Racism, Religious Bigotry and Discrimination does not promote a more "civil" society. "Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe." - Frederick Douglass

Poverty being correlated to terrorism is a myth that has been debunked. I remember reading about it in political science classes even before terrorism took high profile stage.

http://www.economist.com/node/17730424

Social scientists have collected a large amount of data on the socioeconomic background of terrorists. According to a 2008 survey of such studies by Alan Krueger of Princeton University, they have found little evidence that the typical terrorist is unusually poor or badly schooled.

Krueger carried out a similar exercise in Lebanon by collecting biographical information for Hizbullah militants. They too proved to be better educated and less likely to be from poor families than the general population of the Shia-dominated southern areas of Lebanon from which most came.

Some argue that poverty could be at the root of terror even if terrorists are not themselves poor. Anger about poverty in the countries they are from could cause richer citizens of poor countries to join terrorist organisations. This idea can be tested by looking across countries to see if there is a link between a country's GDP per head and its propensity to produce terrorists. Mr Krueger did precisely this by looking at data on 956 terrorist events between 1997 and 2003. He found that the poorest countries, those with low literacy, or those whose economies were relatively stagnant did not produce more terrorists. When the analysis was restricted to suicide-attacks, there was a statistically significant pattern—but in the opposite direction. Citizens of the poorest countries were the least likely to commit a suicide-attack.

What might explain why so many relatively well-off people from relatively well-off countries end up as terrorists? It may be that a certain level of education makes it more likely that people will become politicised. But the kind of people that terrorist organisations demand also matters. Unlike ordinary street crime, which does tend to attract the down-and-out, terrorism is a complex activity. So terrorist organisations prefer to recruit skilled, educated people to carry out their missions.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. Let's see. Whose organization conducted 9/11? Oh, yes, that would be Bin Laden. Hardly a poor man.

Oh wow, so there is a rich person. I guess the whole point is blown. Poverty, education and oppression have nothing to do with jihad.

idiot.

And then there's Aafia Siddiqui, the FBI's most wanted woman. With her degrees from MIT and Brandeis and married to a doctor and has 3 children.

The masterminds and main operation coordinators of these Jihadi terrorist missions are very well educated and well off. Those they recruit maybe not so much.

But low income gang members that sell drugs and commit crimes for their wealthy overlords don't get a pass. Neither should these "poor, impoverished, oppressed" jihadis that are killing people left and right.

No one gives them a pas. You lost track of the point. The point is that these organizations attract people who are poor, uneducated and oppressed.

Actually, no. The point is that these organizations have substantial numbers of people who are neither poor, nor oppressed, nor stripped of education opportunities.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. Let's see. Whose organization conducted 9/11? Oh, yes, that would be Bin Laden. Hardly a poor man.

Oh wow, so there is a rich person. I guess the whole point is blown. Poverty, education and oppression have nothing to do with jihad.

idiot.

And then there's Aafia Siddiqui, the FBI's most wanted woman. With her degrees from MIT and Brandeis and married to a doctor and has 3 children.

The masterminds and main operation coordinators of these Jihadi terrorist missions are very well educated and well off. Those they recruit maybe not so much.

But low income gang members that sell drugs and commit crimes for their wealthy overlords don't get a pass. Neither should these "poor, impoverished, oppressed" jihadis that are killing people left and right.

No one gives them a pas. You lost track of the point. The point is that these organizations attract people who are poor, uneducated and oppressed.

^^http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/12/27/aafia/T1A0evotz4pbEf5U3vfLKJ/story.html

Thought I posted the link that tells more about Aafia Siddiqui.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. Let's see. Whose organization conducted 9/11? Oh, yes, that would be Bin Laden. Hardly a poor man.

Oh wow, so there is a rich person. I guess the whole point is blown. Poverty, education and oppression have nothing to do with jihad.

idiot.

And then there's Aafia Siddiqui, the FBI's most wanted woman. With her degrees from MIT and Brandeis and married to a doctor and has 3 children.

