What is responsible for the radicalization of some Muslims?

I thought this would be a good question to ask given all of the threads on Charlie Hebdo. Just what is responsible for the radicalization of Muslims? Is it religion alone? Western action? Socioeconomic issues like poverty? Oppressive regimes backed by Western powers? The thread is multiple choice so that you can write other reasons in if need be.

I'm inclined to think it's a mix: Western exposure, which is often at odds with the cultural norms in predominantly Muslim countries, and the fact that we are way too involved politically. When religion and government are intricately tied together, as is the case in some ME societies, then another culture appears to be more conducive to success, but many of the principles are at odds with one's most important beliefs, I think it's natural to have a resistive reaction.

Radical Islam has existed since the shai-sunni split in the 7th century, so anyone who thinks that western policies or actions have anything to do with it need to turn off the TV and pick up a book

Their ideology/culture is the primary culprit. Oppressive regimes and societies with little upwards mobility certainly don't help. Blaming the West for radicalism that has roots in their religious tenets and far predate their military influence is a tired and futile excercise that won't even begin to adress the actual issues at hand.

Crovax said:

Radical Islam has existed since the shai-sunni split in the 7th century, so anyone who thinks that western policies or actions have anything to do with it need to turn off the TV and pick up a book

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Not cause it, but rather shape it towards it's current form.

azgreg said:

Not cause it, but rather shape it towards it's current form.

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Its the same it always has been the goal of ISIS is the same as those of muslims in 632, establish a caliphate by killing all those who dont share their narrow view of Islam

What radicalizes many Muslims, hate! And the fact they want the world under an Islamic caliphate ruled by sharia law. And the jews, the Jews, the Jews!

I voted for lack of education and Islamic Clerics.... idiots pushing stupidity onto uneducated morons.... it never ends well.

the West might be a recent excuse they use, but radicalized Islam is older than the West.

Mohammed

Hatuey said:

I thought this would be a good question to ask given all of the threads on Charlie Hebdo. Just what is responsible for the radicalization of Muslims? Is it religion alone? Western action? Socioeconomic issues like poverty? Oppressive regimes backed by Western powers? The thread is multiple choice so that you can write other reasons in if need be.

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What do you mean by "radical"?

If you mean actually believing in what one says one believes in, and seeking to order one's life and society around it, then the cause is human reason.

If you mean blowing up buildings, then that seems to be a reaction against western attempts at forcing liberalism on them.

All religions have their radicals really. But generally war and poverty tend to worsen the problem. I'd say Western involvement is not absolved of all blame, nor is poverty (which is often a factor in any perversion of social interaction), but also that there is some inherent radicalism in the idea that we were all created by some Daddy in the sky that wants us to do his bidding or he will send us to a pit of fire to burn eternally.

Not opposed to spirituality or religion per se, but the idea that some deity cares enough to write out a little book of rules is the real problem here. Especially since said rules are vague enough that they can be interpreted however one sees fit based on the agenda they want to push.

So I'd say militant organized religion is the real issue here. Everything else, like foreign interventionism and poverty, add fuel to the already existing fire. The fire being an arbitrary book of rules, considered sacred and holy by a mass of people, that says whatever the churches and governmnts say it does.

Crovax said:

Radical Islam has existed since the shai-sunni split in the 7th century, so anyone who thinks that western policies or actions have anything to do with it need to turn off the TV and pick up a book

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Western actions and policies can contribute to who they choose to target. To deny that is just bull****. Now obviously that is not justifying their actions because you simply cannot justify the unjustifiable as targeting innocent civilians is NEVER ok.

Serenity said:

Western actions and policies can contribute to who they choose to target. To deny that is just bull****. Now obviously that is not justifying their actions because you simply cannot justify the unjustifiable as targeting innocent civilians is NEVER ok.

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Only in a general way. I mean the nail that sticks out gets hammered but the US is a global leader and terrorist will use any excuse or no excuse at all to commit horrific crimes. Looking at things like south park, Theo Van Gogh, salman rushdie and charlie hebdo are you really trying to say the "policy" of free speech (something that is a right to all people) is causing terrorism Just look how al queda was formed, the US made an agreement with the rulers of saudi arabia that bin laden didnt like and istead of attacking the saudi's who he thought betrayed him and engaging in another one of the countless and often overlooked middle east civil wars Bin Laden choose a target that would make him famous to extreme islamists

If you look at the causes behind the lone wolf attacks in the West like in France and Boston, many of them werent even radicals to begin with, they got turned into fanatics either in prison or because of the atrocities perpetrated by the west in the Middle East.

At his trial in 2008, Kouachi said he was spurred to act by the abuse of detainees by US troops at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, but was relieved he did not have to go through with the trip.

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The militants who terrorised France for three days

“told the FBI that [he and his brother] were angry about the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the killing of Muslims there.”

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Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hatuey said:

I thought this would be a good question to ask given all of the threads on Charlie Hebdo. Just what is responsible for the radicalization of Muslims? Is it religion alone? Western action? Socioeconomic issues like poverty? Oppressive regimes backed by Western powers? The thread is multiple choice so that you can write other reasons in if need be.

Click to expand...

Add corruption, how the people are played by the Govt and Imans, the sectarian divide where one sect considers the rest to be heretics.
No rule of law.
No basic rights.
Blood feuds.
No hope by many of improving their lives.