Bedroom Jihad and ISIS Recruiting
Paris! The Boston Marathon bombings! Russian airliner! Beheading of James Foley and others!
First and foremost, our hearts go out to the people of Paris. This massacre has disturbed us all greatly. I can’t stop thinking about it and the tremendous sadness the people of Paris must be feeling!
Politicians are saying that ISIS is coming here. I say it’s here. I live in the Boston area and saw detail after detail of the Boston Marathon murders, knowing people who ran that race. Thank God, no one I knew was injured!
ISIS is using the online world to recruit, radicalize and plan. Twitter, You Tube, Facebook, apps like Kik and Surespot, and Telegram are some of them. “The Recorded Future Internet security team found 60,000 pro-ISIS Twitter accounts in September 2014 despite the fact that their mere existence is a clear violation of Twitter rules.”
One report, from the International Business Times says that recruiters are paid up to $10,000 depending on who they recruit.
Parents need to be aware of who their teen is chatting online for many reasons…
Parents need to be aware of who their teen is chatting with online for many reasons. ISIS recruiting online is not new, but because of the savage slaughter in Paris, this is a time remind parents of this real risk. One hundred and twenty nine people killed, three hundred and fifty injured. What more of a wake up call do we all need? ISIS is hiding under the radar, using encrypted apps so that authorities are unaware when and where these attacks will occur. People are scared. Football stadiums, concert venues, restaurants, a marathon … all systematically targeted by barbarians. Innocent people killed, or maimed or emotionally traumatized for life. Now Paris is in lock down.
Westerners including teens are being recruited using sophisticated social media techniques into ISIS. Kids are vulnerable, impressionable and don’t always make good decisions. They want to be all grown up and may fall victim to what amounts to as ISIS predators that prey on the vulnerabilities of teens.
Parents need to be aware of the websites and You Tube videos their kids are watching. Are they succumbing to ISIS propaganda?
There are estimates that as many as “3,400 fighters come from Western states.”
I believe we all need to do our part to recognize and help prevent the hideous devastation that has occurred and sadly will likely occur again. Let’s help stop the recruitment of vulnerable teens to such a barbaric and hateful, evil group, ISIS. And that means paying attention to the content your teen is viewing and the people they are engaging with online!
