Any thoughts on these comments from Monica Marks, Juan?
"Self-proclaimed Salafi jihadis and ISIL devotees often live a schizophrenic morality, oscillating wildly between fundamentalism and abuses of alcohol and drugs in their own lives. In fact, one of the reasons some young people in countries I'm most familiar with (Turkey, Tunisia) have joined ISIL is precisely because its barriers to entry are lower than other jihadist groups (like Nusra, AQ) so it's easier to join as a disaffected young person with little knowledge of Islam or long-term devotion to ultra-strict interpretations of its practice. I think I get where Cole was coming from - guys like Mateen, the 9/11 bombers, and perhaps even the majority of jihadi terrorist perpetrators in Muslim countries - aren't what most Muslims would define as good practitioners of Islam. But it seems in his eagerness to make that point, he blurs the fact that today's self-proclaimed Salafi jihadists & ISIL devotees are often "bad Muslims" in the traditional sense, who use the crazy ideology du jour to justify & give higher purpose to their own violent impulses - impulses which often stem from a criminal past, mental health issues, socio-economic displacement, sexual frustration, violent machismo, desperation for meaning, etc..."
Any thoughts on these comments from Monica Marks, Juan?
"Self-proclaimed Salafi jihadis and ISIL devotees often live a schizophrenic morality, oscillating wildly between fundamentalism and abuses of alcohol and drugs in their own lives. In fact, one of the reasons some young people in countries I'm most familiar with (Turkey, Tunisia) have joined ISIL is precisely because its barriers to entry are lower than other jihadist groups (like Nusra, AQ) so it's easier to join as a disaffected young person with little knowledge of Islam or long-term devotion to ultra-strict interpretations of its practice. I think I get where Cole was coming from - guys like Mateen, the 9/11 bombers, and perhaps even the majority of jihadi terrorist perpetrators in Muslim countries - aren't what most Muslims would define as good practitioners of Islam. But it seems in his eagerness to make that point, he blurs the fact that today's self-proclaimed Salafi jihadists & ISIL devotees are often "bad Muslims" in the traditional sense, who use the crazy ideology du jour to justify & give higher purpose to their own violent impulses - impulses which often stem from a criminal past, mental health issues, socio-economic displacement, sexual frustration, violent machismo, desperation for meaning, etc..."