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Referring to the play Martyr by Marius von Mayenburg, this article sheds light upon difficulties encountered by professionals working with young people who express “radical” or “extremist” ideas. Professionals hesitate to take a strong position, imbued as they are with democratic ideals of respect for freedom of expression, and with a desire to listen sympathetically to young voices. Words and actions are minimized, or felt to be limited to a minority. These manifestations must instead be taken seriously, because they say something about the mental state or social situation of young people, and point towards social relations that have broken down and given way to essentialized identities, to supposed conspiracies, and to identification with victims of international conflicts. They bring about a refusal of alterity.