Three girls, 15 to 17 years old have apparently run away from their homes in London to head for Syria to join a terrorist group. And apparently this is happening more and more frequently.
How are these kids being recruited? Do they not realize that when you join a group the beheads and burns people for fun, that you could be next? I’m really baffled by how this is happening.
I would post a link from the news but I’m terribly linking illiterate, if anyone an help out by posting it?
This isn’t just men and young men, women have been flocking to it, too. There was apparently an article in the NY Times, profiling this young egyptian guy who has joined ISIS, who would seem to be the most unlikely person to want to join, he was middle class, he was thoroughly westernized, was a fitness type who wanted to be a personal trainer, his family was somewhat conservative muslim but not radical apparently (I guess you would say observant, his mother and sisters wear the head scarve and such), apparently was sexually active and so forth…and became radicalized and ran off. The article said that part of it was he couldn’t make it as a fitness instructor, the economy was too poor for that, then he was disillusioned by the results of the “Arab Spring” and the military crackdown, but they also said they think that what finally drove him over the edge was a conflict between the very conservative ideas of sex in Islam, with the way he had been living (like a typical young man in the west would), and it apparently drove him over the edge to where he saw salvation in going totally the other way, hating the west and its ‘decadant morals’ and so forth.
And yes, it does seem weird that young women would flock to something like ISIS, where women are not exactly treated as equals or are very free (women joining ISIS from what I understand are usually married off to the leaders in the movement as reward for their loyalty or some such),it seems weird. I suspect part of that may be teen rebellion and anything to do with the world they are in, part of it may be romanticizing ISIS as some sort of heroic quest (it is very easy, as outsiders, to see it for what it really is, but it also is very, very easy to rationalize the horrors away, too…take a look at any horrible group, whether it be the Taliban, Al Qaeda, the Nazis, the Mafia, gangs, and you will find people who romanticize it or think there is something special about it). Then again, on a different scale, how many women support religious traditions in the US and the west as a whole that seem contradictory, supporting faiths where women’s roles for example are strictly defined, or whatnot, how many women in the age of Feminism supported people like Phyliss Schafly, who thought a women’s role was to meet her husband at the door with a martini and wearing lingerie?..the reasons are complex, the scary part is whatever the cause, groups like ISIS can be found attractive to anyone.
[url=<a href=“http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2961639/Fears-grow-three-teenage-schoolgirls-thought-fled-join-ISIS.html%5DHere’s%5B/url”>http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2961639/Fears-grow-three-teenage-schoolgirls-thought-fled-join-ISIS.html]Here’s[/url] one story. The romanticism of evil, of submission, of giving one’s self entirely.
That just boggles my mind. They plan to just jump off the plane in Syria and be like, “Hi! I’m Here!!”. All ready to start killing people. Couldn’t finish my homework or do the dishes last week like my parents asked, so let’s join a terrorist group!
Here is a link to one of many articles about them.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/20/fears-london-schoolgirls-isis-syria
In this case, the 3 have a friend who has already joined ISIS. Presumably they are in contact with her and she has sent them glowing accounts of her wonderful new life.
Thank you for the links Lergnom and jonri, that definitely sheds some (scary) light on how this is happening!
I was just listening to a news report about how sophisticated ISIS is in the use of social media. What I don’t get is why there isn’t an international effort to shut down/block their accounts, websites, etc. or otherwise neutralize them and flood the internet with counter-propaganda. Or maybe this is happening and it’s all top secret–but I somehow doubt it. ISIS has an online magazine–why can’t it be wiped off the internet, over and over if necessary? Seems like we need a Project Enigma type effort by the Western nations to exterminate these vermin wherever they are found, in whatever form, as well as a mandatory 20 year prison sentence for treason for anyone from the West who joins them. I think even the stupidest teen might be daunted by that possibility. Instead, they know that if caught they’ll just be delivered back to their parents’ arms.
@movemetoo ISIS has a very sophisticated social media machine, which is used among other things to groom young people to join its movement. It is a cult. There is no doubt in my mind that these young women are not planning to be suicide bombers (although presumably they could end up as such) but have been fed romantic tales that appeal to impressionable young minds.
Kids joining ISIS aren’t the brightest of the bunch. I don’t think you’re going to find a rational explanation of their irrational behavior.
“The romanticism of evil, of submission, of giving one’s self entirely.”
– and unbelievable naivete and ignorance. Yet more proof teenagers are mostly nuts 
I see no evidence that statement is true. They may be more naive and less “street smart” than most, but in terms of intelligence…I think it’s the smarter ones who are most at risk.
I’m old enough to remember the Weathermen. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_Underground The people who got involved in it were very smart. Most were from upper middle class families. They were idealists.
I suspect that this is true of many young people attracted to Islamic extremist groups.
There really should be some rule against a 15 yr old getting on an international flight without parental permission. Whether they are going to Paris for the weekend or joining ISIS.
One would think that there would be a rule of some sort. Or at least some extra scrutiny would be good.
One of the girls allegedly travelled on her older sister’s passport, so airline staff would have assumed she was older than 15.
The Quilliam Foundation has translated a ‘manifesto’ published by a group of IS women on why women should join them. It’s fascinating and terrifying. You can read it here: http://www.quilliamfoundation.org/free-publications/ Scroll down to the doc entitled ‘Women of the Islamic State’.