Home-Grown Alienation

A letter published in the Toronto Star, April 9, 2013

Re How to grow a terrorist, Apr. 6:

In this report, various opinions are expressed as to the nature of social alienation felt by young Muslims.That of CSIS director Richard Fadden comes the closest to the truth. He said, "If you take someone who is slightly disenchanted and inclined to think the west is not very good, and you put them in with these people, the next thing you know you want people to do violence."

One need not be Muslim to be disenchanted with our society.

Any reasonably honed social conscience objects to our culture of death as seen in our abortion rates, the demand for euthanasia and assisted suicide, government insensitivity, permanent battle-ready status, corporate greed, destruction of the environment, employee oppression, market manipulation, pornography in the media and places of entertainment, tax evasion by the rich, justice not always seen to be done if done at all, and so on and on.

The inability to do anything to improve such matters renders anyone, especially if unemployed, vulnerable to advocates of violence.