Who is going to be a terrorist?
The New York Times, here, attempts to answer that question, and comes up short, I think.
I have made a few attempts at doing likewise – as here – and I always find myself turning back to demographic profiling (as I learned in politics) and youth subcultures (as I learned in punk rock). Ipso facto, the things which the radicalized share is that they are almost always:
- male
- young (teens to early thirties)
- unsuccessful (at love or life)
- unemployed (often after post-secondary study)
- angry (at everything and everyone)
- alienated from family (who often have lost contact)
- involved in petty crime
From skinheads to jihadists, they become incandescent balls of rage. They are looking for a replacement family, a new beliefs system, a sense of belonging, a higher calling, a culture that rejects the popular culture, a new religion, even a uniform to wear. And along come manipulative older men, practiced in deception, who give them all those things. They give them a manifesto of hate.
Want to stop terror and extremism? Create a society where these angry young men get hope, where they get support, where they get jobs. Where they get a sense of purpose.
Desperate young men do desperate things, as we are now seeing almost every single day. We need to get to them before the haters do.
The Easter Rising
Why you’ll never see a selfie of me with Trudeau, or anyone else for that matter
Robyn Doolittle’s bit on Rob Ford made me remember this.
The only politicians you should take a selfie with, IMHO, are already dead. They're the only ones who can't do anything corrupt or venal.
— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) March 26, 2016
Further to my politician no-selfie rule: they almost always end up breaking your heart. They leave you with cold ashes & a plate of regrets.
— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) March 26, 2016
Adler-Kinsella Show: on Ghomeshi and truth, Trudeau and words, and Trump and decency
It’s over
- National Enquirer releases highly detailed report on Evangelical favourite Ted Cruz, just as Holy weekend begins
- Trump way, way ahead in California, which has 172 delegates at stake
- Every front page is filled with stories about how the Islamic State is expanding the battlefield to the West
This thing is over, folks. Trump is the nominee.
So, if you’re like me, you’re going to do all you humanly can to get Hillary Clinton elected president.
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Trudeau on Ghomeshi
My readers called it
What will be the Ghomeshi verdict?
My view has always been the same: he’ll be acquitted. He may be reptilian, but the three complainants were an unmitigated disaster in Court, and the Crown was almost as bad.
What do you think?