I've wondered this a little in the past, but these days it seems to be coming up more and more for obvious reasons.
How do seemingly normal folks get converted into whackos?
Especially, recently with the IS stuff, people from all over the world seem to be converting to IS and traveling to Syria to fight or in some cases, fighting on their home turf. Yes, in most cases, these folks have been Muslims (though not particularly extreme, and in many cases, relatively lax), but not in every case.
But, besides the folks that are running off to hang with IS, what about the people that followed and still follow Manson?
I just don't understand how these folks get roped in and changed so completely.
I find myself thinking "there's no way, that could never happen to me." But then I bet some of these other folks would have said the same. (of course, in my case, it's true
)
French Muslim converts and dies in Syria
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A French Muslim man whose father is Jewish died while fighting with jihadists in Syria.
Amar, whose mother was born Catholic, according to the Actualite Juive weekly, converted to Islam four years ago and followed a childhood friend to Syria earlier this year to fight with the Islamic State Sunni jihadist group.
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American convert to Islam is killed fighting in Syria, U.S. official says - The Washington Post
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U.S. officials said Tuesday that an American convert to Islam who recently traveled to Syria apparently has been killed in fighting. The circumstances surrounding the death of Douglas McCain, 33, remain unclear.
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British convert to Islam vows to fight to the death on Syrian rebel front line - Telegraph
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The Londoner, who called himself “Abu Yacoub” — father of Jacob — is the first proven case of a Briton being where the fighting is fiercest in Syria.
He disclosed that he had converted to Islam five years ago and had arrived in Syria earlier this year to join the revolutionary forces seeking to overthrow President Assad.
“I will stay here until I die,” he said. “I want to die in Syria. We must all taste paradise, and when that happens is decided already.”
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Damian Clairmont killed in Syria: Canadian man died in fighting near Aleppo | National Post
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Damian Clairmont killed in Syria: Canadian man died in fighting near Aleppo
In his last message from Syria a month ago, Damian Clairmont joked about the Canadian winter, saying it wasn’t so frigid where he was. “The ski masks here usually aren’t for the cold,” he told the National Post.
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This one seems especially odd, but she may have been a nutter before.
Kent benefits mother Sally Jones is now jihadi in Syria | Daily Mail Online
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Benefits mother-of-two from Kent once in all-girl rock band who is now jihadi in Syria - and wants to 'behead Christians with a blunt knife'
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Nearly as odd. Apparently, the old coot's still got it (he's 80 now)
Charles Manson gets license to marry 26-year-old | New York Post
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Mass murderer Charles Manson has gotten a license to marry a 26-year-old woman who visits him in prison.
The marriage license obtained Monday by the Associated Press was issued Nov. 7 for the 80-year-old Manson and Afton Elaine Burton, who left her Midwestern home nine years ago and moved to Corcoran, California — the site of the prison — to be near Manson.
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An article that is a bit related, but I don't think it's exactly the same phenomenon that I'm talking about. It's more the mob mentality.
Deindividuation « You Are Not So Smart
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The Misconception: People who riot and loot are scum who were just looking for an excuse to steal and be violent.
The Truth: You are are prone to losing your individuality and becoming absorbed into a hivemind under the right conditions.
When a crowd gathers near a suicidal jumper something terrible is unleashed.
In Seattle in 2001, a 26-year-old woman who had recently ended a relationship held up traffic for a little too long as she considered the implications of leaping to her death. As motorists began to back-up on the bridge and become irate, they started yelling “Jump, *****, jump!” until she did.
Cases like this aren’t unusual.
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