Season 3 Finale

Angela wraps up Season 3 with a review of the season's themes, a nugget of information about the summer mini-series, and an ask for Life After Hate.

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Transcript

Angela 0:01

Hi there. You're listening to season three, episode eight of the Daily former episode eight, happens to be the season three finale. This season. We invited formers to tell their stories themselves on their terms. We ask questions we received from our friends in the Discord, people writing in and about things that pique our curiosity or remind us of our own lived experience. My name is Angela, and today we're revisiting the season and talking about the themes that form a unique tapestry, showing how we got from there to here. Those themes are vulnerability. Self-worth, exploitation, trust, accountability, amends. And growth. The TDF team engaged every guest we interviewed by touching on the themes I just mentioned, and we listened without judgment or preconceived notions. We held conversations that empowered us to discover others' experiences. That parallel much of our own experiences. We discussed the pain and scars of trauma that led us into violent extremism to begin with, or that which we accumulated once there. Organically and with others who validated our feelings and experiences. We touched on the how and why, and more importantly, we took a deep dive into the period of time that took us from there to here, from disengagement to the present. To be clear. Guests and interviewers are at different stages of the journey through former hood. We didn't get here in the same ways, and we aren't traveling through it precisely the same. However, the theme season three touched on, show us where the similarities lie. It's a place between. The same but different. These conversations among ourselves and in ways that are helpful to others act as a healing balm to our souls and the scars we carry. If I had to choose one theme that showed up across our guests and interviewers this season, it's that every one of us is invested in preventing others from walking the paths we did. Preventing or interrupting extremist violence and that if you find yourself there and are contemplating a way out, life after Hate is here for you. We asked each of our guests some version of the following. We asked them what were the broad strokes of their background and their childhood. We wanted to know when they very first learned about the violent extremist movement and how long it took them to become mentally invested in it, what was the beginning like for them? What their favorite parts of their involvement in violent extremism were? We also wanted to know when the veil started to lift and if there was anything they were proud of from their time involved in violent extremism. We wanted to know things like what was. Their personal disengagement process, like what were the first choices that were made? We also dove into some tougher stuff, like what are some of the ways our guests have made amends or been accountable for their actions? We spoke with some of our guests. On deep topics like how their relationships were impacted by their involvement in violent extremism. Trust is a big thing. We wanna know what it means to them now, and if they're happy, we also shared the opportunity to leave us with a message or to plug something they were involved in. So welcome to TDF Season three finale. We appreciate you tuning in and for all the valuable input our listeners offered throughout the season. That means the thoughtful questions that have been submitted and for the offline conversations that inspire us every day. For season three, we invited former members of violent extremists, ideologies, and groups to join us and to talk about their own backgrounds on their terms. That means we asked open-ended questions and listened intently to the answers before we chose our follow-up questions For nearly 86% of our guests. Vulnerability, self-worth, exploitation, accountability and growth were intricately intertwined with their journeys. From there to here, trust and amends were also essential themes with 71% of our guests. Interestingly, only 33% of our guests identify as women. The unbalanced number of men versus women, both inside and outside of violent and extremism is consistent There. Have always been more men than women. And speaking from my own experience, I can say absolutely. When I was involved in violent extremism, women were far outnumbered by the men and on this side of it having disengaged and been out for all these years. I've had the opportunity to meet so many formers, and again, the men outnumber the win women on the outside of it as well. And if we look at data from academics who are known for interviewing. Current and former members of violent extremism, academics like Kathy Bleed, John Horgan, and Pete Simi. To name a few examples, the number of men versus women is reflected in the data as well, speaking of complex gender dynamics we skate around this generally. Our TDF team, our guest, there are always things that we feel uncomfortable saying. So I wanna leave you, our listeners with a small nugget, TDFs Season three summer miniseries will dive into topics such as gendered experiences and expectation in ways only the TDF team can. So we all know what that means. It will be intimate, candid conversations in ways we're comfortable sharing uncomfortable experiences. We'll, not only share, but also crack the can of gendered ways of being inside and out of violent extremism. Stay tuned, especially after TDFs. Summer break if you're interested in such topics. We sincerely hope that our guests walked away from their experiences with the TDF team, with TDF feeling empowered to share their lives on their terms, and that they had thoughtful interviewers who listened to and understood them on the deepest level. Thank you all for your time with us. We see and appreciate you and we hope to touch base and stay connected in the future. Wow. I have to take a gratitude minute here and say that as a co-founder of the organization and. In all the roles I've had over the last 14 and a half years here, doing what I get to do every day with TDF, interacting with other formers I. Marrying my lived experience, my academic knowledge, the many things I've learned as a practitioner and as I've come up and really cut my teeth on how does a nonprofit work? I have to say that like I am checking off bucket list items here. And what a fantastic season we had. I can't go further without stopping to thank all of you for sharing your friendship, your experiences, what you've learned with us. I hope our listeners enjoyed this season where former shared their experiences on their terms and where we shared intimate and unique conversations. I. Feel free to let us know how you feel by commenting on our Instagram, Twitter, or joining the Discord and getting in on the conversation. Again, thank you all for your willingness to share and thank you listeners for investing some of your time with us. Stick with us for more content in the future. Now, this is not your typical season finale. As host, I opted for less bells and whistles and more. Let me get. Straight to the point with our audience, with our listeners, with those who support us, those who guests on TDF. This is a very unique time. I'm gonna do something we've never done on TDF. I'm gonna be really transparent here. Life after hate lost a significant stream of contracted funding, and it is not because the need for our services has gone away, but because the political will to support our imperative work has gone away, that means that our most vital program exit USA, is at risk of being scaled back or even paused. Those we serve, they don't have the luxury of waiting for help. Every week, more individuals reach out to us ready to disengage from violent extremism. If life after hate and our exit USA program disappeared, these individuals have nowhere else to turn. So if you believe in redemption. Prevention and second chances that save lives. Please make your gift today. Visit our website@www.life after hate.org/donations and until we meet again over the summer, take care. Take care of yourselves and encourage others to do the same. We're with you. We see you and we are doing the same. We're practicing self-care so we can come back fortified and ready for the next season of. What life brings us Thank you all again. This is Angela signing off on season three. We hope you enjoyed and can't wait to share even more unique content with you. Have a good summer.