This is shocking news. You are telling me that teenage girls would be willing to put down their cellphones for long enough to join a jihad???
Okay, this isn’t really a joking matter at all, and we can just skip over the part where we all wonder how bad their home lives must have been to make this seem like a good idea. But this is also truly confusing on so many levels. I mean, I can sort of see the appeal of this kind of thing to young men. Guys who were raised in a culture of video game and movie violence. Guys who think guns and bombs are cool and are acting out against society.
But teenage girls? Have they thought this through? Joining a culture that doesn’t exactly achieve high marks when it comes to how they treat women. A culture where fashion really is limited to picking outfits that cover everything but your eyes. No makeup… no fancy shoes… no shopping… no dating… limited bating opportunities…not a lot of fast food options… what am I missing here?
Either these young girls were just woefully uninformed about exactly what they were getting themselves into and they just fell for some smooth recruitment campaign, or they really were leading some horrible lives. I mean, I hope those are the two choices. Because more and more young people from around the globe are doing this. And we need to figure out why.
And if it turns out that these young people really are converting to Islam and they feel the calling so deeply that they are willing to lay down their lives, or at the very least, give up everything they have going for them in their lives, the sooner we figure that out, the better off we will all be. Because a lot of young people won’t put down their cell phones long enough to finish their homework or clean their room, let alone run away to another country and start their lives over in an unknown and hostile environment. So obviously we aren’t offering these kids something that they need. And we should figure out what that is. Because the ones who can’t actually fly overseas to join these movements are going to be living right here beside us, and they are just going to be waiting for the spark that lights their fuses.
Pouring My Art Out 
Like you, I cannot fathom the appeal of women fighting for Islam. I can see women fighting with the Kurds (& I think this is where some of these girls are going) against ISIS because ISIS is a really bad bully & needs to be curtailed. These women must feel ISIS needs to be defeated very strongly to put themselves in this position!
And the Kurds treat women better… the Kurds will not have their whey with you… ha… see what I did there…
Great post!
Thank you.
I agree with both you and Joe, PMAO. This makes me think of the Manson girls, and all the other cult happenings of the sixties. I think the only difference between now and then is the ease at which a teen can acquire things like plane tickets nowadays. Teen rebellion has gone global.
I’ve worked with kids in the local school district for twenty years and my observation is that if a kid is bored enough or entitled enough, he/she will do something shocking and call it a “calling.”
This is just such a weird rebellion… we did a lot of stuff, but it was mostly about feeling good… this is a weird level of commitment on a lot of levels. In a strange way, I sort of think these kids are braver than we were… but maybe not as smart.
I think you’re right. Baby Boomers rebelled against the iron-fisted reign of their parents. This newest generation has more personal freedom than any that came before, and yet look how it’s squandered. I guess if these girls truly believed they were answering a calling then I would applaud their efforts, but I have a hard time seeing this as anything other than bored, entitled kids doing something to get attention.
Keep in mind that I grew up a poor hood rat, so I can’t comprehend anything beyond surviving my own world, never mind liberating another. That’s just my jaded Gen X take on things. I could be wrong.
They have access to the internet. They must have some idea of what life would be like over there for a woman. At best, they would have been given a suicide vest and a few hours of training and it would have been over quickly.
Seems to me to be in the recruitment of preying on vulnerable people. It’s just become an extreme end of the spectrum.
Right, but getting lonely, depressed people to show up at a church or a cult meeting or whatever seems one thing, getting them to steal money and make plane reservations… to change life forever… this seems like a pretty big commitment, especially for teens.
We have a lost generation
long way to go to get lost… and shot at…