@McTag,
I get what the writer was saying, but frankly, he's missing some perspective on control methods.
Citing the Taliban operating toll roads and Hezbollah runningn schools and hospitals is a good argument, but incomplete in terms of human psychology when considering why people endorse these groups.
As an example, we might examine a low income, gang infested neighborhood in Compton, Los Angeles in the 90s. To the gang members themselves (the low ranking ones), they might view themselves as righteous protectors of their neighborhood (an altruistic motivator), and might justify this by thinking that their civic authorities don't care about them, protect them, or even conspire against them. They might even be right about these things. They conduct their operations, and feel at some level justified, and non-gang members in the neighborhood are taught to fear civil authorities like the police, and never rat out your neighborhood's protectors. After all, if you buy into the idea that the neighborhood across the tracks is your primary threat, and that the police won't help you, you may see them as tarnished, but ultimately acceptable knights. Even if they invite chaos and violence to your street. So even while all this is happening, someone in the formula is making money, and gaining power, and their motives are not so altruistic. I'm sure their rhetoric they use to build loyalty sounds good. Lots of Robin hood mythology in most violent criminal orgs I would guess.
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