ISIS and the Lonely Young American

[Brickbat]

Alex, a 23-year-old Sunday school teacher and babysitter, was trembling with excitement the day she told her Twitter followers that she had converted to Islam.

For months, she had been growing closer to a new group of friends online — the most attentive she had ever had — who were teaching her what it meant to be a Muslim. Increasingly, they were telling her about the Islamic State and how the group was building a homeland in Syria and Iraq where the holy could live according to God’s law.

One in particular, Faisal, had become her nearly constant companion, spending hours each day with her on Twitter, Skype and email, painstakingly guiding her through the fundamentals of the faith.

But when she excitedly told him that she had found a mosque just five miles from the home she shared with her grandparents in rural Washington State, he suddenly became cold.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/28/world/americas/isis-online-recruiting-american.html?smid=fb-share

To me, this is less an article about ISIS recruiting in America and more about how people get lost in our society. Bystanders ask all the time, "How does this happen? What do these people think they're getting?" In many cases, it's community. They're outcasts for whatever reason. We can all think of people in our communities who are on the edges for whatever reason -- addiction, personality, they just don't fit. It doesn't meant they're all at risk for radicalization, but they are at risk of getting lost.

[mainer]

1. This was a fascinating article. The supply of ISIS recruits is endless.

Because everywhere, there are lonely, isolated young people searching for friends.

[Brickbat]

2. There are always going to be people who don't fit.

Finding ways to ease that can go a long way toward solving a lot of problems, I think.

[Brickbat]

3. Kick.

[shanti]

4. great article!

it gives a bit more insight on the grooming that goes on into the making of an islamic radical.

thanks for posting it!

[riderinthestorm]

5. Must read! nt

[Cleita]

6. Cuckoo religious cults have been recruiting lost people since the days of the tent revivals

back a hundred years ago. I remember Moonies, Krishnas, and many others from the hippie era. Some have been doomsday and suicidal cults. These guys have gone a step further and are murder cults. We get our word assassin from the Hashishem, an Asian cult of I believe the eighteenth century who killed in the name of the goddess Kali and who used hash for their ceremonies. I can't seem to find a link but I remember reading about them.

It's too bad that we leave vulnerable people twisting in the wind, so that they are prey for these religious cranks with agendas.