[In the Drunk Tank]

Originally Posted by Livia

With respect MTVN - because I always do respect your point of view - I'm tired of people trying to explain why this is happening, in effect excusing ISIL and making it all about what the West has done as if they have a right to carry out these act in retaliation. There is no excuse for what they ISIL do and there is no explanation for it apart from this: ISIL are a bunch of murdering terrorists who will do what they do because they hate anyone who isn't with them. Killing children in front of their parents, making people watch as their wives and daughters are raped and then murdered, all the terrible, sickening things I've heard about ISIL since it all began makes me wonder how anyone can, with a straight face, say there is any kind of explanation for what they're doing.

I wasn't trying to explain their actions though, I'm talking about explaining their rise; why they have managed to recruit so many followers and why opposition forces and Middle Eastern governments have been so impotent to stop them. I'm not going to disagree with your description of IS - their brand of extremism is more murderous than anything we've seen in the last few decades - but in order to counter their threat we do need to contextualise it imo. It's not about explaining what they've done necessarily, it's about explaining why they have been able to carry out their atrocities and swallow up so much territory.