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Something terrible happened in France.


Ms. Spam
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I've been thinking about the whole "radicalization" aspect recently. Some of these men were very young, I believe one was 19 or 20. I feel like a lot of radicals are angry at The Man or something similar, and want to lash out. They become targets for radicalization or conversion (although I think radicalization is easier). Does anyone on here in Europe know what some of these young men are so angry about? Is it difficult to find jobs, is racism really bad there?

 

What Marc said about the more educated views on immigration doesn't surprise me given what I used to know about French culture. They're actually pretty xenophobic, they have a lot of national pride in their culture. They hate when other cultures "invade".

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I wish I could find the link right now, but I read a good article online this past weekend that spoke to that.

Europe's economy is already in really rough shape right now, which has dealt even further trouble for younger demographics. The unemployment rate is anywhere from 25 to 50% for younger people aged 20 to 25 in much of the EU. It's even higher for most minorities. With no prospects and no representation, they're very fallible to the very slick marketing efforts from ISIS which prey on that hopelessness.

This is just armchair diplomacy on my part, but I think the table is being set for a huge problem if not handled precisely by cooler heads. As unfortunate xenophobia and racism is being applied to anyone with Islamic ties, it just turns those underrepresented or underemployed youths directly back to ISIS. Closing borders, limiting opportunities, and spreading fear-mongering rhetoric just kind of reinforces the idea of "The Man" in the West that ISIS wants them to fight.

The more I think about it, the more crucial I think the international response in the next few months is going to be for the upcoming decade or so. Last week's events in Paris could very well be our generation's Franz Ferdinand if not responded to rationally.

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Heh. My feed's burning up with people supporting Govenor Abbott in writing a letter to Obama stating we will not take Syrian refugees in if . I feel I live in the stupidest country in the world. I understand the fear that they're slipping in but really almost all of those people who have been truly dangerous were not refugees but people legally already here. Let me see if I can find some stupid in my feed to share...

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HA! I love my state so I have to take the nuts in my feed who are Texans as part of the flavor of the state I love so much. I mean where else can a kid straight of high school go down to the local gun show and buy a Taurus handgun with his hard earned bag boy monies and with no formal weapons training go out on a firing range and just shoot stuff while his gun is jammed and at least 20 people will come over to offer advice on what he should do to unjam it.

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Guest El Chalupacabra

Memes aren't just for the West, anymore. ISIS has them too...

http://www.vocativ.com/news/250936/isis-fans-gloat-over-paris-attacks-with-paris-on-fire-memes

 

 

 

I am partial to this one with the Sith lord in the background....

 

 

...and to this slogan.

 

Hollande, the dog of Franks, taste our revenge and punishment

Sounds like a rejected line from Conan the Barbarian.

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Heh. My feed's burning up with people supporting Govenor Abbott in writing a letter to Obama stating we will not take Syrian refugees in if . I feel I live in the stupidest country in the world. I understand the fear that they're slipping in but really almost all of those people who have been truly dangerous were not refugees but people legally already here. Let me see if I can find some stupid in my feed to share...

The terrorists are winning then. ISIS wants the refugees kept from fleeing their control.

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D-Ray, I don't know if you'll take any solace in this, but I'd be willing to bet you that it's a pretty small number of people doing it.

 

After the attacks, social media had my view of Western Civilization's response to tragedy in the gutter, and to an extent it still does. But upon closer inspection, the backlashers/finger-wavers/tragedy-utilizers were a tiny group of people; it's just the fact that they are higher pitched than everybody else and never shut up that makes them seem so prevalent.

 

And while I'm also disappointed with the people who encourage and enable the morons, fanatics, and cynics with likes, reposts, retweets, etc., this, too, seems like a pretty small number of people.

 

I feel comfortable saying most people aren't that bad, and this is taking into account that my social circle has more Innarweb radicals/revolutionaries than the vast majority of people out there.

