Dear Secretary Chertoff: Duh...

Today I was listening to NPR and I heard an interview with Michael Chertoff, who said that one thing we need to do is figure out why some individuals "radicalize themselves" toward a doctrine of hatred and violence.

Whoa, Mikey...let me think. Wait...give me another moment. Oh, wait! I think I've got it...

First of all, just because someone is reading about bomb-making on the Web and writing "Death to the infidels" in his journal does not mean he has "radicalized himself." People who are part of hate groups are influenced by their culture, their religion, their news media, and their government. Sometimes they get a little extra help from their environmental conditions, too. You don't have to belong to a terrorist organization to be a member of a terrorist movement.

And let us say, just for fun, that Chertoff figures this out. Will he then be giving speeches about how to change the thoughts and behaviors of Eric Rudolph, Terry Nichols, and all the abortion clinic bombers, African American church arsonists, mosque and synagogue vandalizers, and gay-bashers and murderers in the his own country? Somehow, I doubt it.