden jihad syndrome (not that anyone will admit it). That’s the only explanation I can come up with. The pilot, who was by all accounts an atheist and the co-pilot, a devout muslim who calmly signs off while turning the plane off to the west to kill his plane load of Chinese infidels, and find his promised paradise.
All the focus on the pilot is missing the point completely IMHO. Always bet on the true believer.
Maja says
Oh that’s easy. We don’t want to offend Muslims. We don’t care that they kill a plane load of people or innocent people going to work on a subway etc etc We would rather be politically correct. That’s easy. ABC caves to CAIR. So let’s boycott ABC. Unless of course they show any part of March Madness then we won’t be able to boycott that – heaven forbid.
Yup we keep drinking the kool aide
islamisdeath says
But according to the left muslims are becoming jihadis because of poverty. As one poster here pointed out to me it’s because of American corporate expansionism that keeps them impoverished. This must be wrong because the left definitely has it figured out.
I’m going to go quote some motivational homilies and the universe will straighten this out post haste!
Maja says
Oh please! I am tired of hearing this. They are in poverty but the y can spend $$$ on ammunition flying all over the place to commit jihad and dig elaborate tunnels to smuggle weapons . Every time the US rebuilt the infrastructure in IRAQ some jackass group of Muslim rouge groups would blow it up. They don’t like something or they like something they blow up parts of their own country. I am personally surprised a Muslim country is still standing. They don’t like their lot then stop committing jihad, marrying 12 year old girls, having big families, keeping their women uneducated and the getting off their butts and do something POSITIVE for the world . I’ll be damned before i permit hand outs to these group of rebrobates
Joel says
How about, for early intervention, either:
kill the bastards
or
send them back to their hell holes.
or,
combine, send them back in garbage bags–as they are garbage
Just my POLITICALLY INCOORECT viewpoint
Maja says
I like the garbage bag optłon
Geordie says
Why waste all that protein. Feed them to pigs and recycle it. Very green!
Of course we are just “taking the piss” and making jokes. No need to report us for islamophobia.
Radula fear says
http://raylanfear.wordpress.com/2014/03/17/21st-century-issue-of-silence-today-and-beyond-tomorrow/
citycat says
Early stages of radicalization?
From birth for most Muslims and peer fear pressure.
The “open to persuasion” non Muslims need looking at?
Look at the targetors(Islam) as much, if not more so, as the targeted.
Look at Islam.
Take off those treacherous blinkers.
Preventive interventions?
Time is passing.
Islam is breeding and creeping.
Islam cannot be moderated, it means to kill everyone.
Islam is willful, it cannot and will not change, it is an encroaching beast, with a non human soul.
Islam will not be changed, only in pretence to advance.
A dog is a dog, it will not become a rabbit.
Canz says
I’m living in Indonesia, and was born in a Muslim family. In my opinion, everyone can be attracted to radicalism (it doesn’t matter whether you’re poor or rich etc), but…there are some ways to spot ones. People out there should understand that the number of radical (and pre radical) Muslims is still smaller compared to the non radical ones (at least that’s what I see in my country)…and these people…they don’t really feel comfortable with the non radical ones…so, they will limit interaction with the non radicals ones and only become close with people who share the same perspective…well..that’s my opinion.
Defcon 4 says
What a load of steaming Taqiyya. Indonesiastan is presently engaged in the ethnic cleansing (some might call it genocide) of the unbeliever in W. Papua New Guinea. Indonesiastan has already committed a genocide of the unbeliever in E. Timor (which the scuzzlums in Indonesiastan still deny to this day). If the majority of scuzzlums didn’t support the persecution of people of other faiths that is SOP in their Jew hating, xenophobic, totalitarian death cult it wouldn’t be going on in every, single islam0nazi state on the face of the globe today.
kikorikid says
D4, Properly, called- East Irian Jaya, the Easternmost “State”
of Indonesia. The Culture there, like the Culture found further East in PNG, Western and Gulf Provinces, is Pantheistic, the Culture classified as ,
Neolithic… Most still have bow and arrow existence but they
are being murdered by Muslims with AKs.
dumbledoresarmy says
Actually, many of them today are Christian; some have been Christian for three generations.
gravenimage says
Canz wrote:
I’m living in Indonesia, and was born in a Muslim family. In my opinion, everyone can be attracted to radicalism (it doesn’t matter whether you’re poor or rich etc)…
…………………………..
