Finland
Mika Lietzén

Gallery Mika Lietzén Mika Lietzén - Nobody Somebody | Illustration: CC BY-NC-ND  

Why are they vulnerable?

I don't think people are inherently evil; however, they can be very misguided, often because they are vulnerable.

Why are they vulnerable? Because the economic policies of successive conservative governments have made life very difficult especially for young people whose prospects weren't good to begin with. Some, not all, are attracted by the fantasy of being strong defenders of their homeland against foreign invaders, if only to escape their own status as victims.

Many also seem to relish being against society in general, probably because in their fantasy it's part of the problem, but also because society has failed them. There almost seems to be a degree of role play in the behavior of some extremists, especially some politicians and others who are high up in the hierarchy.

This is, of course, a simplification; not all extremists are uneducated victims of economic circumstances. There a lot of personal reasons as well for people to go over to the "dark side". But often it seems that these people have some unsolved psychological issues.