Can extremists’ mindsets change?
The recent massacre at the Pittsburgh synagogue was yet another vile example of hatred and bigotry. But, in the United States and elsewhere, the shooter was one of many. Why?
According to an NPR piece, there are several possible explanations. Those brimming with racist hated might have little opportunity to get off that track. “We haven’t wanted to acknowledge that we have a problem with violent right-wing extremism in this kind of domestic terrorism,” said sociologist Pete Simi, PhD, of Chapman University in Orange, Calif. Dr. Simi has studied violent white nationalists and other hate groups for decades.
“White supremacy is really a problem throughout the United States,” Dr. Simi said. “It doesn’t know any geographic boundaries. It’s not isolated to either urban or rural or suburban – it cuts across all.”
There is little knowledge of how to deal with home-grown hatred. Banning immigrants perceived as being a threat is one attempt to deal with foreign-born terrorism, but that doesn’t work for citizens. For them, rehabilitation is possible, according to Dr. Simi, but it comes with a big price tag of revamped social, education, housing, and employment programs. Governments are loathe to take on those costs, in part because it is an admission that society is broken.
“A big, big problem that we face as a society is abdicating our responsibility in terms of providing this kind of social support and social safety net for individuals that suffer from mental health, as well as drug problems,” Dr. Simi said in the interview.
Small-scale local efforts, such as the Chicago-based Life After Hate, are working for change. How to scale up such efforts is a vexing problem.