time to reign in the radicals

Harsh words in this article but the clarity of thought is refreshing (abbreviated and with minor editorial changes)

SOURCE: The Ottawa Citizen
EDITION: 2006.06.07 Final
PAGE: A1 / Front

The 17 men accused of plotting to bomb sites in Ontario shouldn't be seen as Muslim terrorists, but as idiotic thugs, if the allegations against them are true, says a University of Toronto psychology professor. If charges are true, these men are misguided idiots and to call them terrorists only serves to romanticize their cause, he argues.
"To call them Muslim terrorists in my estimation is a mistake. They're misguided totalitarian cowards and they're out for revenge," said Jordan Peterson, who studies the psychology of terrorism. "It's dumb and cowardly and they're in the same league, in my estimation, as bone-headed skinheads in Eastern Germany."
Mr. Peterson, an associate professor in U of T's Psychology department, said that calling such people terrorists only romanticizes them and gives them the notoriety they are seeking -- potentially leading others to join their cause.
"People like to think that those who are plotting against us are smart, because no one likes to think our society can be attacked by idiots," he said. "(But) they are low-ranked idiots. ... Their lack of intelligence, forethought and courage should be at the forefront."
The 12 men and five youths arrested in last Friday's sweep were allegedly led by 43-year-old Qayyum Abdul Jamal. A volunteer at the al-Rahman Islamic Centre in Toronto, Mr. Jamal had been heard to rail against Canada's involvement in Afghanistan and accuse Canadian soldiers of raping Muslim women, according to Toronto Liberal MP Wajjid Khan.
"I think (Mr. Jamal) is frustrated and vengeful. He sees himself as a victim and justified in attacking the people who victimized him," Mr. Peterson said.
Regarding the young men who allegedly followed Mr. Jamal, Mr. Peterson said it's no surprise. He said most violence in society is committed by men between the ages of 18 and 26, who are hard-wired to be status-seeking and to gravitate toward groups.
"Young men, they're gang creatures," he said. "There's no reason to presume these people are anything other than gang members who picked something contemptible to do because of a sense of victimization."
Mr. Peterson argues that, if the allegations against the men are true, they are more totalitarians than Muslims in their ideology. For someone who benefits from all the advantages of Canadian society, to turn around and attack Canada, is hypocritical.
"He's preying unethically on the suffering of others to make himself into the champion of the oppressed," Mr. Peterson said.
"It's lies and it's cloaked in a sense of adventure."

The article also talks about the effect of the war in Iraq and the recent "Canadian episode as a reflection of [the greater worldwide] trend of second-generation emigres who have sought in Europe and in Canada a better life. While they have found that better life often, what they haven't found is cultural acceptance."
Dr. Post said there is a tension within Islam itself, between those who want to move more in step with the western world and those who want to return to more traditional and fundamentalist values.
"There is a sense of collective identity that's being preached [among the muslims radicalized by society]... concerning an idealized version of what Islam stands for, against this corrupt, secularizing world. These young men see themselves as (being) on the cutting edge of a faith that they have to defend against what they see as western imperialism," he said.

Personally, I think its time for us reasonable non-corrupt and non-imperialist Canadians to retake the stage from the corporate hooligans and fear-mongerers currently running the show, and prove that fundamentally, our humanist values are not that different from those in Islam after all. Moving the wood away from the coals and letting the fire die out by itself exposed and naked is surely a more effective method than burying it with dirt and have it spread underground.