Violent Extremism: Who Joins and Why

RadioEd is a biweekly podcast created by the DU Newsroom that taps into the University of Denver’s deep pool of bright brains to explore new takes on today’s top stories. 

The United States faces a growing threat of domestic extremism, embodied by the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. We wanted to know what it actually means to be an extremist. Is a certain type of person drawn to extremism? What convinces someone to join an extremist group? And how might our own friends or neighbors go down that path? Rachel Nielsen is the director of the Colorado Resilience Collaborative, which focuses on combating violent extremism. She sheds some light on these questions and more.

Show Notes

Rachel Nielsen is the director of University of Denver's Colorado Resilience Collaborative, an initiative of the International Disaster Psychology program at the Graduate School of Professional Psychology.

More information:

• New York Times: "Extremists Emboldened by Capitol Attack Pose Rising Threat, Homeland Security Says"
• New York Times: "White House Orders Assessment on Violent Extremism in U.S."
• CNN: "Expert: Social media to extremism is like oxygen to fire"
• Colorado Resilience Collaborative contact page