Personal crises precede and open receptivity to religious radicalization

Evidence

We observed this phenomenon in four Islamic extremist cases and seven white supremacist cases. Across many of these instances, the striking resemblance was that of a precipitating event and emotional reaction and then a new outlook or direction that made room for extremist ideology or participation. For one former Islamic extremist, a gun-possession charge served as a stimulating event and led him to “start looking around to try to better himself or try to improve his life and his lifestyle.” His answer was a conversion to Islam and then a turn toward radicalization and violence. Another converted and then radicalized after a suicide attempt. Another former Islamic extremist reported that his life came “crashing down before [his] eyes” when a relative caught him hosting a rowdy house party. “I’m humiliated, I’m embarrassed, I have been shamed and guilt-tripped into thinking that I have done something so heinous,” he observed. “I panicked psychologically, and looked back into my cultural experience, and think to myself, the only way that I’m going to fix this is to get religious.” — Ryan Andrew Brown, Todd C. Helmus, Rajeev Ramchand, Alina I. Palimaru, Sarah Weilant, Ashley L. Rhoades, and Liisa Hiatt (RAND Corporation), Violent Extremism in America, 327

Categorization

• XREF: Confirms the Wiktorowicz ‘cognitive opening’ mechanism the chapter cites — and supports the prior ch4 pattern that vulnerability precedes radicalization. — connects to: Unremedied childhood abuse produces a powerlessness that radical anger then compensates — Ryan Andrew Brown, Todd C. Helmus, Rajeev Ramchand, Alina I. Palimaru, Sarah Weilant, Ashley L. Rhoades, and Liisa Hiatt (RAND Corporation), Violent Extremism in America:…, 289; Frustrated identity needs have never been shown to precede rather than follow radicalization — Lea Echelmeyer, Anne-Marie Slotboom, and Frank Weerman, The Putative Effect of Identity on…, 253; A trusted friend’s offer of belonging can initiate the radicalization pathway (+12 more)

Broader Connections

• Perceived exclusion and injustice prime society-wide breeding grounds for radicalization #expands (0.78) — Holm Gero Hümmler, Ulrike Schiesser, Fact and Prejudice, 716