Terrorists rely on you and me and the way we speak about their crimes to increase the impact, the virtual blast radius, massively, from a small town to the whole nation.

What I Learned From Scanning Brains of Potential Terrorists by @NafeesHamid

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/02/opinion/domestic-terrorism-jihadists.html #ICP

Cognitive scientist, @NafeesHamid spent 7y interviewing radicalized people

His team ran psychological tests, including the first-ever brain scans of radicalized people.

They found no evidence of mental illness.

What they found were clues to what makes ppl willing to fight & die for their beliefs (aka sacred values)

We all have them.
Beliefs that we care so passionately about that we’d be willing to go to extreme lengths to defend them.

Extremists also have sacred values, and they’re willing to use violence to defend them.

Research has shown that when we think about our sacred values, a certain area of our brains becomes active.

1. when radicalized ppl FELT EXCLUDED, something weird happened.

That same area of the brain that lights up when they think about their sacred values ALSO lit up for NON-sacred values.

Meaning:
”the list of things that they were willing to fight and die for ...got longer”

What this study showed was if someone is at the early stages of radicalization, EXCLUDING them could make them MORE WILLING to use violence

This ties in with what former extremist @cpicciolini talks about and highlights in his book Breaking Hate—

ICP
Identity, Community, Purpose

Exclusion, demonization can push them in the wrong direction.

...and right into the hands of dangerous groups:

Don’t demonize.
Humanize.

We are human.
We need to be humane too.

Learn from Heather Heyer’s actions and those of her mom, @SusanBro7

Shortly before a white supremacist killed Heather, she was seen on video trying to have a peaceful conversation with a woman from the alt-right.

Exp 2:

When the subjects were highly willing to use violence, a different part of the brain was deactivated—

Bad.
Why?
Because it “could mean that they’re not as open to negotiation or persuasion.”

Changing Minds
When they told them that their wider social group were not as willing to commit violence as they were, that part of the brain reactivated.

Also...they LOWERED their explicit WILLINGNESS to fight and die for their values JUST to MATCH their PEERS

Lesson?

“people can be turned away from violence if they believe that a wider social group disapproves.”

Calling all conservatives white nationalists (or all Muslims terrorists FTM) risks making someone out there feel more excluded.

Why should you care?
Bc if they’re at the early stages of radicalization, it could push them closer to violence.

(See following tweets b4 you @ me)

Don’t blame whole groups.

At the very least, it creates divisions in society, which is exactly what terrorists want to achieve.

Boost voices on the right who are condemning violence.

They have the power to turn someone away from violence.

“...we are not responsible for the actions of terrorists, but we all have the power to limit the blast radius of an atrocity and maybe even prevent the next one.” — @NafeesHamid

“Hate cannot drive out hate;
only love can do that.”
—Dr. Martin Luther King, jr

Video by Adam Westbrook
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/02/opinion/domestic-terrorism-jihadists.html

— Breaking Hate: Confronting the New Culture of Extremism by @CPicciolini
http://a.co/32lbs92 

Read it. You won’t be sorry.