Russell Brand Explains the Real Reason Westerners Join ISIS: Alienation
March 04, 2015World
The spectacle of Westerners leaving their homes to travel to the Middle East to join ISIS has captured media headlines, with CNN even suggesting that ISIS is using “kittens, Nutella” to lure female fighters.
Some have blamed Islam itself for encouraging what they view as holy war in defense of the faith. But British comic and activist Russell Brand offers a different take on the phenomena. Noting that at least half of those from Britain and France who have gone to join ISIS come from non-Muslim backgrounds, he suggests that alienation, not Islam, is the culprit driving young people toward the group. “The fuel for this phenomenon—apathy, alienation, isolation—is felt by a lot more people,” Brand concludes.
Watch him explain below:
