Myth on ISIS Recruitment

ISIS or Islamic State as of now are terrorising left and right with their brand of devianist religion. The belief of the followers that those who do not abide by their rules are death is something that has not been heard of from the time of Inquistion or Colonisation of the new world decades ago.

Sometimes from an educationist perspective I just keep on thinking on why people still want to believe such sort of ideas which has not been acceptable in modern time. So what sort of people who will follow this kind of teaching? What kind of education background do they have? How long do they been exposed to this devianist teaching before they subscribe to them? How the devianist values replace the values thought or do the seeds of devianist values exist in current education system?

After going through the background reports of ISIS followers who are being caught or intentionally exposed themselves, there seem to be a pattern imaging. The follwers of ISIS do not have religious education background, unlike Taliban or other jihadist group. There also coming from similar economic background, usually at lower middle class (usually urban based), unlike the economy based terrorist group e.g. Abu Sayyaf and Boko Haram.

However, looking at interviews with former collegues and relatives they usually have a common point in time where these ISIS followers looking for guidance from their current situation or predicament. Mostly have some sort of crisis in life, some want to change for the better, some have relationship problem, some loss someone dear etc.. Somehow these people whilst looking for help, find ISIS recruiters (which for now are around but we the identity are not known) instead of people who can help.

This exposes the support system in the country, where counselling or helpline is very much non-existance. Therefore, for most the helpseeker turn to social media or other form of unsurpervised counselling which exposes them to these kind of devianist values. Moreover, the education background of these followers do not have a strong basis of any values thus make them more susceptible to devianist influence such of idealistic society promoted by ISIS recruiters.

To reduce the number of ISIS followers, support group that can provide effective counselling must be made available to those in need. These sort of counselling must be easily accesible to all and accessible to various means including social media and community based groups.

The community support group should also be available at the mosque, church and community halls. These service should be anonymous, although the one who are to lead the support group should be given the right training to ensure that the correct advise is given to the people who seeks them.

It is very important as well for the counsellors and support group leader not to turn any who seek help away. The current official trend is to pass the helpseeker from one department to another and this has discouraged people from seeking the help from official channel and these situation has contributed to the recruitment of ISIS.

It is also very important also to establish a good support system forthe counsellors and community support group leader to ensure that they themselves are able to function effectively.

The few suggestion made here seems to be modest and simple but I believe this will contribute a lot on stopping the recruitment of ISIS and we as a society will be safer.