The masterminds and main operation coordinators of these Jihadi terrorist missions are very well educated and well off. Those they recruit maybe not so much.

But low income gang members that sell drugs and commit crimes for their wealthy overlords don't get a pass. Neither should these "poor, impoverished, oppressed" jihadis that are killing people left and right.

jsteele wrote:Piers Morgan is an idiot. I would like to think that, regardless of all our other differences, we could al agree on that. Morgan has no right to tell someone what their religion is or is not. Individuals get to identify their own religions. The vast majority of people who consider themselves Muslims don't practice or believe in the horrific practices of IS. Many members of that vast majority have already made statement disassociating Islam as they practice it from IS's version.

However, there is a critical problem of defining whether IS are "real Muslims". The roots of the Islam practiced by IS and by al-Qaidia are the same roots of the official Islam of Saudi Arabia. Were Saudi Arabia take steps to delegitimize IS, it would undermine its own religious authenticity. The US is apparently in no position to rock the boat with the Saudis. Ironically, Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood could have been a useful opponent to IS and al-Qaida. But, due to the US-supported coup in Egypt, those guys are all dead, arrested, or in hiding.

Don't forget that the Saudis are one of the biggest violators of human rights and one of the biggest facilitators of human rights atrocities.

Anonymous wrote:Yes. Let's see. Whose organization conducted 9/11? Oh, yes, that would be Bin Laden. Hardly a poor man.

Oh wow, so there is a rich person. I guess the whole point is blown. Poverty, education and oppression have nothing to do with jihad.

idiot.

Well it looks like Muslims have come out against terrorist. Everything is fix now. No more terrorist now. Glad the conservatives in this country spent so much time and energy on this approach to stopping terrorism.

Yes. Let's see. Whose organization conducted 9/11? Oh, yes, that would be Bin Laden. Hardly a poor man.

You brought up "extremely poor and uneducated". The fact is, middle-class upbringing and education don't stop people from becoming jihadis.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sort of. But leaving dictator thugs in power isn't necessarily a great alternative.

I know there aren't any easy answers. I guess I just wish everyone could act like responsible adults and treat each other with respect. Why is it so hard to embrace basic commonsense human behavior instead of acting like savages? And I guess I'm just so flipping frustrated that the international community has allowed many Arab nations to promote or condone serious human rights violations (including treating women like property) by writing it off as cultural or religious beliefs. That has led to generations of men being raised to believe that it's the cultural norm, and that their religion calls for it. The indoctrination of the extremists is (sadly) easily understood. That's the real issue I suppose.

I mean, if my parish priest all of a sudden said it's time for us to (insert ridiculous laundry list of barbaric rules and practices), no one would jump on his bandwagon. I guess I just don't see how the international community can fix the problem...it's too big...it's too far gone.

Maybe that's a great topic for a new thread: How do you fix this problem?

Aside from decimating a few countries (which I am not proposing), how do you fix the problem?

Switching gears slightly: Anonymous has declared war on the jihadists. They posted a video saying they will attack their social media and other web based networks. Maybe that's a start.

chances are your parish is not extremely poor, uneducated, and politically oppressed. It's hard to find time to become a jihadi when you are taking your kids to travel soccer and ballet.

You're falling into a simpleton trap of "only poor people do that." The ranks of jihadis are full of doctors, lawyers, reporters etc.

"full"?? Sorry but (1) you are flat our wrong that they are "full" of them. And (2) even doctors and lawyers can be politically oppressed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sort of. But leaving dictator thugs in power isn't necessarily a great alternative.

I know there aren't any easy answers. I guess I just wish everyone could act like responsible adults and treat each other with respect. Why is it so hard to embrace basic commonsense human behavior instead of acting like savages? And I guess I'm just so flipping frustrated that the international community has allowed many Arab nations to promote or condone serious human rights violations (including treating women like property) by writing it off as cultural or religious beliefs. That has led to generations of men being raised to believe that it's the cultural norm, and that their religion calls for it. The indoctrination of the extremists is (sadly) easily understood. That's the real issue I suppose.

