How is Middle Eastern terrorism born?
The very, very basic formula is this:
-Government undermines interests of the people, or another country attacks and invades, subjugating the people.
-People slowly have their homes, property, jobs, and rights taken away, if they had any of those things to begin with.
-Are poorly educated, if educated at all.
-Often are oppressed minorities themselves.
-They try and try to improve their lot and they can’t, often asking what is going on and why.
-A Jihadi group shows up and gives them an answer…there is a holy war predicted in the Qu’ran, waged by wealthy infidels in the west at the behest of the Jewish elite. They want to destroy your land, your people, your heritage and Islam, to kill you, rape your women and corrupt your children. This is why you are enslaved, embattled, poor, out of work, being besieged by these misfortunes. Want to change your life and earn favor with Allah? Here’s a gun.
Now let’s travel thousands of miles away, to a different people in a different land. We are in rural Alabama, talking to poor white Southerners. Who are they and how do they live?
-Corporations and government undermine their interests, people feel “invaded” by new cultural forces, new demographics, and new social rules for survival.
-People lose their homes, jobs, money, and prospects.
-Poorly educated, if they are educated at all
-Are oppressed by virtue of their social class or geographical isolation, may possibly be older or disabled.
-They try and try to improve their lot and they can’t, often asking what is going on and why.
-A right-wing group (League of the South, KKK, Phineas Priesthood, etc.) shows up and gives them an answer…there is a holy war predicted in the Bible, waged by liberals, secularists, atheists, and foreign invaders. They want to destroy your land, your people, your heritage and Christendom, to kill you, rape your women and corrupt your children. This is why you are enslaved, embattled, poor, out of work, being besieged by these misfortunes. Want to change your life and earn favor with Jesus? Here’s a gun.
Can you tell me what the difference is?
Dead of Winter 
Terrorists are not generally born, they are made. We play a role in making them, by going to other countries and slaughtering innocent people (and in our own past as well). The rates of civillian death from our military strikes versus actual terrorist (who are small in numbers anyway) is abysmal.
Entitlement, attention seeking, and desperation often play a role often with our home grown American variety (see the amount of mass shooters who have written manifestos or comitted domestic violence).
When we conduct war we portray ourselves as heros, yet we commit horrible and generally excessive violence. We financially destroy many of the nations that terrorists are said to come from (or their allies), then offer insufficient protection once they are broken down, we refuse to acknowledge, listen or assist. They are fed stereotypes and propaganda but so are we.
We have leveled cities, our soldiers have killed children, comitted sexual violence, tortured, we have left people disfigured and disabled, homeless, etc.
It isn’t that I think terrorists can be reasoned with or a good listening session and “hugging it out” will work. Many of them wouldn’t participate. Understanding isn’t the same as condoning.
But we could take ownership and change our ways, so as not to let this cycle happen again. We could acknowledge our role in what makes terrorism, instead of generating a victim complex propaganda-war machine.
Unfortunately that will probably be as effective as our promise to “never let genocide happen again as a planet” despite at least 3-4 going on across the world currently. It’s still worth trying.
All innocent civilians lives in other nations are worth the same value as an American citizen’s life. They are people: not disposable.