Given the events taking place since last Sunday, in the very least, how exactly might “Are a lot of us potential militant extremists?,” such an absurd question?
“When [college students in the U.S. and advanced high school students in Serbia were] presented with statements that are in fact extracts of militant-extremist thinking, the typical response was somewhere in the range between ‘moderately disagree’ and ‘not sure.’ No one responded in a fashion one would expect from the most prototypical militant extremist: strongly agreeing with all indicator items. But respondents generally failed to strongly disassociate themselves from the sentiments found in these items. Thus the base rate of fanatical thinking patterns in the population does not appear to be low. […] Although militant-extremist leaders no doubt play a key role, it is probably not necessary for participants in militant-extremist movements to be brainwashed or severely indoctrinated. All that may be required is an intensification and an orchestration of sentiments and of ‘framings’ that many people are already or at least moderately sympathetic toward…”
That is if one Scott Roeder wasn’t already a right-wing nut job with a head full of shit. Go right ahead and, seriously, label me not so surprized this time…