I understand why Westerners are joining jihadi movements like ISIS. I was almost one of them.

[J-William]

 

I understand why Westerners are joining jihadi movements like ISIS. I was almost one of them.

 

 

 

We are raised to love violence and view military conquest as a benevolent act. The American kid who wants to intervene in another nation’s civil war owes his worldview as much to American exceptionalism as to jihadist interpretations of scripture. I grew up in a country that glorifies military sacrifice and feels entitled to rebuild other societies according to its own vision. I internalized these values before ever thinking about religion. Before I even knew what a Muslim was, let alone concepts such as “jihad” or an “Islamic state,” my American life had taught me that that’s what brave men do.

 

[Heam]

I've always thought the attraction of Westerners (and others) to ISIS is because there's this enormous power vacuum in the region, one which very rarely comes about in history. Men are willing to fight and die for a place in an unsettled hierarchy where they could very well be the masters of an emergent human farm.

[RyanT]

I think you're on the ball Waleed,

 

You've got these young western men who grew up in broken or dysfunctional homes, which prepared them badly for a world that's  tough to get along in anyway. Pretty much gone are the days when any mediocre guy with poor social skills can get a decent well paying job in a factory or firm, get married and live in the nice little house in the suburbs.

 

From cases I've read about many spent their teens and early twenties dabbling in crime and drugs..further hampering their chances.

 

As they are Western society has pretty much nothing to offer them apart from pain and rejection.  

 

So yeah, the idea of going out there where everything is still to play for, possibly becoming some 'hero of the revolution'

(or else dying and going to paradise with all those virgins) must be very appalling.

[Josh F]

arent those westerners joining ISIS almost all muslim?