How do you make a terrorist?
In order to consider the question, it is first worth defining what a terrorist is, and who better to do that than the Federal Bureau of Investigation, because they have dealt with terrorism in many forms across a plethora of television series and movies.
Terrorism Definitions
International terrorism: Violent, criminal acts committed by individuals and/or groups who are inspired by, or associated with, designated foreign terrorist organizations or nations (state-sponsored).
Domestic terrorism: Violent, criminal acts committed by individuals and/or groups to further ideological goals stemming from domestic influences, such as those of a political, religious, social, racial, or environmental nature.
As you can see by that second definition, pretty much, many violent crimes could be shoehorned and considered acts of terrorism. It might be easy to see terrorism in an explosive device outside a building, or a car being driven at high speed through a crowd with intent - but what about the rape of a woman by a man who believes women are inferior? The opinion is socially-charged and the act itself is furthering ideological goals, is it not?
Free Radicals
When large-scale terrorist events happen, the media comes out condemning them as heinous and evil, which they may just be. However, they also talk about radicalisation, but they are a large part of the mechanism that is used to radicalise and they themselves as information for profit distributors, are in the radicalisation game. Every topic is positioned to be divisive, to be emotionally charged, and is used as fuel to feed the ad-revenue model they worship.
What an advert for Tesla...
Side panels are straight, the tires are still inflated.
Politics and the media is driven by polarisation. It is about turning one group against another. So, is it any wonder that in a world full of people who are fed a constant stream of enemies, whilst also being disconnected socially, and siloed into information streams that confirm their biases, that some portion aren't going to become extreme enough to the point they will act antisocially toward supporting their views? Isn't it obvious that when people are struggling mentally, physically, and financially, while they are depressed, with a dwindling supply of healthy personal relationships, and a lowering sense of consequence of action, or even regard for others or one's own life, that suicidal, public violence should be expected?
Every time this kind of thing happens and it happens often, the focus gets put on the evil individual or group who orchestrated and performed it. However, I think this is a copout, because what seems to be happening to me is that this is a systemic problem, that is not tied to the groups themselves, though some groups are going to attract or help create more ideological violence than others. Pretty much though, once people are conditioned into the state required to terrorise, the ideology no longer matters, it is just the flag that is flown that defines the borders. The acts themselves, might be the same whether killing for a religion, a political view, a social view, or for the environment.
So, how do you make a terrorist?
Isolate them, and feed them the right information until they believe in something they are willing to die for - or kill others for. And, because we have made that information flow so valuable, because we have put it at the core of government and corporate profit and control, it is obvious that it is going to be used to do just that, profit and control. That is the algorithm in play, and like any well-designed algorithm, the results should be somewhat expected. The formula they use polarises people and isolates them, and humans are predictable in those conditions.
Blame the Algorithms?
After these events, they always talk about what the perpetrators have posted to social media, or what they have been searching in the leadup prior. But, it would be interesting to step back further than that and see where the seeds started, and what kinds of feeds were automatically curated for them, designed to give them just what they want, when they want it, backed by adverts to earn revenue for the platforms. They are fed the prefect mixtape for years on end to push us into buying all kinds of products and ideas. Remember....
To further ideological goals
In the past, it was far more difficult and took a huge amount of time for ideologies to form and spread across a population, let alone get to the point that people are willing to die for them. Yet, we live in a world of globalised data and information is spread to the masses in moments, with many support platforms and networks setup in an instant for the new idea to attract, take root, and be nurtured in moments - on any side of the argument. To form a community of like minds.
Systematic Sadness
As sad as it is, I don't think much is going to change in the near-term, because there is just too much money in creating enemies. Business runs on competition, as does politics. We are built to compete and we are encouraged to fight for what we believe, under the assumption that what we believe is the right thing to fight for, without having the skills or incentive to actually investigate what we believe in, or why we believe it.
The system incentivises victimhood.
Everyone of us is a victim, and everyone else is to blame. Inflicting hurt on others is justified, because those others hurt the individual. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, right? And, what does it matter, since human life keeps getting degraded in order to maximise profits - continually oppressed, and bled dry of value, with little chance of ever getting out of the cycle, because, we are the ones who support the system to run as it is. We support the polarisation, because we always think that we are on the right side of the ideology, even if we know no alternative.
And when these now inevitable terror events happen, we turn to the corporations and governments for the truth. The same sources that played a role in radicalising the terrorists in the first place.
Isolate. Feed. Make them believe.
Give them an identity to defend.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]