Is that so? And adhering to a creed that sacralizes violent “radicalism” has nothing to do with it? Right…..sarc/off
Always On Watch says
Just look at how many Muslims are foreign exchange students in the high schools and universities all over America. Training them to destroy us!
marclouis says
but that can’t be true, you politicians have been telling us that the reasons these humans revert to savagery (islamic radicalisation) is because of the poor hard done by muslims have no opportunity. Nah, the politicians wouldn’t lie to us now would they.
Geordie says
At last. Someone with the balls to support the bloody obvious with some peer reviewed number crunching. This is of great significance and will be used in court to challenge politically correct restriction on freedom of expression.
Not popular here but …
Perhaps in the future someone will publish another paper, detailing the links between irrational behaviour such as suicide bombing and the delusional mind-set willing to accept belief in paradise or imaginary sky-gods.
gravenimage says
Geordie wrote:
Not popular here but …
Perhaps in the future someone will publish another paper, detailing the links between irrational behaviour such as suicide bombing and the delusional mind-set willing to accept belief in paradise or imaginary sky-gods.
…………………………
And yet Christians and Jews and others who believe in “sky-gods” are *not* engaging in suicide bombings—just Muslims. Really, it’s a mystery…sarc/off
kikorikid says
Actually a seminal work has been done related to your statement.
“Suicide”,by Emile Durkheim, explores the “Other” variables
involved in the suicide rate. I believe you have, generally,
answered your statement yourself. “Irational behavior”
can,quite readily, spring from “Delusional thinking”.
I think you got it right in one.
Brian says
You’d think we would have learned that from Bin Laden…
duh_swami says
Money, a fine education and lots of degree’s does not guarantee a decent human being…There is no such thing a radical Islam or radical Mahoundians as claimed. There is only Islam and the pious. ‘Radical’ is a word applied by kuffar who would like us to believe there is a non radical Islam that has been hijacked by a minute minority of misunderstander’s. Why some kuffar practice taqiyya to protect the image of Islam, is a mystery to me. The only way a Mahoundian can be a ‘radical’ is if Islam itself is ‘radical’, which it is, and then is impossible to hijack. So the word. ‘radical’ is correct, but used improperly by Mahoundians and taqiyya infested kuffar as a deflection from reality.
kikorikid says
Just as I tell Mexicans who call me “Gringo”. I say,”Quit
calling me Gringo or I will call you “Cholo”, I am Anglo”.
To Muslims who call me “Kuffar” or some such, I just
tell them to FO and die. Intolerant of intolerance.
While we swim in an ocean of rhetoric Jihadis are out
there cutting throats of non-believers. The Left is delusional
thinking Islam is our buddy and peaceful at that.
Islam is the “Sows ear” and can’t be turned into anything.
Many I know are simply waiting for the inevitable progression
of Islamist activity here in the U.S.. They come out and demand
“Shariah Patrols”, they patrol, we answer. It will happen.
Americans, in general, do not like “strong-arm” tactics and
that is all Islam offers.
RANDY DOUGLAS MILLER says
YOUR WEB SITE IS NOT WORKING ON FACEBOOK.I’M UNABLE TO SHARE YOUR ARTICLES ON FACEBOOK.HELP.IT SAYS “YOU ARE BEING REDIRECTED”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
duh_swami says
Randy…Check other web sites to see if you get ‘redirected’ to another site. There is such a thing as a ‘redirect virus’. I had it, and it is extremely annoying. This computer has windows 8. I got rid of it by using the system ‘one key’ restore feature. You can google. ‘redirect’ and there are multiple explanations about it..
Michael Copeland says
It is not too difficult to “pinpoint population contexts that promote sympathies for terrorism”. They are called mosques.
dumbledoresarmy says
Exactly.
For further reading – ex-Muslim Sam Solomon’s “The Mosque and Its Role in Society”.
The mosque is the centre: the command-and-control centre, the forward operating base, the fortress, the arsenal, the recruitment and indoctrination centre.
frederick gibson says
Look at the fine print. If you ask for a list of
functions of a new, proposed, Mosque. They
will say, in the list, simply “Battalion”.
This means Jihadis can and may stop
there to eat,sleep, re-arm, plan………
Davegreybeard says
@Geordie
“Not popular here but …
Perhaps in the future someone will publish another paper, detailing the links between irrational behaviour such as suicide bombing and the delusional mind-set willing to accept belief in paradise or imaginary sky-gods.”
