2 ms·

Violent extremism in America: Interviews on radicalization and deradicalization

8 points by hhs 6y ago

rand_taway 6y ago
In my hometown, there's been a time when religious extremism proliferated between 2010 and 2015. I've known some extremists personally, and some of them even have joined extremist groups, unfortunately. The key findings of this report are quite accurate. Negative life events, especially disfunctional families and social isolation are indeed a big part of what makes someone prone to radicalization. One thing not mentioned much is how can religious extremist views be changed once they are ingrained. As put in the article, extremist beliefs reinforce in-group bias and hatred toward people outside the group. Besides, they are self-reinforcing: they anticipate, teach and debunk arguments that could challenge them to create some sort of immunity. Which makes it hard to change an extremist's mind from the outside. What I've seen worked well to deradicalize individuals in practice -in addition to the other good points mentioned in the article- is exposure to moderate voices from the in-group. For example, religious authorities who share nearly the same ideology and views but who oppose the extreme and violent ones. Since they are not "blocked" by default, their opinions are heard and can help shift radical views.
mellosouls 6y ago
This seems like a decent first survey of a couple of axes of violent dissent (far right political and religious), but possibly misses a trick by not examining the radical left that caused so much mayhem over the past year. It would be particularly interesting to know if those extremists on the left share common causal or behavioural factors with their political opposites (while in some qualitative way maintaining differences with the religious extremists).
- hhs 6y ago
  Useful points. Check out the beginning part of the literature review, which starts on page 11 of the report - the authors do a pretty good job of speaking about the three ideological groups, based on the PIRUS database.

8 points by hhs 6y ago

In my hometown, there's been a time when religious extremism proliferated between 2010 and 2015. I've known some extremists personally, and some of them even have joined extremist groups, unfortunately. The key findings of this report are quite accurate. Negative life events, especially disfunctional families and social isolation are indeed a big part of what makes someone prone to radicalization. One thing not mentioned much is how can religious extremist views be changed once they are ingrained. As put in the article, extremist beliefs reinforce in-group bias and hatred toward people outside the group. Besides, they are self-reinforcing: they anticipate, teach and debunk arguments that could challenge them to create some sort of immunity. Which makes it hard to change an extremist's mind from the outside. What I've seen worked well to deradicalize individuals in practice -in addition to the other good points mentioned in the article- is exposure to moderate voices from the in-group. For example, religious authorities who share nearly the same ideology and views but who oppose the extreme and violent ones. Since they are not "blocked" by default, their opinions are heard and can help shift radical views.

mellosouls 6y ago

This seems like a decent first survey of a couple of axes of violent dissent (far right political and religious), but possibly misses a trick by not examining the radical left that caused so much mayhem over the past year. It would be particularly interesting to know if those extremists on the left share common causal or behavioural factors with their political opposites (while in some qualitative way maintaining differences with the religious extremists).

hhs 6y ago
Useful points. Check out the beginning part of the literature review, which starts on page 11 of the report - the authors do a pretty good job of speaking about the three ideological groups, based on the PIRUS database.