Everything You've Been Told About Radicalization Is Wrong
Despite the rhetoric, scary YouTube videos don't turn people into terrorists
By John Knefel
May 6, 2013 5:05 PM ET
... The mistaken belief that the earliest stages of terrorism can be seen at "radicalization incubators" – Muslim bookstores, hookah bars, mosques, virtually anywhere Muslims congregate in person or online – has resulted in a focus on so-called "preventive policing," a policy whose stated aim is to prevent a terrorist attack before one happens. Since the theory says adopting radical ideas is the first step toward someone becoming violent, officials say they're justified in surveilling places where "radical" ideas might take hold ...
"I have found that many young home-grown al-Qaeda terrorists are not attracted by religion or ideology alone – often their knowledge of Islamist theology is wafer-thin and superficial – but also the glamour and excitement that al-Qaeda type groups purports to offer," Bartlett notes ...
Despite all this, law enforcement organizations have used the flawed logic of "radicalization" to justify investigating innocent Muslims in almost every part of their daily lives. Under "preventive policing," critics say cops and FBI agents aren't focusing on actual crime, but on protected first amendment activities – like the NYPD's surveillance of student and political groups, or reports "that the FBI has infiltrated mosques simply to learn about what was being said by the imam leading prayers and by those attending" – without a clear reason to suspect criminality ...
For law enforcement to equate increased religiosity or radicalism with violence isn't only a bad investigative strategy and arguably unconstitutional – it fundamentally damages the character of society. "To be a radical means to reject the status quo, which in some cases propels society forward," says Bartlett. "Equating radicalism with terrorism can produce a dampening effect on free expression – either by government or by self-censorship" ...
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/everything-youve-been-told-about-radicalization-is-wrong-20130506
= new reply since forum marked as read
the title of the article. 
