According to the Government Accountability Office, domestic terrorism is on the rise. Often motivated by racism, misogyny, anti-semitism and other forms of targeted hatred, all but eight states across the U.S. experienced at least one incident of domestic terrorism between 2010 and 2021. Over the last 10 years, domestic terrorism-related investigations have grown by 357 percent.
To combat this rise in extremism, we need to reframe how we think about extremist ideologies. Our research into extremism, combined with our real-world experience working with domestic terrorists, has allowed us to identify ideologies that are prone to becoming violent. And the fascinating thing is these ideologies act just like addictions. The individuals who become part of one have difficulty stopping even though it harms themselves or other people they care about.
Ideologies substitute intellect and give the participant the psychological benefit of feeling right. When one wins an argument, hormones are released, including adrenaline and dopamine. It is an artificial high that the participant soon wants to replicate. Conversely, losing an argument causes the hormone and neurotransmitter cortisol to flood the brain. Executive functions that advanced thought processes, including compassion, shut down. And the amygdala, our instinctive brain, takes over.
Our studies into genocides, terrorism and extremist organizations have helped us to develop the following thesis: (1) all genocides, terrorist acts and extremist organizations support a form of an ideology; (2) those ideologies that become violent categorize people by groups and generally see themselves as oppressed by an oppressor; and (3) when one is indoctrinated into an ideology, they tend to become isolated from people who care about them and turn toward relationships with others of like ideological minds.
Ideologies create a simplistic framework for thinking, offer simple answers to complex problems, provide over-generalizations, and, often, a new language. When an ideology is based on a hierarchy of power, it is more likely to become violent.
Alas, these ideological groups have begun to find a stronger voice in politics. Through low-turnout partisan primaries and gerrymandered districts, some have even found their way into elected office. They stripped away the ideals of individualism outlined in 1776 when we declared the forming of a new nation. Extremist ideologies are not looking for equality, they want superiority.
Driven by tribal instinct, rational members of political parties in the United States try to cover up the infestation from their own extremists by pointing out the other party’s extremists. And through this moral equivalence defense, neither set of extremes is held accountable. Instead, they grow in power.
So what is the solution? Political reform, reducing the roles of extremist groups through partisan primaries, and educational reforms that place value on a society based on the individual are all good places to start. Like any other addiction, once someone is in an ideology, they struggle to give up the addiction. To maintain agency, people must resist the lure of such ideologies in the first place. This requires seeking out a balance of information, keeping space for optimism, building strength by listening to people we disagree with, and being accountable for our actions.
We find meaning through who or what we love, what we create, our service to others and our personal struggles. The adrenaline high we get from an ideology is very powerful. Even more powerful is the high from oxytocin that is activated by human connection. It opens the networks of our prefrontal cortex, increasing our ability to be optimistic, to see opportunities, to love and to create. We cannot heal our country with hate. It can never be a substitute for true patriotism and service to one another.