This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/6982
June 3, 2015
MIM: Richardson who is touted as a "terrorism expert" perversely opined that "Americans overeacted to the 9/11 attacks".
Her pseudo intellectual schizophrenia is evident in her claim that terrorism is caused by education and the frustration caused by a lack of job opportunities i.e. "education could compound a would-be extremist sense of disenchantment" and than turns around and states "education is the best antidote to radicalisation"!
"...While she acknowledged that there were issues to be addressed, she ‘resisted' the popular notion that there was an intrinsic link between universities and extremism.
‘I think it's simple a matter of demographics,' she said. ‘Violent extremists by and large are young men, predominantly male – and they often congregate in universities.'
And she said that sometimes education could compound a would-be extremist's sense of disenchantment with society if there are no graduate jobs available.
She added: ‘The most combustible combination is an educated workforce but with the kind of economy that can't allow them to realise their expectations that have been heightened by their education.
However, she maintained that universities had a vital role to play in helping to combat extremism, through educating young people on controversial issues..."
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Americans 'overreacted' to 9/11 terror attacks because they're not as resilient as Brits, says Oxford University's first female vice-chancellor
Terrorism expert Professor Louise Richardson said 9/11 provoked such a response because violent extremism was a ‘new experience' in the US
Widespread panic ensued in US after atrocity caused almost 3,000 deaths
First female vice-chancellor said UK is more ‘resilient' in the face of terror
Said combating psychological impact of terror is the best counter measure
byline-plain">By Eleanor Harding, Education Correspondent For The Daily Mail
Published: 11:16 EST, 2 June 2015 | Updated: 14:05 EST, 2 June 2015
"...Irish-born Professor Richardson is an internationally renowned scholar of terrorism and security studies and regularly advises policy makers..."
Her publications include the ground-breaking study: What Terrorists Want: Understanding the Enemy Containing the Threat.
In that book, she admitted she would have joined the IRA ‘in a heartbeat' aged 14 and had to be stopped by her mother from joining a protest march a week after Bloody Sunday in 1972.
She was later invited to join the student branch of the IRA at university, but by then had decided that political violence was wrong.
Speaking yesterday at the British Council's ‘Going Global' conference in London, she also addressed the issue of radicalisation at universities.
While she acknowledged that there were issues to be addressed, she ‘resisted' the popular notion that there was an intrinsic link between universities and extremism.
‘I think it's simple a matter of demographics,' she said. ‘Violent extremists by and large are young men, predominantly male – and they often congregate in universities.'
And she said that sometimes education could compound a would-be extremist's sense of disenchantment with society if there are no graduate jobs available.
She added: ‘The most combustible combination is an educated workforce but with the kind of economy that can't allow them to realise their expectations that have been heightened by their education.'
However, she maintained that universities had a vital role to play in helping to combat extremism, through educating young people on controversial issues.
As such, she said it was imperative that radical ideas were expressed and challenged in universities and that such institutions should protect that right.
‘Education is the best antidote to radicalisation,' she said. ‘Any terrorist I've ever met in the course of my academic career had a highly over-simplified view of the world – a view of the world [which is] black and white.'
Professor Richardson, who has led St Andrews for more than six years, was nominated to become the first female vice chancellor in Oxford University's history.
This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/6982