I think that I understand what they said. It happens at school..you take kids who are hormonally challenged and have angst and frustration and you rub them the right way, you can create an army for any cause.
When you come from stable families and have personal mentors, the recruiting efforts in schools and colleges fail. Someone who is a friend living in Oakland mentioned the other day that black kids are going to be radicalized anyways there. It used to be that gangs were recruiting them in the past and now it’s schools recruiting them as they are the future vote bank when they become adults.
It was remarkable to me in that how similar this was to radicalized students in India. But that was usually after high school and during their public university years...because single parenthood was uncommon (during my time there) and parents were very involved with their kids till school and then they become raw bill board material especially when they leave home to go to study.
But in the USA, it starts earlier as public schools are parents and guardians by proxy. Single parenthood is more common and they have to work to make $$. That’s why I see school kids walking out to support their teachers when the teacher unions strike. I couldn’t believe it when I first witnessed it..they were kids and the teachers had no qualms about recruiting them for causes. I still can’t wrap my mind around it.
As I get older, I value my youth..especially the years before I turned 25. I have always read and tried to study all my life but the most optimal time was in the first 25 years. I was able to read and retain what I learnt. I was able to absorb what I read. I had financial freedom and health. I didn’t have financial responsibility and it came little by little. I was still young enough that I didn’t feel bad about asking for help from my family if I failed. I was forgiven easily for transgressions and people were patient with me because I had potential that goes hand in hand with youth. I had someone behind me who would go after those who would want to harm me. I enjoyed what I call the ‘elasticity of youth’ in that I could make a mistake, bounce back and fix it without being overly judged.
That is priceless. It mostly came because I had stable and supportive family. It is not ‘privilege’. I was the potential contained in the passed on genes of my family and they wanted to make sure I didn’t squander it. So they created the best environment for me. I had the added bonus of a large joint family which meant that the family was a miniature village of aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, nieces and nephews as one family unit. Single parenthood is tough. I wish society would stop telling people that it’s easy. Community can take the place of family. Just don’t hand it over to govt that needs to be elected to maintain power and status quo.