Title: Answers to Why People Become Terrorists
Headings: Answers to Why People Become Terrorists
Answers to Why People Become Terrorists
Ticking Time Bomb
Terrorism expert Bruce Hoffman unpacks what we know about how homegrown bombers get radicalized.
Bruce Hoffman
Mohamed Zatari/AP

Content: Terrorists are generally motivated by a profound sense of (albeit, misguided) altruism; deep feelings of self-defense; and, if they are religiously observant or devout, an abiding, even unswerving, commitment to their faith and the conviction that their violence is not only theologically justified, but divinely commanded. All terrorists fundamentally see themselves as altruists: incontestably believing that they are serving a “good” cause designed to achieve a greater good for a wider constituency—whether real or imagined—which the terrorist and his organization or cell purport to represent. Indeed, it is precisely this sense of self-righteous commitment and self-sacrifice that that draws people into terrorist groups. It all helps them justify the violence they commit. It gives them collective meaning. It gives them cumulative power. The terrorist virtually always sees himself as a reluctant warrior: