Why are there so many Engineers among Islamic Radicals? [pdf]

Given the objectives, that would be the right person for the job. I'm sure demolition knowledge would be particularly useful. Cyber attacks would be IT types, ground attacks are fighters, etc.

Jihadist Listing: Looking for terrorist ninjas to join a team looking to disrupt the most iconic verticals. Preference given to individuals with degrees in civil engineering, demolition, etc.

- competitive salary - 401k - 3 weeks vacation plus 5 floating days off - contract to hire

Re: Why are there so many Engineers among Islamic Radicals? [pdf]

#7

Post by makmanalp » Fri, Feb 27, 2015, 3:38 PM UTC

This is a bit frustrating - part of the premise is that people who are engineers somehow have a predilection towards extremism. Then they admit that that it's a tiny proportion of engineers overall.

Then they mention that it could be random effects - an extremist group that's strong in an engineering school would of course recruit more extremists, for example. But they dismiss that with "well we didn't notice that" and go head on with their personality argument. Similarly with a tech-based recruitment argument.

Then, they go on to "prove" how most engineers are right-wing conservative (which is a very American position) by looking at a study of 9000 Americans (what a non-representative sample) and finding that 57% self-identified as so. Then they stretch this conclusion to extremists everywhere.

They mention that engineering is a stepping stone profession in a lot of the middle east, that families encourage their kids to be some kind of engineer, because of better career opportunities. They also mention that there is a selective entry process and the title of "engineer" is an honorable one (which I think may be a bit exaggerated but whatever).

No mention of the fact that engineering is super broad and includes tons of subcategories and professions, and thus a larger cross-section of the population in general.

No mention that because of this broad variety of subfields, even though some programs have high entry requirements, the overall entry process can't be nearly as social-class selective as something like medicine, where you need money even to prep for entry.

No mention that an engineering education doesn't necessarily expose you to more progressive (or western-oriented if you want to be cynical) ideals like a law or humanities or social sciences degree does.

They just slap on their own narrative. This is shoddy work IMHO. How did this even pass peer review?

Re: Why are there so many Engineers among Islamic Radicals? [pdf]

#8

Post by brotoss » Fri, Feb 27, 2015, 3:40 PM UTC

But according to Obama, Muslims are radicalized because there aren't enough jobs.

Re: Why are there so many Engineers among Islamic Radicals? [pdf]

#9

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Feb 27, 2015, 3:40 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Why are there so many Engineers among Islamic Radicals? [pdf]

#10

Post by drzaiusapelord » Fri, Feb 27, 2015, 3:40 PM UTC

My pet theory is that INTJ males are prone to extremism. We see it here with this kind of pie-in-the-sky Libertarianism and other fringe views. Not sure why this is, I imagine having a disconnect from the social and emotional parts of life means that its easier to justify very strict and simplistic philosophies that miss out on many nuances. Often that comes with a mix of OCD and ADHD-like behaviors. When push comes to shove, these types may find it easier to justify violence. The amount of revolution talk on libertarian forums is evidence of this.

My own life has been a personal struggle against these traits and opening up myself more and more to the softer side of life. Its very easy to pretend your side is "technically correct, thus the best kind of correct" and develop a sort of moral superiority over others, especially if you and your peer group dismiss others as "stupid" because you only value what you perceive as "smarts." Look at how often STEM types dismiss non-STEM fields as useless pedantry.

I think in the case of Islamic extremism, its well known that suicide bomber recruiters focus on oddballs and loners. These types have less to lose and may be easier to convert. INTJ males are often have loner traits. These recruiters aren't stupid. They know how to spot these types of weaknesses and use them for their own gain.