You don't have to be crazy, but it helps
china.org.cn / chinagate.cn by Brad Franklin, February 26, 2015 Adjust font size:
Today, however, there is an undercurrent of unrest that is far more worrying. ISIS, which has been largely unstoppable in the Middle East, is having startling success in recruiting young people from countries where life generally is good.
Just last week three young girls, aged 15 and 16, travelled from England to Turkey, ostensibly to join the fundamentalist revolution. While most people wonder what these obviously misguided and impressionable youngsters can be thinking, an alternative reality seems to be that causes like the Islamic State helps the disaffected find some legitimization for their grievances.
It is estimated some 150 young people from America have gone to join ISIS and that's probably good news. At least they're out of the country instead of at home brewing bombs.
A significant part of the problem is the seeming illogicality of the rebellious spirits. For the vast majority of us, life generally is good; it's what we're used to and we are too busy living it and sometimes grumbling good-naturedly about it to seriously consider armed rebellion.
To us, the idea of travelling half way around the world to join a bunch of fanatical hotheads or even staying at home and brutally murdering people who haven't tried to harm us is an anathema.
People like the two brothers who killed and maimed innocents at the Boston Marathon and like the lone gunman who killed a soldier standing post at the Canadian war memorial are not people to whom we can possibly relate.
Fortunately, the professionals we charge with keeping us safe are very good at their jobs and most of these lunatics are stopped before they can carry out their twisted plans. Enough slip through, however, to keep the rest of us uneasy and perhaps that's their point.
We live in worrying times.
Brad Franklin is a former political reporter, newscaster and federal government employee in Canada. He is a regular columnist for China's English Salon magazine and lives on Vancouver Island.
Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.