General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: A Question [View all]Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)What makes ISIS "different" (for lack of a better word) from AQ is:
1. Their indiscriminate wholesale killing of fellow muslims -- AQ sort of drew a line at only killing muslims who were clearly helping the western interventionists...ISIS seems to regard anyone, civilian or whoever, that isn't ISIS as an enemy...The fact that they supposedly want to take out Assad, who in theory should be a ally, is perplexing to say the least...
2. I don't know how the "sales pitch" goes, but ISIS has had a LOT more success in recruiting westerners who had never seen a warzone, and who once upon a time, seemed to have normal, everyday lives...ISIS has employed a lot of "western-style" marketing and PR techniques to spread their message, so we aren't dealing with uneducated yokels like the Taliban's rank-and-file -- There is a surprising amount of savvy and sophistication...
FWIW, as far as ideology and sheer inhumane brutality go, I'd say Boko Haram is worse than ISIS and AQ combined...But BH operates in a very remote region slaughtering people the media care little about, and they don't have ISIS's funding+resources...
If I'm wrong on any of this, please correct me, anyone...