Roger Cohen has an interesting article in the NYT. In it, Cohen compares ISIS to the Nazis.

It’s time to call ISIS what it is: a digitally-possible, murderous, blood-thirsty gang-turned-army.

What do all the young men of ISIS have in common? They would say religion. I would say rage.

Rage is a powerful thing. It comes from many places — religion, environment, family, embarrassment, and, importantly, lack of acceptance.

When young boys are enraged, they look for acceptance. Acceptance is what makes gangs so resilient — lots of enraged foot soldiers, finding community, working together to further the gang’s “mission.” There’s no shortage of rage-filled, unaccepted kids.

The ISIS’ propaganda machine uses religion — the ever-compelling source of deep pride and historic rage — as its veneer for ruthlessness, murder, and end-of-days behavior. It’s not new nor clever; it is powerful, though.

Until we address the underlying rage, we won’t be able to turn off the flow of kids marching to whatever end fulfills their quest for exercised rage, whether it is called ISIS or something else.

And therein lies the rub: rage outlasts democratic decision-making. We may “destroy” the structure — this time, ISIS — but we cannot destroy the mechanism with bombs.

Originally published at brendanhartdotcom.wordpress.com on September 29, 2014.