Unremedied childhood abuse produces a powerlessness that radical anger then compensates

Evidence

For example, one former Islamic extremist was abused by a family member as a child and described how the lack of a family response was a push factor toward learning to protect themselves: “I became very, you know, angry at the fact that nobody did anything about it. Nobody could do anything about it. There was a pure—a sense of powerlessness. As I started to get older and more independent and more confident—so really from the age of 12, you know, when you kind of start to get over that hill … if anyone ever did that to me again, or my kids, or whatever, like I would destroy them.” — 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

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Personal crises precede and open receptivity to religious radicalization — 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; Power induces cognitive dissonance that makes its own abuse unreal to victims — Mark Fisher, Ghosts of My Life: Writings on…, 210; Parental stress depletes the inhibitory resources that normally prevent discipline from escalating into abuse — , The Rod and the Child: A Global History…, 10379 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Violent hatred need not spring from the victim’s power and abuse #contradicts (0.80) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 66
• Power induces cognitive dissonance that makes its own abuse unreal to victims #corroborates (0.75) — Mark Fisher, Ghosts of My Life, 210
• Parental stress depletes the inhibitory resources that normally prevent discipline from escalating into abuse #expands (0.75) — , The Rod and the Child, 10379