This posting discusses “Ideologically Driven Processes.”
Ideologically driven processes occur when individuals seize upon a particular goal so strongly they will go to any length to attain it. They feel their goal is so vitally important anything is acceptable in their quest; this goal then becomes their morality. Their actions are no longer measured against right and wrong but against how it helps them reach their goal. There is no possibility of success when goal and morality become confused in this way.
An example of this is Communism. Their original goal was to attain a “workers’ paradise” where common labor would be properly compensated for their work, which is certainly a worthy goal. The problem with Communism is they had no moral foundation, they felt it was necessary to use any means whatsoever to attain that goal, thus resulting in the socially repressive conditions of their regimes. They felt obligated because of the difficulty in convincing governments to recognize the rights of workers; since they were impatient and wanted results soon they felt obligated to use strong methods. Once they started on the path of seeking their goal at all costs they gave up any chance of reaching that goal. Those who embark on such an ideologically driven process can never attain their goal because of their lack of moral foundation.
Having a moral foundation based on the truth that God is present within each thinking mortal on this planet is vital. When we realize this and use it as our moral compass, sorting out priorities becomes much easier.
Terrorists in general fall into this category because their goal, whether they seek social or religious reform, is seen to be so vitally important they feel conventional morality no longer applies, the supposedly transcendent goal has overtaken their morality.
Terrorists seek out those who feel disadvantaged in some way; this may not necessarily be because of poverty. Recruits would be carefully fed information to indicate a way out of their misery; once these individuals have fallen into the terrorist mindset it is difficult for them to return to society.
An article in Foreign Affairs Magazine addresses this point; “Teenage Terrorists Aren’t Lost Forever” by Nabeelah Jaffer discusses this issue of returning young terrorists to society. The radicalization process is termed “de-pluralization” where potential recruits are led to “see the world through the lens of a single story.” This story then becomes the focus of their existence as they buy into the terrorist mindset. “The urgency of the problem demands an urgent response: Violence seems justified in pursuit of a noble cause.” They have therefore bought into an ideologically driven process.
One way to return these individuals to society is, in effect, to reverse the process; in other words they aregradually introduced into a more pluralistic view of the world. Such procedures offer more promise than to force feed them “proper” dogma. The gradual pluralistic approach certainly seems the better way.
This process could be used in any instance where radicals have become fixated on a certain idealistic goal to the exclusion of morality. Such individuals could be introduced into a more pluralistic mindset, have their point of view expanded to the point where we all are sisters and brothers because each one of us has a spark of God within. A firm moral foundation must be in place before the needs of the disadvantaged can be addressed.