^The problem is that those fanatics have taken over a faith but we shouldn’t accept they represent it. Buying into the terrorists’ discourse is letting them win. They’re no more Muslim than are Christian those who bomb abortion clinics or bombed a movie theater in Paris decades back.
It’s the new normal because it’s the post-cold war’s primary conflict - the parameters aren’t Muslims vs. Christians, but rather Absolutists vs. Pluralists - those who believe there is only one way to believe, act, dress, worship, that the belief in choice, human rights, free will, or any slight deviation from their absolutist definition of reality needs to be punished by death and anyone who questions the sanity of this ideological system needs to have their entire “family” destroyed, vs. those who believe faith is a personal matter and a personal choice, voting is a right/a duty and not a danger to be suppressed, men and women are equal and all people have equal rights, etc.
Many Muslim countries are absolutist (ie. Saudi Arabia) but Muslims who live in pluralist countries are, by and large, pluralists themselves. The estimation is that about 5% French Muslims are “extremists” but salafism and whahabism are gaining ground in poorer areas, where they tend to be concentrated. Otherwise, the vast majority of French Muslims are remarkably similar to French Catholics, Protestants, and vast majority of atheists/nonbelievers; it’s the country where “being Muslim” or any one religion makes the smallest difference in people’s beliefs/opinions. French Muslims are the most “national” of all… which enrages groups that purports to represent “fighting muslims”, because French Muslims think those groups are a bunch of fanatical murderers who have nothing to do with them. Essentially, the very existence of French Muslims, as they function as a group, is an offense against Isis.
The very existence of “free” countries where their very existence is questioned is a threat to absolutist thinkers. They may lure our children by speaking to their idealism but even they realize that once there the kids start thinking for themselves and often regret being there. Some have drunk the koolaid obviously but most just try to make do once they realize they’re stuck and can’t figure out a way out. Girls who are married off and have children may wish to return to their families, boys will be sent on suicide missions as cannon fodder to prevent any from fleeing. As a reward they are now allowed to use Facetime/skype to talk with their parents, and of course they say they’re very happy and love their lives, and parents say they don’t recognize their child.
There’s a special cell in Paris dedicated to un-brainwash people who were in cults- there’s one for pseudo-Asian religions, one for pseudo-Catholicism, one for pseudo-protestantism, one for pseudo-islam. The pseudo-islam group is very very busy because all minors who return from any of these conflict-zones spends time there. These minors may have names like Léa and Clément (the last two I heard of), which shows it really isn’t related to religion. I don’t know how they handle adults. In addition, anyone who’s been to Syria, Iraq, even Turkey is there are reasonable suspicions it was to pass into an Isis-controlled zone, etc., for any reason, has a “S profile”, can be wiretapped, their mail/packages can be inspected, etc. The privacy laws we have in the US are WAY stronger than what’s applied there. But our reality is that it’s impossible to know what every person is doing, unless you create a surveillance state and suspect everyone.