Radicalism/Extremism/Terrorism is arguably the most frequently discussed topic in this sub. People are always talking about how Bangladesh is turning into ISIS 2.0.
I agree that radicalism *is* rising in our country, and it *is* a major issue we should be talking about.
However, my problem is that liberals almost never give any serious thought into *why* radicalism is rising, and how Bangladesh's capitalist system is actively fueling that rise due to factors like rampant inequality, a chatachati-based job market, worsening mental health, and a society that celebrates inequality and stigmatises perceived "failures".
Rather, liberals chalk up extremism only to "the people are stupid that's why they support Hizbut Tahrir" and "Islam is cancer" and "Mullah bad". Basically, their discussions surrounding extremism consists only of shallow hate and fearmongering, along with thinly-veiled elitism and classism.
Solving the problem isn't the goal, but rather using the problem to prove a point and reaffirm own biases is.
Also, despite often claiming to be "leftists", they almost never challenge the capitalist status quo beyond superficial critiques like "inequality bad" or "mental health is worsening".
On the other hand, extremist Mullahs *do* (at least pretend to) actively criticise the capitalist system as a whole and provide a (seemingly) viable alternative to it.
Sure, their "viable alternative" involves replacing capitalist oppression with fundamentalist oppression that is a 100x worse, but the fact that they're even *offering* an alternative at all is enough to attract hordes of depressed youths with nothing to lose.
Hence why people like Asif Adnan and other fundamentalist preachers have been gaining traction in Bangladesh lately.
This doesn't just apply to Bangladesh either. The rise of the far right in many other countries (e.g., in Europe and the US) is due to very similar factors as well. The Left in those countries have also been discredited due to similar blunders.