[THE OTHER SIDE] On Youth Radicalization:

First, I want to ask the reader for a moment of pause before reading this, in memory of the young people who have passed on too early in their lives. Let them find eternal peace.

The thing we thought could never happen here has finally happened. I am surprised it did not happen sooner. 

I say this as one of the many young people in this country exposed to radical media growing up, concerning issues such as extremist insurgencies, global rebellions, and notions of utopian societies offered to us by various snake oil salesmen, whether good-intentioned or not. We had our fill of this in the newspapers, on television, on social media, and even in video games. Something about bad news on the doorstep, as mentioned in “American Pie.”  

We couldn’t avoid this material, and the youth—especially in a country that feels like it could turn over into a proper chaotic mess at any time—feel the need to know. But to what end? 

For some, it is about being mentally prepared in the future; for others, it is literal preparation. And for a very questionable minority, it is about replicating what has already been done abroad or at home and utilizing it as a means to spark their own brand of chaos: extra-judicial killings, militaristic fascism, ethno-fascism, and just plain taking down notes from regimes such as Nazi Germany and the Khmer Rouge. (These are just some examples that I can bring up as of the moment, but I am certain that the many edgelords we see today can add more to the mix.) 

This minority sees it as cool, necessary, and fun to replicate these things, to idealize these radicals in a way that allows them to experience and embrace this identity and expression in light of their personal and socio-economic frustrations. But who can blame them? Our society has failed to provide for the many young people who would be attracted to radical ideas, and we must all work to rectify our shortcomings. 

I witnessed the explosion of radicalization among the youth with my very own eyes. As a child, I would see people fascinated by authoritarian strongmen and regimes that could only project strength and little else. Some of these kids had too much money on their hands: they would buy paraphernalia that their parents, families, and guardians either tolerated or were too busy to notice. Others would pay random kids to fly their flags and march with the goose-step, imagining themselves as part of some dictatorship with themselves at the helm.

I have seen the madness. It may be odd to see people teaching nihilism to teenagers and children, but we are now at a point where older people feed into the despair and sadness of those who lack a better life. By feeding into this black hole, one can only produce depression and madness—a madness that can lead to action against the broader whole of society. For us, their victims may be innocent; for them, they are co-perpetrators of the conditions which continue to oppress and alienate them. 

We grew up in the same online spaces. In Roblox, there were groups which exposed people to radical “alternative” ideologies. The same could be said for Discord and other social media platforms. My friends and I did our best to mass-report these accounts, but nowadays we can see these same ideas proliferate on the open forum. 

In Europe, we would see these "alternatives" being peddled by the likes of Marie Le Pen and the German AfD. In America, we would see the sycophants of Trump showing up in force during the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, with all of these groups being exposed once and for all. That’s where we hoped the story would end, but alas! —that was not the case. Once again, these bad actors got their platform, and with it, more breathing room. 

Now we are here, with the psychosis of America bleeding into the minds of its allies and the subjects of its world order. People are beginning to embrace nihilistic, antisocial, and even fascistic ideas once more, and are at risk of making a point of no return, all because we failed to meet their needs as a society. It’s hard to judge them by a moralistic standard until they’ve taken a life or harmed someone, because truthfully, they are here to take their revenge on a society that has ultimately failed them.

It’s funny how the government has long acted to prevent the spread of Communist armed conflict for almost a decade now, by means of organizations such as the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and the National Youth Commission (NYC). But for many, violence is a perceived last resort to be used after all forms of justice have failed. But here we are: our extreme focus on one form of radicalism has allowed these nihilistic, reactionary and far-right elements to take root in a fundamentally liberal and human rights-based society.

The NTF-ELCAC is probably already infiltrated by those sympathetic to the far right, which, historically speaking, is a product of failed communist or socialist action in Europe. To find good anti-communists, you need nihilists, narcissists, sociopaths, and fascists to help out in wiping them out. We have already used the same playbook against communism locally, and now we’ve completely forgotten that these bad actors are right around the corner.  

We are woefully underprepared for what is to come. These people are now at our doors, and are probably looking forward to using us as their next social experiment to see if they can get the minorities to kill one another themselves. Rather than focusing on all forms of radicalism, we hyper-fixate on one. This renders us unready to deal with the full woodwork of radical and nihilistic waves of retribution, even though we’ve worked so hard to keep them down for as long as possible.

I know enough people in my life who could easily get a rifle from their cop relative and, should their mind break, use it against the general public. There are enough crazy people who wouldn’t think twice about potentially attacking an entire university just because they forward progressive and egalitarian ideals (for better or worse). We all better get ready to deal with what is to come. 

I could have become like one of those I have described throughout the course of this article. But I did not—because I have seen the fire firsthand, and the damage it could do to those I love. Sadly, not everyone cares enough and will only want to spark that fire even more. To which I say that we must be ready, now more than ever, to give equal treatment against all forms of radicalism. 

We must be proactive, and although I detest the censorship of children, it might now be necessary, for the enemies of human life are now targeting our children so that our children can become the ones to kill us all—just like how they tried to make me when I was at my lowest, just as they will try to encourage others to do the same, and just like what happened in Tacloban.

The Other Side is a section of Studia Peruleana which seeks to present viewpoints from divergent political angles.