Title: Why do People Join or Support Terrorist Groups? | GEOG 571: Cultural Intelligence
Headings: Why do People Join or Support Terrorist Groups?
Why do People Join or Support Terrorist Groups?
Content: Often, those who have lost loved ones as a result of the fog of war harbor great hatred for Americans and other Westerners. Such anger plays into the hands of organizations such as Al-Qaeda. In the final analysis, the end goal of all terrorist organizations is political. They want to end up in charge. Therefore, in that way, terrorist groups are always political organizations, even if they define themselves in different terms. Often, the members of radical groups are people who have been unable to achieve their own political goals through legitimate means and, therefore, believe they must employ terror. In some cases, people join terrorist groups because they see their own situation as hopeless. From their perspective, they have no future inside the dominant system. Therefore, they are willing to risk their lives in order to change the system into something that offers hope to them. They reason that if they fail, they might as well be dead in any case, and, if they succeed, they will have created a better world for everyone.