Understanding...Extremism Thoughts

What's this about?

Before I start this, I do want to apologise for anyone who is reading this if they feel offended or feel taken aback by anything written here - I do apologise in advance and thank you for your understanding on a sensitive topic.
Why do this topic? Well, I have been requested by someone to explain my thoughts on why there is much conflict around the world because of this term we use. Also, I feel like I want to get it out there so I feel more at ease with the topic - and so I can have an opinion about this. This will be a long blog post (I think), since there are many different concepts to talk about.

Defining Extremism

Of course, it is hard to define a word that has so many connotations people have with it. So, let's start with this definition: the act of having ideas that are considered too radical from the normal perceptions. This is of course a very general and very basic definition but note how I have not defined it as "action of doing" but as the "act of having ideas". Evidently, to be an "extremist" and "terrorist" in this are going to be different.
It is obvious that someone who is a terrorist has extreme ideas, or they wouldn't do what they are doing, but an extremist is not necessarily a terrorist. So, I will be also describing that: the use of violence and threats to intimidates, especially for political purposes.
There are of course examples of different extremist groups who acted upon their actions: the Spanish Inquisition, The KKK, The Nazi Party and the IS group. There are many examples that fall under this definition. In this blog there will be a focus toward understanding the modern extreme ideas but there will also be some looking back at the past. History is studied so that we learn lessons to apply to our lives or mistakes to avoid, so History will play a part in this as well.

Freedom of Speech

I often find that I am grateful to be living in a country where freedom of expression is an ingrained value. In fact, from birth, most of us have the grace of, we have the right of expression - we cry. Of course that may seem a little trivial point but pause and think about it for a while. I often find that whilst we have the right to express, we often turn away those who hold views of threat. I for one believe that everyone has the right to express but if this expression holds intent to harm, then we need to be seriously considering our point of view.

We think like that because that is how majority of society think. Place yourself in the shoes of the other side; they probably think society evil whereas the converse is true as well. Perspectives and freedom is such an interesting thing. Please consider these things very carefully! 

1. Psychologically Speaking

I am no psychologist so I have a meager to an almost zero understanding of the human mind but I will try to put this logically. In terms of younger people growing up, (I myself am young so perhaps I have no right to say this) often their journey of growing up is about self-identity. Discovering who they, as an individual are. As such, without the ethics (or because of them) in the individual, they may be susceptible to opinions they may deem true. It is of course easy to believe an opinion if one does not know any better.

In the case of morals too, everyone has the inclined view to do what is right. But if they develop or are taught an understanding that "right" means to do something bad, then that is where a problem is. This is a part of extremism and terrorism, as the people have a sense of "right" and "wrong" that is distorted. They say and believe in one thing but it is important to note that politics plays a massive role in that and I will be detailing that later.

It may also be developed from the idea that one has been wronged. It is often taught, and is a part of legal systems the world around, that if you feel you are wronged – you have the right to correct the wrong in the appropriate manner. As I will detail later regarding politics, some people are doing this because they truly believe they are righting wrong and truly believe they are doing something good for the better. We must be empathetic and sympathetic for these people as they know no better but we also must not be complacent into those who have no fear in pushing their views to the extreme.

2. Education

The greatest tool to combat all problems in our world is Education. It is a powerful tool indeed if it is used and taught in the correct way. However, all types of Extremist views come from the education that the people holding them have. Different educational values and different views (or bias) of the content of education taught all contribute to one's understanding of ideas.

However, it also depends on the individual to what they do with the education. To put it simply if they have an understanding of something but do not choose to use its power over their actions (or in the case of bias, use it to the wrong effect), then they will inevitably end up not being the person they could be. Therefore, it is vitally important that everyone involved in one's life have an interest in what somebody is learning.

I often see around the world that the Islamic terrorists, and we really shouldn't be calling them that and I will get to that later, that their "Islam" is not the same as most Muslims - in fact far from it.

