Self-Criticism or Self-Hatred?

"Roba, a young woman from Jordan, has been blogging at "And Far Away" for several years now. It's mostly a personal-diary weblog, but she does discuss, from time to time, issues of wider interest as they come up in her daily life. Last week, for example, in "Questler: Aiding Your Quest for Knowledge," she explained how, as a young girl, she was a poor student because in her classroom at that time the focus of the instruction was on listening and memorization and the teachers wouldn't allow her to engage with the material to be learned either visually or in written form. Then in fourth grade she failed an exam.

"It didn’t help that in the Arab world," Roba wrote, "teachers think that learning is only done by listening. How often was I forced to put my pen and paper away by the teacher so that I wouldn’t doodle, but instead stare blankly at the chalkboard while my mind did somersaults? For the longest time, I hated school, I hated learning, and I believed I was stupid.""
IBC

Khalid's response is indicative of some the fundamentals of war and counterinsurgency. People need something to hang on to, they need a way to see themselves, and their culture as relevant, they need a way to maintain their sense of honor and respect.
If we do not offer anything in response, or allow a vacuum, someone else will fill the space.

Believe it or not this is connected to the torture issue. If we just arrest, and process criminals, there is no glory, but if we hunt terrorist and torture them then we create a perception of importance and status that the common criminal does not enjoy.

The fact that Khalid says that as a blogger he's purposely tailoring his writing to promote these aspects of the human psyche, too "get back to our identity as a way of self-preservation and resisting occupations," identifies him as a propagandist, something I already knew, but at a higher, deeper level that I though him capable of.

I wonder if this aspect of Khalids psyche has always been there, or is it a product of influence he has received in Jordan?

Someone should warn his brother to be on the lookout for any signs of radicalization before Khalid hurts himself, or others.