Posted on 04/15/2010 5:37:49 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
LONDON (Reuters) – The way to beat al Qaeda and stop Islamist groups gaining recruits to violent causes is to remove their "cool" image and make fun of terrorists instead, according to a major international study published on Friday.
The two-year study by the British think-tank Demos concluded that the notion of "cool jihad" was more important in seducing young Muslims to violence than radical preachers, the foreign policy of Western governments, or their social background.
Those who became interested in terrorism had more in common with subversive groups such as street gangs and soccer hooligans than with Muslims who held radical views but rejected violence, the Demos report said.
"Young people are drawn to radical causes, and to rebellion against authority," said Jamie Bartlett, one of the report's co-authors.
"For most radical young Muslims, this takes the form of protest, argument and learning, but for a minority, al Qaeda might seem a 'cool' gang to join, even though the truth is its members are ignorant and incompetent."
The study, which focused on Canada but also looked at Britain, Denmark, France and the Netherlands, involved examining profiles of 58 "homegrown" convicted terrorists from seven cells across Canada and Europe, and interviews with 20 "radicals."
Its aim was to understand why some radicalized Muslims became involved in al Qaeda-inspired violence while others, who shared similar views, did not.
Violent radicals tended to have a poor understanding of Islam, were less likely to have been brought up in religious homes, were less likely to have studied at university and less likely to have been involved in political protest, the study said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
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Who thinks of Al-Qaeda is “Cool”?
Yeah, I don’t get it either. They bombed a London bus, you think everyone would be p!ssed at them.
I’ve always thought of them as COWARDS. They love blowing up women and children. Make fun of them? It’s not really very funny. But most Muslims appear to be cowards, who prefer to attack people who are unarmed and defenseless whenever possible. They love beheading women and bashing babies to death, too.
Cowardly bullies is my picture of them.
OMG-
That’s what a high end education brings!
The third world chumps sitting in some backwater dump with no money, no prospects and no chance of getting any female attention because the local Koran-thumpers are beating the crap out of the women and dressing them in pup tents.
Go back a long time ago and find a pic of OBL with the hacked-down AKS-74U by his side. In a third world awash in 47’s that look like they’ve been used as tillage implements, packing around a “Krinov” (as the AKS-74U is sometimes called) says “I’m so very much cooler than you are...”
I don’t know how these boffins propose to remove the “cool” image of AQ in these thirdworld manure pits. Given the alternative of being one of millions of poor chumps or being a muj... it’s pretty easy to see that many young men are seeing the life of the muj as being much “cooler” than their alternatives.
And these nuts received salary for two years to come up with this BS?
Al Quaeda’s “cool image”?
A bunch of filthy raggedy ass goat humpers are now considered “cool”?
Well, Liberals are cool too.
Violent radicals tended to have a poor understanding of Islam, were less likely to have been brought up in religious homes, were less likely to have studied at university and less likely to have been involved in political protest, the study said.
OK, so this “study” sounds like it was intended to support the notion that Islam is really a peaceful religion, etc and then compares violent jihadists to be much like soccer hooligans. How dumb do you have to be to believe this crap.
This is in no way comparable to soccer hooligans. There are only two groups in the present world that commit suicide for their cause. That takes a special type of worthlessness. To believe that your cause isn’t worth living for, I think you have to have incredibly low self esteem. I mean, at some point, do any of these recruits say “hey, Osama, how come you don’t strap on the bomb vest?” But at its heart, Islam subjugates its people as inferior, so at some point, strapping on the vest is no big deal. Life has no value to these bozos.
“There are only two groups in the present world that commit suicide for their cause. That takes a special type of worthlessness. To believe that your cause isn’t worth living for, I think you have to have incredibly low self esteem.”
I don’t know, I’d be willing to die, even commit suicide if necessary, to save my family or my country from imminent destruction. I’m sure many FRiends here would do the same for theirs. I wouldn’t put the blame for the ‘suicide bomber’ phenomenon upon the individual but on the evil terrorist organizations that brainwashes and corrupts a vulnerable individual’s belief into committing such an atrocity. I’m not saying the perpetrator is blameless, just that you may be looking in the wrong place for a root cause.
There are many instances of individuals voluntarily going into a no-return situation for what they believe in. In every case it is founded on a personal belief that their cause is righteous. Trouble is that terrorist organizations know how to brainwash individuals into a false belief.
I think the above study is a bunch of academic rubbish, and pretty much what I would expect from a bunch of ivory tower inhabitants whom have virtually no grass roots level interaction with real people in the real world.
To you or me, no.
To people who don’t even have a goat to hump, yea.
What is considered “cool” is relative. If you’re a young man with no prospects of property, a paying job or a wife, AQ probably looks like fun, adventure and (if you’re buying what the imam is peddling) a ticket to 72 doe-eyed virgins ready to put out for you.
In other words rich kids who had everything handed to them all their spoiled little lives.
The same people who are part of Al-Qaeda. It is a mistake to think that Al-Qaeda is peopled by the poor or disadvantaged. As with every other "People's Movement" the aristocrats are in charge.
The leftists relate to Al-Qaeda because they are their kind of people.
A worryingly large number of people, unfortunately.
Yes, BY OTHER MUSLIMS... (who dont know any better).
I am speaking specifically of the Islamic terrorists who blow themselves up on buses to kill other people. For what strategic purpose? (The other group of terrorists that blow themselves up are in Sri Lanka).
I think these groups are distinctly different that a US soldier who goes to war to defend their country, or a Christian martyr who is willing to die rather than to denounce their faith. In the case of the soldier, while they are willing to die to defend our nation, they would much rather give the enemy the opportunity to die.
You describe many people who would be willing to die in defense of their family. I include myself in that. But I would much rather live for my family and spend time with them. So dying for them would be a last resort, certainly not the primary purpose of our relationship with our families.
For a jihadist “suicide bomber”, death is the primary purpose. FOR THE RECRUITS. Like I said, with these terrorists, the leaders like Osama, have no intention of blowing themselves up. So, I believe, to become a recruit for Al Queda, you have to believe that your life has so little value, that you are worth more dead than alive. That takes low self esteem.
“For a jihadist “suicide bomber”, death is the primary purpose. FOR THE RECRUITS. Like I said, with these terrorists, the leaders like Osama, have no intention of blowing themselves up. So, I believe, to become a recruit for Al Queda, you have to believe that your life has so little value, that you are worth more dead than alive. That takes low self esteem.”
Certainly that is one common profile of the suicide bomber. You take an uneducated peasant whose whole life revolves around his family and his village, then war destroys his village and kills his family. He has nothing to live for and is full of anger just ready to be directed at something or someone... fertile grounds for AlQueda recruiters. That’s why I think winning the war for the heart’s & minds or the local populations is critical to establishing peace once the shooting war is over.
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