Why Jihad Happens
2People ask why Jihad happens. The answer is right here at home. The same thoughts, ideologies and feelings which you may have heard come from the mouth of a friend who enlisted in the armed forces ultimately conclude in violence. Go across America and you'll find young minds struggling with purpose, meaning and self worth. You'll find young minds battling a feeling of helplessness and staring at a world of waste and struggle. Whether their struggles are socioeconomic or geopolitical, they will feel like "things are bad, and some radical event needs to happen to shake things up or for change to happen. Things can't go on like this." Or, "I'd rather die for something, than live for nothing at all." These are the tools that some minds use to manipulate other minds. People all over the world feel like they have their backs against the wall, and feel like their own lives lack meaning or purpose. And they come to the conclusion that if they can die for a cause that they find meaningful, whether it be socioeconomic, political or religious then their own esteem will be higher, their life will have had some worth. So people will fight and die for their country, their religion or their in-group so you can propagate a future. So you can sacrifice your own existence, in some romantic fantasy. We romanticize violence and so do they. And most of this comes from a lack of self esteem and self worth. And with that opportunity the education system in either place sneaks in and gives them something to fight and die for. Something to cause violence for. It's the same mantra as anyone who prioritizes the ends over the means.