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[Morrigan Stark]

Enough with the children/adult dichotomy, will you? They are not "legal adults", and no one is saying they are "full-fledged adults", but that doesn't make them children. Calling them children is incredibly misleading. They can't vote or purchase alcohol, but they are old enough to have sex, get married, work, and drive. Children can't do any of these.

I think if a man 3,000 miles away wanted me to come and marry him, i might just google what he's promising while booking my tickets, emptying my bank account and renewing my passport.

Seriously. It wasn't a heat of the moment kind of impulse or anything.

 

[Mikey Jr.]

They literally are by definition. Even by law you are not considered an adult in the United Kingdom until the age of 18. This is not to mention that no serious person would consider an 18 year old a fully fledged adult unless

A| They have no life experience
B| They lack empathy

You are being extremely naive.

 

[Miles Quaritch]

I think if a man 3,000 miles away wanted me to come and marry him, i might just google what he's promising while booking my tickets, emptying my bank account and renewing my passport.

As a rational adult, but as a teen who doesn't have a bank account that needs emptying, doesn't need to renew their passport and generally doesn't know any better and believes the propaganda they've been fed constantly over the course of weeks?

You're approaching this from a viewpoint of a rational person. They clearly weren't in a rational frame of mind due to being absorbed by and buying into the propaganda.

As much as hearing that might grate on you, it's the truth. Seeing the reality on the ground, having the sinking realisation everything they were fed was bullshit is the only way they'd ever come round to seeing things from a semi rational point of view and when they did, they apparently decided to flee.

 

[Lucifelle]

You are being extremely naive.

Nope, but nice try.

 

[OrlanisWorks]

When you don't do your research, you're gonna have a bad time.

Sad story, this one certainly is. Part of me hopes they get away safely.

 

[xenist]

They're fucking 16, not 6.

They knew exactly what they were doing. They just thought they'd end up as the oppressors instead of the oppressed. Still, I hope they make it back so they can go to jail. Because I'm a better person than they are.

 

[speculawyer]

I consider myself pretty internet savvy and I don't know where I could find and watch videos of IS burning people alive.

I don't believe it's entirely fair to say that they had full access.

You are not internet savvy.

 

[KillGore]

I feel sad for them, but as someone who's been 16 before, I can say that I wasn't that stupid. What did they expect? Were they on a complete blackout of ISIS news?

 

[Baki]

People saying they were "brainwashed" really grates me.
They had full access to watching ISIS burn human beings alive in cages and then decide that was lifestyle choice they could enjoy and well worth lying to and leaving their families behind, while then traveling halfway across the world and through multiple countries/checkpoints.

They're on the same level as 9/11 and holocaust deniers, the truth was right in front of them but they ignored it. I can understand to a degree someone sympathizing with the ISIS idea of "pure islam"...but not all the death and dark age torture this group of psychopaths activley brag about. You can't even use the excuse "western media is disorting their message", because it's ISIS themselves that are packaging these slick snuff movies for mass consumption, not some undercover news reports.


I think if a man 3,000 miles away wanted me to come and marry him, i might just google what he's promising while booking my tickets, emptying my bank account and renewing my passport.

If they knew what they were getting into... They wouldn't be running away.

They were 15/16 minorities living in a country where the media would constantly misrepresent and vilify their particular minority group. It's not surprising that (a) being impressionable young teens they'd buy into propaganda and (b) mistrust media coverage as propaganda.

It's similar to some kids joining gangs.

 

[Commander Jameson]

If they knew what they were getting into... They wouldn't be running away.

They were 15/16 minorities living in a country where the media would constantly misrepresent and vilify their particular minority group. It's not surprising that (a) being impressionable young teens they'd buy into propaganda and (b) mistrust media coverage as propaganda.

Misrepresentation of Muslims or of ISIS? Did they take onboard what the Western media were saying about Islam/Muslims and not what they were saying about ISIS? I wonder how they managed to know enough about the former without knowing anything about the latter.

 

[Baki]

Watching that video. How the fuck did the police or school not inform the parents that the girls had been interviewed because their friend ran away. What an utter fuck up

Misrepresentation of Muslims or of ISIS? Did they take onboard what the Western media were saying about Islam/Muslims and not what they were saying about ISIS? I wonder how they managed to know enough about the former without knowing anything about the latter.

Misrepresentation of Muslims, which probably led to a distrust of media. So I don't think level of media exposure matters because they probably disregarded. They probably trusted their friends words much more...

 

[dapperbandit]

They literally are by definition. Even by law you are not considered an adult in the United Kingdom until the age of 18. This is not to mention that no serious person would consider an 18 year old a fully fledged adult unless

A| They have no life experience
B| They lack empathy

There's that magic word that is apparently the shortcut to winning an argument on this forum.

People make fucking retarded decisions regardless of their age or life experience. Whether or not they are an adult in the eyes of the law has little bearing on that. Are they young? Definitely. Are they idealistic? Probably. Are they gullible? Most likely.

But they are responsible for their own actions, whether or not they were radicalized. Just because you get sucked into believing the hype about "this totally dope caliphate they're building out there" doesn't absolve you of responsibility. Those videos of executions and various crimes against humanity aren't hidden or something ISIS don't want people to see, those videos ARE their propaganda. It is impossible to claim ignorance of their terrorism and atrocities when that is exactly the image they choose to present to the world.

 

[PlayALLtheGames]

I consider myself pretty internet savvy and I don't know where I could find and watch videos of IS burning people alive.
.

Sure, but everybody, internet savvy or not, knows what to do when you want to look for something on the internet.

Still, these are brains of early teens. I expect they probably believed that deaths by ISIS were to people who somehow deserved it. Those ISIS dudes just gave them a typical "we're the oppressed" story, told them everyone they've killed deserved it, and convinced them the British coverage is biased and false, and that they're actually saving and freeing Muslims wherever they go.

And you can't expect them to sit and research all the claims. I mean, when it comes to believing shit that you could probably find a good refutation to in a few minutes: many adults won't even make the effort. And these are kids who think they're in love or some shit.

 

[breadtruck]

So if they make it back home, they are put on terrorist watch, right?

 

[IdreamofHIME]

One of them believed to be killed by Russian airstrike

 

[blu]

One of them believed to be killed by Russian airstrike

My sympathy goes to the families, as they surely are blaming themselves for the perils of their children, but truth is, kids can be fatally naive.

 

[Engell]

One of them believed to be killed by Russian airstrike

Russian humanitarian help strikes again.. RIP