The idea of
someone within our country being radicalised by the terrorist group ISIS is so
foreign to us that we can find it hard to understand why someone would want to
partake in such barbaric activities.
Once
we start to unravel the sources of the problem we can begin to understand why
someone would want to travel to a foreign country and sign up for a life of
fighting.
The
first possible scenario could be that the impressionable person is being lied
to and courted by an active recruiting program. Another more insidious method
would be the desensitisation of violence within our culture. It still remains
hard to understand how a movie involving glorified violence earns an MA15+
rating, yet a movie involving glorified sex receives R18+. ISIS understands
this vicarious bloodlust and takes full advantage of it with their propaganda
videos portraying gruesome war crimes.
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| The racist group Reclaim Australia Anti-Muslim protest in Martin Place, Sydney, April 2015 |
There
is also the effects of alienating different racial groups within society to
consider, such as the Commies during the Cold War, the Japanese before them,
and so on and so forth. This drives people away from what should be a safe
place, and some are bound to seek out acceptance where they can find it; the
ancient evolutionary herd mentality.
A question we must consider is
whether or not these misguided people are seeking out the recruitment or if the
recruiters are targeting them specifically. It is nigh impossible to discover
which answer it is, without in depth police work, which I am confident that our
country’s respective police force are currently doing.
The problem then becomes that of a
social stigma, people become afraid to talk and communication breaks down,
which drives people and communities apart. A solution could be to converse
without fear, and recognise that we live in a multicultural society.
Change is a slow process and although we have come a long
way in acceptance of our fellow human beings, we still have a ways to go.
Uniting together is what helps a society to be strong, to be a healthy and safe
environment, with opportunities for anyone; regardless of backgrounds or
socio-economic status.
Amy Stephens
Amy Stephens
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