The two biggest factors leading to extremism and crime in the Western world (home-grown terrorists and the like) are anomie and social alienation, according to modern sociological theory.

Essentially, when a population becomes marginalized or separated from the general society due to racism or prejudice, it creates a situation where people feel rejected and disconnected from their fellow citizens. They feel incredibly afraid and alone, and as a result become desperate for a community that will accept them. They will reject the society that has rejected them to protect their sense of self, especially if the animosity toward them is undeserved.

In the case of Muslims in Western countries and ISIS specifically, this is particularly dangerous. By painting all Muslims with the same brush and discriminating against them based on their religion alone (instead of judging them as people first and foremost) , we will breed more extremists. ISIS is ready and willing to accept these people with open arms if they want to join the cause. Why would they choose to align themselves with the people who hate them and see them as subhuman despite the fact that they have lived honest, kind lives?

If you allow your hatred of ISIS to color your views of all Muslims, they win. You become the force that makes ISIS stronger by giving moderate Muslims a reason to turn extremist. You feed ISIS's numbers and create a deep social divide that will last for generations. It creates a war that can not be won and feeds on itself indefinitely. That's how we got to this point in the first place, after 9/11. People were afraid and they marginalized their neighbors as a result.

This is a war that needs to be fought with love, not violence. If we let our Muslim brothers and sisters know that we love and accept them, we believe in freedom of religion, and we will not marginalize them based on the extreme actions of a few maniacs, ISIS will die.

Islamic extremists believe that the Western world has it out for them through no fault of their own. Killing people is not the answer to this problem. We need to kill the idea, and to do that, we need to prove that it's wrong.