美国伊斯兰极端主义:是宗教问题吗?

AS IT IS 2016-06-23 Islamist Extremism in America: Is Religion the Problem? 美国伊斯兰极端主义:是宗教问题吗?

The mass shooting in Orlando, Florida this month was the worst in modern American history: 49 people killed, and 53 more were injured. During the massacre¹, the shooter told an emergency telephone operator that he was faithful to the leader of the Islamic State.

The Orlando shooting is one of several recent attacks in the U.S. in which the killers² say they support Islamic extremist thinking.

These violent events have made many people ask: Why is Islamic extremism attractive? And is Islam itself the problem?

Watching IS supporters in the US

The Center for Cyber and Homeland Security is one of many groups in the United States that studies extremism. One of their methods is to follow IS supporters on social media, such as Twitter. Researcher Audrey Alexander says social media makes the IS group seem real and powerful.

The Islamic State and its online messages have influenced a small but active number of supporters in the U.S. Last year, 56 people were arrested for taking actions to help the group.

Researchers do not know why these people support violent Islamic extremism. VOA spoke³ to terrorism experts who said IS supporters in the U.S. have little in common.

Of the 56 people who were arrested, 86 percent of them were male. Almost all were American citizens or legal permanent residents. They were between 15 and 47 years old.

Many were not even Muslims when they first became supporters of the group.

Lorenzo Vidino was one of the researchers. He says those arrested had “all kinds of backgrounds.”

Failing at life

IS supporters have one thing in common, however.

Anne Speckhard is a research psychologist. She is the director of the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism in Washington, DC.

She says people who are likely to find IS attractive are off track. In other words, they are failing in their lives somehow.

Speckhard has interviewed hundreds of IS supporters throughout the world. She says religion is part of extremist ideology⁴, but it is rarely the most important part.

She says joining an Islamist extremist group or even discussing it on social media often provides meaning and purpose to a person’s life.

She tells about a young Christian⁵ religion teacher who lived with her grandmother in an isolated⁶ community in the northwestern United States. After IS murdered an American reporter, she tweeted, “Why would a terrorist behead a journalist?”

IS answered: “Because this is a revolution. Blood is shed in a revolution and we are changing the world.”

The IS recruiter then asked the young woman, “Did you know Islam is the completion of Christianity?” The question was the beginning of the woman’s conversion⁷ to Islam and radicalization.

Speckhard says the woman “was lonely.” Then, all of a sudden, people were paying attention to her, tweeting her, offering to Skype with her.

“And eventually,” says Speckhard, “she converted because she wanted to belong to something. She wanted something in her life.”

In the case of Omar Mateen, the man who killed 49 people in Orlando this month, investigators⁹ still do not know how much contact he had with the IS network and ideology. However, they have a lot of evidence that his life was “off track.”

His first wife said she divorced him because he became violent toward her. She said she believed he may have been suffering from bipolar disorder¹⁰, a sickness of the brain. A co-worker said Mateen often insulted women and other groups. And Mateen’s father said his son was deeply angered after seeing two men kissing.

These cases, along with information researchers are collecting, challenge the belief that Islam is the cause of many terrorist acts. Psychologist Anne Speckhard says many IS supporters have converted to Islam “because it is meeting a need, not because they are necessarily looking for a religion.”

If Speckhard and others are correct, and religious beliefs are not the cause of violent extremism, some may now ask this question: How do we use our resources effectively to stop attacks?

Words in This Story

extremism – n. belief in and support for ideas that are very far from what most people consider correct or reasonable

background – n. the experiences, knowledge, education, etc., in a person’s past

off-track – expression away from the main point, thought, etc.; following a course of action that will lead to failure

isolated – adj. separate from others

behead – v. to cut off the head of (someone) especially as a punishment

(blood)shed – v. the killing¹¹ of people especially in a war

Christianity – n. the religion that is based on the teachings of Jesus Christ

radicalize – v. to cause (someone or something) to become more radical⁸ especially in politics

Skype – v. to communicate on the internet using the program Skype

bipolar disorder – n. a mental illness in which a person experiences periods of strong excitement and happiness followed by periods of sadness and depression (also called “manic depression”)

challenge – v. to say or show that (something) may not be true, correct or legal

1 massacre   

n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀

参考例句：

• There was a terrible massacre of villagers here during the war.在战争中，这里的村民惨遭屠杀。
• If we forget the massacre,the massacre will happen again!忘记了大屠杀，大屠杀就有可能再次发生！

2 killers   

凶手( killer的名词复数 )； 消灭…者； 致命物； 极难的事

参考例句：

• He remained steadfast in his determination to bring the killers to justice. 他要将杀人凶手绳之以法的决心一直没有动摇。
• They were professional killers who did in John. 杀死约翰的这些人是职业杀手。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 ideology   

n.意识形态，(政治或社会的)思想意识

参考例句：

• The ideology has great influence in the world.这种思想体系在世界上有很大的影响。
• The ideal is to strike a medium between ideology and inspiration.我的理想是在意识思想和灵感鼓动之间找到一个折衷。

5 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

6 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

7 conversion   

n.转化，转换，转变

参考例句：

• He underwent quite a conversion.他彻底变了。
• Waste conversion is a part of the production process.废物处理是生产过程的一个组成部分。

8 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

9 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

11 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。