I mean, if my parish priest all of a sudden said it's time for us to (insert ridiculous laundry list of barbaric rules and practices), no one would jump on his bandwagon. I guess I just don't see how the international community can fix the problem...it's too big...it's too far gone.

Maybe that's a great topic for a new thread: How do you fix this problem?

Aside from decimating a few countries (which I am not proposing), how do you fix the problem?

Switching gears slightly: Anonymous has declared war on the jihadists. They posted a video saying they will attack their social media and other web based networks. Maybe that's a start.

chances are your parish is not extremely poor, uneducated, and politically oppressed. It's hard to find time to become a jihadi when you are taking your kids to travel soccer and ballet.

You're falling into a simpleton trap of "only poor people do that." The ranks of jihadis are full of doctors, lawyers, reporters etc.

http://video.dailycaller.com/British-Jihadist-Medical-Student-21-Is-Pictured-Holding-Severed-Head-26801691

To be fair, anyone could put on a white lab coat and identify themselves as a physician.

Though not related, I thought the link below was interesting.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29944580

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sort of. But leaving dictator thugs in power isn't necessarily a great alternative.

I know there aren't any easy answers. I guess I just wish everyone could act like responsible adults and treat each other with respect. Why is it so hard to embrace basic commonsense human behavior instead of acting like savages? And I guess I'm just so flipping frustrated that the international community has allowed many Arab nations to promote or condone serious human rights violations (including treating women like property) by writing it off as cultural or religious beliefs. That has led to generations of men being raised to believe that it's the cultural norm, and that their religion calls for it. The indoctrination of the extremists is (sadly) easily understood. That's the real issue I suppose.

I mean, if my parish priest all of a sudden said it's time for us to (insert ridiculous laundry list of barbaric rules and practices), no one would jump on his bandwagon. I guess I just don't see how the international community can fix the problem...it's too big...it's too far gone.

Maybe that's a great topic for a new thread: How do you fix this problem?

Aside from decimating a few countries (which I am not proposing), how do you fix the problem?

Switching gears slightly: Anonymous has declared war on the jihadists. They posted a video saying they will attack their social media and other web based networks. Maybe that's a start.

chances are your parish is not extremely poor, uneducated, and politically oppressed. It's hard to find time to become a jihadi when you are taking your kids to travel soccer and ballet.

You're falling into a simpleton trap of "only poor people do that." The ranks of jihadis are full of doctors, lawyers, reporters etc.

Anonymous wrote:Sort of. But leaving dictator thugs in power isn't necessarily a great alternative.

I know there aren't any easy answers. I guess I just wish everyone could act like responsible adults and treat each other with respect. Why is it so hard to embrace basic commonsense human behavior instead of acting like savages? And I guess I'm just so flipping frustrated that the international community has allowed many Arab nations to promote or condone serious human rights violations (including treating women like property) by writing it off as cultural or religious beliefs. That has led to generations of men being raised to believe that it's the cultural norm, and that their religion calls for it. The indoctrination of the extremists is (sadly) easily understood. That's the real issue I suppose.

I mean, if my parish priest all of a sudden said it's time for us to (insert ridiculous laundry list of barbaric rules and practices), no one would jump on his bandwagon. I guess I just don't see how the international community can fix the problem...it's too big...it's too far gone.

Maybe that's a great topic for a new thread: How do you fix this problem?

Aside from decimating a few countries (which I am not proposing), how do you fix the problem?

Switching gears slightly: Anonymous has declared war on the jihadists. They posted a video saying they will attack their social media and other web based networks. Maybe that's a start.

chances are your parish is not extremely poor, uneducated, and politically oppressed. It's hard to find time to become a jihadi when you are taking your kids to travel soccer and ballet.