Fear is definitely one motivating factor, the fear of the unknown, certainly in a xenophobic manner. Fear comes of ignorance, and they seem to exist in a symbiotic relationship, one feeding off another.
It has been well-stated in recent weeks that the terrorists who committed the recent atrocities in the United States were recruited from the lower castes of their societies. Such extremist ideologies always tend to find their most ardent zealots in the under-educated and under-privileged poor. They lack the education to critically look at the ideologies that they are being indoctrinated in and are also attracted to the rhetoric, which almost always involves a convenient outside "scapegoat" for their problems. In this case, that scapegoat is the United States and the West-at-large.
In humanistic psychology we have a principle known as the "locus of evaluation". The locus of evaluation is the area in which our judgements are made for us. As children we have an internal locus of evaluation, we know firmly what we like or dislike. But as we get older, we are taught to distrust our own judgement, relying instead on the judgement of "authorities", often flawed and with hidden agendas of their own. For the under-educated, this is magnified ten-fold. These suicide terrorists were conditioned to believe that they would be rewarded with heavenly paradise if they committed these suicide attacks. They were not allowed to consider the possiblity that their leaders could be flawed in their judgements. They had firmly given over their "locus of evaluation" to Osama Bin Laden and the Al-Queda organization. It is important to point out that, while he has directed others to commit suicide attacks, Bin Laden has not offered to do the same, clearly because he does not share the vision of eternal reward that he is feeding to those beneath him.
People are often quick to follow psuedo-authorities down the path to further ignorance or destruction, simply because it is easier than to think for themselves, or because these psuedo-authorities tell them something they want to hear.
This message has been edited by durant on Oct 4, 2001 2:23 PM This message has been edited by durant on Oct 4, 2001 2:09 PM
