As a hate-filled kid, I turned to far-right ideology. Now I help others avoid that path | Matthew Quinn

I grew up in a white Christian society mostly on the outskirts of Sydney. I was a very painful, messy child. I had a lot of anger, often towards people closest to me, but because I could not do anything about it, I wandered with a lot of anger that I had no way to get rid of.

A family member had the “Asian” hatred due to World War II. My grandfather also hated the “Asians”, and he said things like “Make sure your doors are locking” and “You cannot trust them.” This was when the Australian Senator and one state leader, Pauline HansonThere was a lot of “anti -Asian” things.

At that time, I faced a medical problem and gave me the medicine that I had a lot of anger. With all this mixed together, I thought: “The Asians should be the ones who cause problems.” Suddenly I am no longer this quiet child. I started choosing battles with anyone who looked at a mistake.

I was alone and started finding other people who were alone as well, and we started forming small groups. They were mostly youth or people with painful backgrounds like me who wanted to get their anger.

There was a lot of sexual assault and survivors of home abuse in the group. I remember that one of the players says that he was raped by his father, who was fed by drugs every night to make him forget that. We were a handful of players who have no place to go and there is no way to get the support we need. We have found a common enemy to launch our anger towards – at a time when there was a lot of racism in society directed to “Asian gangs”. It became worse and worse, even in the end, when I was 15 years old, the men in the group were talking about a full attack.

If we look back now, I can see how that happened. But at that time we were so angry that “these people” were coming to our town, and society told us that they were “the problem”, so they became a target of our anger. Within about six months, I moved from the opposite of the things that were said in society to “we must get weapons and start killing people.”

Only when I contacted an old friend from primary school, I realized that I wanted to get out of the group. He took me to places in the city that I never went. I started seeing different cultures for the first time – he really brought me out of that white bubble.

I tried to make other players fall hatred, and tried to get it in jobs and keep them away from holding on to the group and participating in various activities. They did not go to Medina. After a year or so, it was finally resolved.

Fifteen years later, after leaving the army, I heard the Australian deputy Ann Ali On the radio. At a time when she was an expert in fighting terrorism at a university and she was making a phone call to people who had backgrounds in extremism so that they could try to understand the Islamic State. She called her, and said, “When can you come to Perth?” I left there on Monday. After that, the New South Wales police gave me my first case.

At that time, there was no program to disengage in Australia. Nobody understands how to do this. Anne said, “Why don’t you prepare one?” I said, yes, I will jump. Thus, Australia appeared. The main thing that I learned from my own experience is to ask what this person directs towards anger in the first place? Then work on that.

Most people drop the ideology very quickly once they get the support they need. They belong to these groups because they get something of them. You should become a substitute for this support so that they do not need the group anymore. One of the biggest “success stories” was a man who was planning to kill a mass, who helped reach the services he needed. There were people who were suffering from conspiracy theories, and they wanted to do things like attacking the government. They helped them re -contact their families and change their opinion. I have seen people who have Nazi tattoos in prison starting to get the support they need, then when I say, “Why don’t we get rid of this tattoo?” They say “definitely.”

My biggest concern today is that young people participate in these groups. It is unaware of the ways in which predators can put and recruit them online. Even the children came to me after a conversation and say: “I now realize that I am cured.” Many groups now use male and you are a “appropriate gym” as a way to make children join. It always has some new distortion. For me, the “Asians” were against us; Before the ruling, “Muslims” were trying to take over; During Covid, the “elites” that controlled the government were; Now it is “elites” and “cultural pluralism” that tries to “eliminate” eggs.

The lesson that I will give to the people who try to disengage others is to build a relationship with them and determine the primary cause of their anger. It is also important to remember that not everyone has the same elastic tools to help themselves. The worst thing you can do is fight against ideology and all the terrible things the person said. Try to find basic problems – and build support on it.