SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Pakistani attorney and author Rafia Zakaria wrote an op-ed in Al Jazeera America about the Islamic extremists' war on fun, including sports, music, even dining in a fine restaurant. Zakaria points out that this apparent obsession predates the existence of ISIS by several decades (at least); he suspects this is a big reason why the attackers chose Paris, renowned worldwide for its brilliant culture and joie de vivre.
Terrorism’s targeting of the merry is universal and indiscriminate, a division of the world between those who wish to live and laugh and hope and those who kill and destroy. The latter are deadly and relentless, and they have already squeezed out the mirth from too many of the world’s cities, from Karachi, Kabul and Baghdad to Nairobi and Beirut.
Zakaria experienced this aspect of terror firsthand. A high school friend had just passed a big exam, and was out celebrating with his family at a restaurant in Karachi, Pakistan, when terrorists struck.
Al Jazeera America provides a separate analysis warning that military action alone cannot defeat ISIS (aka ISIL), which of course is not a "nation" in the traditional sense, but more of a guerilla outfit like Al Qaeda, that opportunistically seized a stronghold in chaotic regions of Syria and Iraq. The piece's author, political scientist Rami G. Khouri, recommends that both the West and Muslim nations of the Middle East spend more resources on addressing economic and political problems facing impoverished youths who are potentially attracted by the ISIS' recruiting pitch:
If the underlying threats to ordinary citizens’ lives in autocratic Arab-Islamic societies remain unaddressed — from jobs, water and health insurance, to free elections, a credible justice system and corruption — the flow of recruits to movements like ISIL or something even worse will persist and even accelerate.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by inertnet on Monday November 16 2015, @01:17PM
All of those European born terrorists appear to have failed miserably in their young life. What's most disturbing is that they're preyed upon by religious zealots who turn them into zombies that destroy other people's lives. We must try to eliminate those seeders of hatred before they brainwash more clueless youngsters.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 16 2015, @08:08PM
> We must try to eliminate those seeders of hatred before they brainwash more clueless youngsters.
Gonna be hard to do that since they do it on the internet from anywhere in the world.
How about instead we focus on the people right here among us - and work to make sure those youngsters don't fail in life. That's some much more within our grasp.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 18 2015, @05:42AM
Not sure if it was them that failed, or if it was society that failed them.
But yes, most seem to be second or third generation "immigrants" that end up not quite fitting in either at home or out and about. This because (grand)parents hold one set of value, and the outside hold another set.
Supposedly there was some research done in the Nordics that showed that immigrants that has the least contact with the relatives "back home" were the most integrated. Peer pressure is a "wonderful" thing...