Aye, and perhaps if we are fortunate, said scholar will be sufficiently perceptive, and free of the PC/MC mind virus, to note that the propensity to suicide bombing has everything to do with THE NATURE of the sky-god and NOTHING to do with the belief itself.
Geordie says
“… … suicide bombing has everything to do with THE NATURE of the sky-god and NOTHING to do with the belief itself.”
I’m not so sure about that. It has been described as Religious Delusional Disorder or occasionally Blind Faith Syndrome. There are other equally dangerous manifestations of the condition. Without going into detail on this forum. Please read about Dale and Leilani Neumann and daughter Kara. Nothing to do with the choice of deity but everything to do with faith trumping critical thinking/common sense.
Mawloud Ould Daddah says
first step is to scrutinise one’s religious and ideological references,totally agree with article,totally,in ground,witness,yes,yes,
Mawloud Ould Daddah says
aggraves,
Mawloud Ould Daddah says
yes,
Tatiana Covington says
Thank God I’m an atheist.
kafirrific says
(Parody of “Like A Virgin” by Madonna)
Been living so long in the past
Won’t ever change the things I do
Though the times are changing fast
I don’t like anything that’s new
I love my camels and my sheep
But really hate Christians and Jews
I got four wives with which to sleep
To abuse oppress and to beat
And they can never refuse
Like a Muslim
Trapped in a warp of time
Like a Muslim
7th century living sure ain’t no crime
You know I love Mohammad
And I love my Allah too
They are the reasons behind
All the crazy things I do
I will kill ’cause Allah wills
Listening to God and spreading jihad
You better watch out, kuffar
I’ll come and get you wherever you are
I’m such a bloody sod
Like a Muslim
Killing for the very first time
Like a Muslim
With those virgins I want to spend some time
I may be mad, that’s too bad
Deep inside I’m so lonely and sad
‘Cause this religion destroys
And we’re making far too much noise
‘Bout all the things we could have had
Like a Muslim
Never gonna change my ways
Like a Muslim
I’m gonna do just what my KKKoran says
Geoffrey says
Perhaps it is worthwile , rather than examining the radicalisation process, to carefully examine the deradicalisation process of jihadis, that is, the return from either willful or misguided deviation to the “righteous” path of jihad as prescribed by Islam’s teachings that infidels must be offered an opportunity to embrace Islam, submit and pay the jizyah, or face war, death, and destruction.
voegelinian says
Sounds like a good idea to put in the to-do pile over in the corner, safely away from the more important things we need to do to protect our societies from Muslims.
gravenimage says
Geoffrey wrote:
Perhaps it is worthwile , rather than examining the radicalisation process, to carefully examine the deradicalisation process of jihadis…
……………………..
I doubt it, Geoffrey.
The returning Jihadist may have found that Jihad was too hard, that he wasn’t able to slaughter as many victims as he would have liked, or simply feel that he has done his part. He may also decide that his role is training a new generation of Jihadists.
Don’t assume that every Jihadist who returns from Jihad has necessarily *disavowed* Jihad.
kikorikid says
It would be abject folly to ignore the “radicalization process” and
put the focus on “deradicalization”. The singular thing that is
safe to assume about a returning Jihadi is that he has received further
training to carry out Jihad. There are very few deradicalized Jihadis.
Jihadis are “True Believers” and, as such, can only be deradicalized
with a 7.62mm or 5.56mm.
Maja says
2 comments:
1. Jesus/Yeshua was Jewish whether Christianity, the Muslims or hitler liked it or not. He was a Rabbi and followed Torah.
2. There may always be people who are attracted to radical behaviour. People who are Muslim are disproportionately attracted to this. Most of the worlds violence is due to them and their archaic ways of living. How anyone can think it is acceptable to marry an 8 or -12 year old girl and impregnate them, keep them hidden in a burka because men can’t keep their instincts in check, that it’s okay to not educate women, let them drive and then beat the stuffing out of them every night. And then strap themselves with dynamite and blow up Muslims and non-Muslims is normal, this world is truly doomed. And this PC (fill in any expletive ) HAS to end. Stop being stupid. This isn’t getting better
Geordie says
You are correct in everything you say my friend and need only take it one step further to fully understand the problem. Understanding is the first step towards solving the problem.