The Hidden Brain

Our unconscious biases.

by Shankar Vedantam

In Search of Terrorists

Terrorism -- the "telemarketer" model vs the "rock star" model.

Published on December 16, 2009 by Shankar Vedantam in The Hidden Brain

The conventional model of terrorism suggests shadowy recruiters are spread around the world in search of young men and women who can be radicalized. In one of the chapters in my upcoming book, I discuss the problem in conceiving of terrorist masterminds as telemarketers who reach out to many people in the hopes that a few will "buy" the product (suicide terrorism) that is on offer.

A much better model, I suggest, is the "rock star" model. No one goes out and recruits rock stars. Thousands of people dream of stardom and they go in search of fame and fortune. Terrorist masterminds do not go out in search of young men and women ready to kill themselves for a cause; it is young men and women who are ready to kill themselves for a cause who go out in search of terrorist masterminds.

Five young men from Virginia intent on jihad were recently apprehended in Pakistan, as they sought to join Al Qaeda. As this news article notes toward the end, recruiters are rarely in the business of radicalizing young recruits; they are mostly in the business of reviewing recruits who come to them fully radicalized.

Find a Therapist

Search for a mental health professional near you.

Find Local:

The chapter in the book looks at the reasons so many young people seek out jihad through the unusual story of an American who signed up to be a suicide terrorist. I'm hoping it will help people and policy makers think about suicide terrorism in a new light, and allow us to pay closer attention to the evidence, rather than to our intuitions about what makes suicide terrorists tick.