Page 76 - Šolsko polje, XXIX, 2018, no. 5-6: Radicalization, Violent Extremism and Conflicting Diversity, eds. Mitja Sardoč and Tomaž Deželan
P. 76
šolsko polje, letnik xxix, številka 5–6
that challenges the status quo, no matter in which direction, is seen as
radical.
Lastly, young people were asked to define a radical young person.
Here, again the negativity of the concept comes to play. Young people de-
scribed a radical young person as being enthralled, exclusive, and focused
on goals rather than the means.
That’s the group of people that talks only among themselves. They have relatively
similar opinions and every time this opinion reflects to themselves back and for-
ward. And if somehow another opinion shows up, the opposite from theirs then they
will attack that person and just say: ‘you’re a fool, what you think is idiotism’ and
keep thinking what they were thinking before. (Split)
Some characteristics of a young radical is not allowing the intervention in their
opinions or any shift from that. They might think it is, I dunno, OK to hit a wom-
an. (Zagreb)
I’ d say one is perhaps a bit ignorant because he/she accepts only one form of opinion
and one type of information. (Sibenik)
For young radicals it is important publicly to express their attitudes
and opinions. They are not quiet and wish to impose their point of view
as dominant.
They are very loud and like to draw attention to themselves. They try to be a loud
minority because they believe that what they believe should be so. (Split)
As seen, young radical people are negatively characterised which is a
rather peculiar situation. From the description of the mainstream young
people believe the status quo is negative and thus it is plausible to expect
that a radical young person in Croatia will be positively described, espe-
cially because youth is earlier described as being full of potential. However,
this does not happen. Surprisingly, both mainstream and radical young
people are viewed equally negative. One of the potential explanations for
this is the worrisome epidemic of apathy and hopelessness among Croatian
citizens and youth. This explanation is supported by the huge emigration
rates of Croatian youth due to economic instability, ideological divisions,
and ineffective government (Adamovic & Potocnik, 2018), coupled with
the relatively low 88th position on the World Happiness Report for 2018
(Helliwell, Layard, & Sachs, 2018).
Discussion and Conclusion
Many authors have tried to define the phenomena of radicalisation and
radicalism and their complexity resulted in many different concepts and
74
that challenges the status quo, no matter in which direction, is seen as
radical.
Lastly, young people were asked to define a radical young person.
Here, again the negativity of the concept comes to play. Young people de-
scribed a radical young person as being enthralled, exclusive, and focused
on goals rather than the means.
That’s the group of people that talks only among themselves. They have relatively
similar opinions and every time this opinion reflects to themselves back and for-
ward. And if somehow another opinion shows up, the opposite from theirs then they
will attack that person and just say: ‘you’re a fool, what you think is idiotism’ and
keep thinking what they were thinking before. (Split)
Some characteristics of a young radical is not allowing the intervention in their
opinions or any shift from that. They might think it is, I dunno, OK to hit a wom-
an. (Zagreb)
I’ d say one is perhaps a bit ignorant because he/she accepts only one form of opinion
and one type of information. (Sibenik)
For young radicals it is important publicly to express their attitudes
and opinions. They are not quiet and wish to impose their point of view
as dominant.
They are very loud and like to draw attention to themselves. They try to be a loud
minority because they believe that what they believe should be so. (Split)
As seen, young radical people are negatively characterised which is a
rather peculiar situation. From the description of the mainstream young
people believe the status quo is negative and thus it is plausible to expect
that a radical young person in Croatia will be positively described, espe-
cially because youth is earlier described as being full of potential. However,
this does not happen. Surprisingly, both mainstream and radical young
people are viewed equally negative. One of the potential explanations for
this is the worrisome epidemic of apathy and hopelessness among Croatian
citizens and youth. This explanation is supported by the huge emigration
rates of Croatian youth due to economic instability, ideological divisions,
and ineffective government (Adamovic & Potocnik, 2018), coupled with
the relatively low 88th position on the World Happiness Report for 2018
(Helliwell, Layard, & Sachs, 2018).
Discussion and Conclusion
Many authors have tried to define the phenomena of radicalisation and
radicalism and their complexity resulted in many different concepts and
74
