The Psychology of Terrorism
If I were to ask you on a scale of one to ten where would you rate terrorists for their fanaticism, you’d probably tell me I’m stupid for restricting the scale to ten. Well, to begin with, (and to avoid any further judgment) terrorists are stable individuals. As a matter of fact, they aren’t delusional or crazy. What makes them peculiar is their ability to neglect their sentiments and emotions in order to achieve their ulterior motive, being that of mass destruction.
However, the real question is, what draws good, naive, people towards something so deadly that makes them lose all sense of humanity and morality? A major ingredient in the making of terrorists is a sense of “perceived injustice, need for identity and a need for belonging”. Potential terrorists are initially, highly vulnerable people who were mostly subject to childhood abuse, trauma and humiliation and who felt the necessity to avenge themselves; this being the only way to boost their self-esteem and enhance their individuality ( being the worst way though).
Another extremely common phenomenon that leads to terrorism (as well as a plethora of other problems), is the “mob mentality”, popularly known as herd culture. This practice describes how people are influenced by their peers to adopt certain behaviours and follow trends, eventually aiding them to act collectively without a centralized direction. For example, the growing excitement to take drugs. So, when adolescents reach the “I’m a rebel” and “Do they think I’m an idiot?” phase (yes, I’m counting you and me) they tend to diverge from the right (face the reality folks; however harsh this may sound) path. The feeling of constantly being nagged, shouted at and repeatedly being corrected, bottles up, eventually leading to an emotional outburst. Some might resort to “smoking up” while some socially isolate themselves, as this is the only way they feel free. When one friend leads (you’ve got to agree with me here) they all follow, irrespective of whether they want to. “What’s so bad in it anyway? We’re just trying it out” is what they all say.
This parasite of indoctrination sucks the empathy out of people, hence manufacturing terrorists (voila!). Terrorists are humans who have been brainwashed to such an extent that they believe that human eradication is being done for the betterment of their religion, hence the world (because in their view, religion=world); which does not make sense at all; probably because it isn’t meant to. To keep it plain and simple, terrorists are just like us, except for the fact that their brains are cleared of emotions. After knowing the reasons behind their strange disposition, we can neither forgive them nor can we jointly call them psychopaths; for everyone has a reason for what makes them the person they are today.
