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Profs & Pints: What Creates a Terrorist?

Profs and Pints presents: What Creates a Terrorist? with Dan Schneider, assistant professor at American Universitys School of International Service and teacher of a course on al-Qaeda, ISIS and the War on Terror.

Following the terror attacks of 9/11, our nation quickly developed explanations for such acts that, in hindsight, proved way too simplistic. One held that terrorism comes from too much poverty, too little education and too much oppression, and can be reduced through expensive and difficult measures aimed at alleviating such social conditions. Another emerging view held that terrorists are violent psychopaths, devoid of a shred of humanity. They do not know the difference between right and wrong and or deliberately choose to follow the path of evil, and they can even be seen as the personification of evil itself.

Both explanations have turned out to be wrong. In fact, further research into the causes of terrorism, based partly on interviews with thousands of terrorists, has found that most terrorists are, in a psychological sense, normal and rational. They also tend to be well-educated, to come from middle- or upper-middle-class backgrounds, and even to have spouses and children.

Where, then, do we go in search of an answer to the question of why they commit terrorist acts?

This talk will provide answers to this question partly by looking at the life histories of selected individual terrorists. Well also explore the insights that psychology, particularly group psychology, contributes to our understanding of how otherwise normal, well-educated people can become killers of innocent people for ideological reasons Excerpts from the great film, The Battle of Algiers, will be used to illustrate, in a way no other work of art has, how this transition occurs.

With a fuller and clearer explanation of what makes people become terrorists, well explore ways to use such knowledge to develop better ways to reduce terrorism and the harm it causes. (Advance tickets: $12. Doors: $15, save $2 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later. Please allow yourself time to place any orders and get seated and settled in.)