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Heh. My feed's burning up with people supporting Govenor Abbott in writing a letter to Obama stating we will not take Syrian refugees in if . I feel I live in the stupidest country in the world. I understand the fear that they're slipping in but really almost all of those people who have been truly dangerous were not refugees but people legally already here. Let me see if I can find some stupid in my feed to share...

The terrorists are winning then. ISIS wants the refugees kept from fleeing their control.

 

Jesus. That's a scary thought.

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D-Ray, I don't know if you'll take any solace in this, but I'd be willing to bet you that it's a pretty small number of people doing it.

 

After the attacks, social media had my view of Western Civilization's response to tragedy in the gutter, and to an extent it still does. But upon closer inspection, the backlashers/finger-wavers/tragedy-utilizers were a tiny group of people; it's just the fact that they are higher pitched than everybody else and never shut up that makes them seem so prevalent.

 

And while I'm also disappointed with the people who encourage and enable the morons, fanatics, and cynics with likes, reposts, retweets, etc., this, too, seems like a pretty small number of people.

 

I feel comfortable saying most people aren't that bad, and this is taking into account that my social circle has more Innarweb radicals/revolutionaries than the vast majority of people out there.

It's rough in my area of the country. Blind jingoism tends to trump everything else.

 

For example, I'd seen numerous postings of those images purporting to be Syrian refugees coming off of a ship. It shows three or four bulky and muscle bound vaguely Middle Eastern looking guys, and contains the caption "doesn't look like starving refugees to me, looks like an army." A few times I'd seen this, I'd posted the Snopes article debunking it in reply. In the face of that, these guys just essentially make fun of and ridicule logic and documented facts, instead dismissing it as something that distracts them from some supposid "real point."

 

People joke around about it, but our culture truly is turning into the same one from the Idiocracy movie. Logic and reason is being thrown out of the window as groupthink and ignorance is loudly celebrated. It's just so damn sickening.

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People joke around about it, but our culture truly is turning into the same one from the Idiocracy movie. Logic and reason is being thrown out of the window as groupthink and ignorance is loudly celebrated. It's just so damn sickening.

Well, if it's not the same small group of people who can't shut up in your situation but just a massive jingo party, that really is scary. And yeah, sadly, I can't argue too much with road to Idiocracy arguments.

 

:no:

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D-Ray, you need to get out of that area. I hear you, my family has views like that because it's the norm in the area. Now I'm the hippie granddaughter who eats WEIRD food like INDIAN.

 

Pong, it's a mix, really. You're on the opposite end of the spectrum of D-Ray where you guys all sit in drum circles all day and sing Kum-By-Ya. :p

 

I'm considering unfriending people.

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People joke around about it, but our culture truly is turning into the same one from the Idiocracy movie. Logic and reason is being thrown out of the window as groupthink and ignorance is loudly celebrated. It's just so damn sickening.

This is largely true, and I find it's the case on all sides of the spectrum. It comes in all flavors in my newsfeed. Of course there's the jingoistic and macho "bomb the a-rab" types, ranting and raving about nuking the "towel heads" and so on. Or how about a winner take all war against all of Islam? Can't wait to see how well that ends up. Unreasonable and stupid to be sure.

 

The liberals call them out as racist: how dare we impugn all Muslims because of the actions of the isolated fanatics. The same liberals who carried on and on about "white male dudebro's" not so long ago when Elliot Rogers was the trigger-man, and how succinct a poster boy he was for the arrogance and entitlement of ALL white males. Or at least the ones that embarrass the smug, pseudo intellectual hipster white males who really are a cut above everone else. Damned white man's burden: you can trade pride in for guilt, but actually setting it down just never seems to be doable.

 

Oh well. I hear ya, D-Ray. It just seems to be getting worse all the time, and pleas for reason fall on deafer ears. It looks like the repetition of an age old cycle, and it ultimately always leads to the same end result.

 

War.

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