3. Sense of being Right

Once the view is developed, at some point, like everyone, they will believe they are right. So much so that they are inclined to act on their "right" opinion. This, in cases of terrorism, translates into action. They will believe in this "right" so much so, that they become intolerable of anything else that is not part of their view. This is developed from their meager understanding and once they reach this point, they become selective when information comes their way. If it doesn't sound like their point of view, then they would reject it. Whether or not it comes from science, leaders or even from their own beliefs they think they believe in! Arrogance then kicks in and makes this "right" opinion better than anyone else's view. Then their opinions become manifested in their actions and make them act on these views which could potentially cause harm to innocent human life.

4. Politics

I of course believe that this is THE biggest reason behind terrorist actions. Politics is defined as the views on how to govern a certain issue. In terms of what people believe about “Islamic Terrorism” a bit of history is called for now:

So, when Islam was reasserting itself in the world in the 1970’s-1980’s, after much decline in previous years, there was a higher spike in conversions to Islam. There was also much more involvement of Muslims in their faith. It is important to recognize that there weren’t a great many deal of Islamic scholars who were experts in their field and were far out of reach from some areas of the Globe which had Islam but were lacking the strong leadership to implement it.

The very first spark, I believe and please make counter-arguments if you disagree, was the enormous power vacuum in various nations with a high Islamic majority of followers and the greedy rule of failing democracies. Afghanistan, for example, had their Government collapse numerous times due to different factions of people until finally succumbing under Taliban rule. Egypt and Iraq both had Presidents who were corrupt and their countries in disrepair. Of course, this issue now becomes one of politics and not of religion.

The Taliban, for example, was (is) run by young scholars and young men trying to make a change for their country but their understanding was slightly out of balance. Unfortunately, it is my opinion, that they were slightly misguided and the pressure from surrounding countries and warlords in the North of the country forced them to take action.

All of this had led to a certain number of groups who developed ideas that could potentially solve some of the problems in their respective countries. Of course, which countries can you go to that are part of the problem? The Soviet Union dissipated at this point but much of the evil was seen to be in America which of course led to tragic circumstances. Subsequent invasions of different countries have not done any good and some countries have been left worse than when they started. These people truly believe(d) that they were doing something right, they were doing something that was for the best. Something that will help all those suffering. But was it? I leave that up to you to research.

The Situation in Iraq now with IS is of debate as well. This is purely out of the differing views between different factions in the country. Also due to previous leaderships not being able to take into account the different needs a country has after they had to take the difficult reins of government after the Iraq invasion ended.

As you can see in this situation, these terrorist threats are as a result of the world’s political play on each other with this situation in the cross-fire. It is also important to note that some of the leaderships in this area were something to be irked at. So, a combination of failing leaderships and politics has driven this to the crisis we have today.

Of course, that was looking at it in one context. In a greater situation, this would apply to all extremist points of view or terrorist perspectives. Different backgrounds, cultures, governments, families, friends or a whole different range of circumstances can always affect an individual’s perspective. In differing individuals, the outcomes may be different. However, the decisions that all World Leaders take, always has a consequence later on – good or bad. It is very important to note that this is politics, different to what religion brings about.

5. Leadership

People often look forward to those who can lead. Those who can do good. As a result of which, they may look to the people who are doing something "good" as they believe that "good" should be done. They ignore some leaders because they are ineffecient and do not speak for them. Whilst others appeal to their ethics and appeal to their understanding of the situation. It is important that we build strong connections as communities and especially with our community, religious and political leaders because these are the people who wield power to change views. We need to barrack for change and look toward a future where we have effective and tolerant leaderships.

Summation

I know this has been long and I do apologise. I once again apologise if I have offended anybody and if my opinions are not quite what is actually happening. This is a developing understanding of what is happening and I am open to all criticisms or feedback from you. I endeavor to bring to you, the reader, some understanding of this situation which is very complicated – to which I assure you there is much more to it!

As a summary, here are the points I talked about:

1. Developing views

2. Education

3. What is Right

4. Politics

5. Leadership

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this and make comments if you want! Next blog post will about something less controversial, I assure you! Remember this is only a developing perspective,

A Small Point of View.

Thanks

: )