[Livia]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

I don't think anything was meant by it at all but I do think it's illustrative of something that's really quite evident, and I don't think there's much point in avoiding: people are shocked be a use he's young and white, not because he's young. People struggle to get their heads around it because he looks like the boy next door, and therefore can't be dismissed as some "foreign devil, not like us". Which has been a bug theme for me in these threads recently... People having a constant struggle with cognitive dissonance relating to war / terrorism.

People are surprised because he's young, he's white and he's joined up with ISIL. Which is an Islamic organisation in the Middle East. There aren't many white people fighting with ISIL. That's why people are surprised.

IRA terrorists were predominantly white, Baader Meinhof terrorists were predominantly white... ISIL are predominantly Arab/Middle Eastern or whichever cultural pigeonhole you'd like to place them... but whichever way you twist it there aren't many white kids. So really, no one's struggling to get their heads around anything, they're right to be surprised. Doesn't mean people struggle with cognitive dissonance or anything else.