Is part of the problem the failure of countries to properly
integrate their foreigners? Correcting this could be a step in the right
direction towards preventing radicalization. When individuals feel unwanted or
ostracized, they will naturally seek to find a place where they belong. A foundational
component of our human nature is grounded in mutual relationships. Historically,
we have always been in communities. Belonging operates as a basic need of
oneself that must be met before the needs of an external are met. According to
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, love/belonging comes before esteem. It is only out
of belonging to a group that one’s identity can be solidified. If you fail to
belong to a group, your identity is not clear, and consequently esteem cannot
be induced. If one does not have esteem for oneself, how can respect for another
occur? It goes back to the basic love principle, you cannot love someone
without knowing how to love yourself first. Societies are becoming more
exclusive instead of inclusive (as we can see in the current rhetoric of the
Trump Administration), making individuals feel like they do not belong. Radicalization
is an enormous leap, however from our reading we see it is a process that does start
somewhere. If countries made these people feel like they belong even though they
are a minority, this could lead them to develop a sense of self, or esteem,
which would prevent them from being easily manipulated by these radical groups.
However, with this gap present radical groups are able to come in and
manipulate because the individual is desperately attempting to establish a
solid identity and find true belonging, as they perceive themselves as being
rejected from the larger society. Referring back to the lack of logical
arguments: How can one maintain or even
care about logical arguments when the logical arguments pushed are not matching
up with actual experiences. The logical argument being, do not harm another
citizen in your society because we are all fellow citizens. If the person is
being told they live in an equal society yet they are being treated as
something else, a cognitive dissonance is produced. This uncomfortable feeling leads
individuals to seek out ways to manage or eliminate it, which leaves open the
opportunity for these radical communities to come in and provide an explanation
as to why things are the way they are, even if it’s completely illogical. This illogical
argument from the radical communities appear to make more sense because the
reality argument put out by the society is not true, as it does not match up
with the living experience of the person. The situation of radicalization can
only get worse if countries continue to fail to properly integrate all into
their society. It is one thing to declare equality, but if it is not happening
on a micro-level, it appears as false rhetoric, in which radical groups can
appear offering to provide some form of “truth” as opposed to a widely accepted
“lie”.
True, I think that a part of integration should be also about teaching the person how to balance his own identity and heritage with the identity of his "new" country. The contradictions between the two identities lead in some cases to an identity crisis, causing people to seek "equality" in the wrong place.
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