A screenshot of an ISIS fighter taken from an official YouTube video. ISIS/YouTube
Max Fisher, VOX: Here's how a European ISIS recruit describes his murderous daily routine
It is difficult to imagine oneself in the shoes of one of the young men or women who leave their homes to fight, pillage, and murder on behalf of ISIS, and no less difficult to imagine the experience of ISIS's recruits from far-off Western Europe. Why go? Why give up often-comfortable lives in peaceful communities for the horrors of combat and most likely death far away in Syria or Iraq?
Journalist Ben Taub looked for answers to these questions in a lengthy and excellent New Yorker profile of 18-year-old Belgian ISIS recruit Jejoen Bontinck, who traveled to Syria for jihad before returning home. Although Bontinck is the star of the piece, another young Belgian jihadist who appears in it only briefly, Hakim Elouassaki, offers a much more illuminating look into what motivates ISIS's most enthusiastic recruits.
WNU Editor: Bullies with a gun and a license to kill or cause mayhem .... talk about a disturbing mix. This post also reveals how successful the Islamic State has been in its recruiting efforts .... they target those who are marginalized and give them what they can never have if they stay in the West .... a sense of power and recognition.
It's essentially a rejection of the West and it's current values. So not to be too long, back in the late 50's when the oil money really started to flow, the Middle East sent it's sons to the West to be educated, mostly as engineers, technical fields, etc. Upon returning home this generation found itself stymied by the old political ways and were essentially birds kept in golden cages. Their sons also went West, but took in the proto-Marxism in Western academia along with their other studies. They also were blocked politically and repressed, sometimes quite harshly. Their sons (this generation) also went west, but took to religion as preached by a small segment of the prior generation. This provided meaning and if you will a "calling" in life not offered by the West they were exposed to. Add to this the emigre's children in the West living empty lives of idleness and voila a good sea for radicalism to fish in. Add to this western youth in similar a state exposed to this and to use a phrase "filled a need".
ReplyDeleteWhat some in the West (especially in positions of policy etc) do not understand is that it is useless to argue the right or wrong of this philosophy or "theology if you will, for it whether it exists or not doesn't rely on a definitional or value basis. This brings us to the crux of the West's problem, it has publicly rejected force of arms, it has trumpeted itself as the apex of human philosophical, political, behavioral development, and cannot admit in any case that it's wrong. ISIS, Al Queda, and it's allies reject this claim totally with no exceptions and frame it as a struggle of the soul. The West has no answer for that.
What these guys do once they get to Syria, Iraq, etc, is kind of beside the point. Getting them there is the thing, once there they are already mentally ready for the killing and the looting.
ReplyDeleteOddly enough I ran across this after the above comments. It reflects a lot of my thoughts, but the source must be considered.
ReplyDeleteH/T Gates of Vienna
http://gatesofvienna.net/2015/05/our-values-are-of-no-interest-to-immigrants/
Interesting observations James. In reference to the Gates of Vienna I would refine it as .... "for some of our immigrants our values are of no interest". I am struck when I compare what I want from Canada and what I want to contribute to what others want and hope for. I guess it all comes down to culture .... because when I break it down that way .... I see a huge difference on how these different cultural groups succeed (or not) in this country. But where it becomes a BIGGER problem is in the second generation for some of these cultural groups. Case in point .... education. Montreal has a huge Haitian community .... their parents came here for the purpose of finding work and building a better life. But their children have a difference focus .... many (if not most) drop out of school, and unemployment (coupled with crime) is a serious ... correction .... a huge problem. Families from Arab nations ... same thing but with a twist. A family that I have gotten to know quite well immigrated to Canada 2 years ago. When I asked him why did he come here .... his answer was simple .... in Quebec the government will pay him to have children. !?!?!?!?! I came here for a completely different reason .... but like I said .... it all comes down to culture and other personal factors.
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