More Self-Esteem
for the Terrorists!
Self Esteem
is your personal and emotional evaluation of yourself and can be very positive
or negative. Research has suggested that self-esteem can influence academics, happiness,
criminal behavior and satisfaction in marriage/relationships. Synonyms include
self-regard, self-esteem, self-respect and self-integrity. There are three selves’:
Social Self, Spiritual Self, and Material Self, with the Social Self coming
closest to self-esteem by combining all characteristics recognized by others.
In the early
1970’s, it was posited that low self-esteem was the cause of societal problems.
It is now estimated that terrorists have low self-esteem and join the Jihad to feel
better about themselves with a since of mission and accomplishment (Not
counting the promised virgins waiting for them in heaven!).
Maslow believed
that psychological health requires a person to be loved, accepted and respected
by others. People with high self-esteem have reported a closer correlation to
happiness and seemingly live very positive lives.
So, if low self-esteem leads men and women to join a terrorist group and gladly take orders to kill others for martyrdom or there is just an “off balance” individual who takes it upon themselves to kill other humans, could we discover a way to interrupt this process in order to allow these soon to be murderers a way out? There are self-reporting self-esteem tests (Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale, Name Letter Test), but these probably are not at the top of the list for most folks, much less terrorists (We include all people who threaten to take someone else’s life as a terrorist, whether it is one or many lives.)
We believe
that just about everyone thinks of these random acts of violence in our society
and worries that no one is safe anymore, anywhere in the world. So, we have a “top
of mind” fear of random attacks which may be more of a “self-esteem” issue than
religious or philosophical.
Surely our
new “socially connected world” can help us begin to uncover these “malcontents”
that possibly could be stopped or reduced with a program that focuses on their self-esteem
improvement. Sounds idyllic, but it might, just might have an impact.
Come see us
at www.stressless.com.
