"This is our khilafah, in all its glory.
We are men, honored with this land, who climbed its peaks to perform jihad, answering the
call to unite under one flag.
This is the source of our glory, our obedience to our Lord.
We are uncompromising in our call to Tawhid, we only bow to Allah, unlike the countless
deviant factions raising their false banners and changing with the wind of [Arabic] politics."
It's hard to believe that this is a real recruitment video for the Islamic State group ISIS.
The graphics are impressive and the video is very well put together.
ISIS has been recruiting for years, and has sought to expand its base in part of Iraq
and Syria into a global caliphate through terrorist attacks on the US and other Western
societies it considers corrupt.
In Dabiq 15 magazine, ISIS released a 45,000 word diatribe against Western culture called
"Break the Cross."
In it, ISIS declares their hatred for "liberal sodomites" and praises those who commit acts
of terrorism, like the person who orchestrated the shooting in the Orlando night club, as
heroes.
To recruit people to their cause, the extremist group uses 21st century technology to promote
a medieval ideology involving mass killings, torture, rape, enslavement, and the destruction
of antiquities.
"Soldiers fight for the interests of legislators, liars, fornicators, corporations,
and for the freedoms of sodomites.
We are the soldiers who stop the idols of nationalism, dismantle the shaky symbols of
Palmyra and Minoa, and destroy the Sykes-Picot borders."
One of the most upsetting videos ISIS has released depicts a group of child soldiers,
all under the age of 14, executing prisoners in a video game format.
The first person shooter perspective, as well as the mazes and settings that the young boys
move through to find their victims, are eerily similar to popular Western video games like
Call of Duty, Halo, and Modern Warfare.
ISIS is clearly targeting youth in their videos, using Western media to appeal to young boys.
Telling them that they can be heroes like the characters in their favorite video games.
These children are told that they can have all the glory and power that fictional heroes
obtain in video games by joining ISIS.
The fictionalized violence in Western society's entertainment is sometimes blamed for inspiring
real attacks.
But the more explicit violence in ISIS videos seeks to do just that, by glorifying brutality
in an effort to win converts and recruits.
ISIS has been the leader among Islamist groups that have lured 25,000 foreigners to fight
in Syria and Iraq, including 4,500 from Europe and North America, according to a US government
report released in 2015.
These videos present a false picture of life as a jihadist, using media from the very culture
they condemn.
The videos use a message that decry Western civilization and declare a religious war on
those who exemplify liberal ideas, and practice any religion other than Islam, while simultaneously
imitating motifs typical of Western culture.
While ISIS followers claim to be purifying agents of the divine, it cannot escape the
influence of the very culture it claims to be eradicating from the face of the earth.
The War on Terror is meant to be a war on terrorists, but it's extremely difficult,
if not impossible, to fight a war tactic or idea.
To Western civilizations, groups like ISIS appear to be a terrorist organizations, but
from a different perspective, they could be considered insurgency groups, fighting against
a corrupt Western-implemented regime.
One way to reduce the influence of terrorist ideology and to keep people from being persuaded
by these videos is to win the hearts and minds of the population through education and promotion
of universal human rights.
If young boys understand that killing people is neither glamorous nor something deserving
of glory, they would be much less likely to join ISIS.
This is not about a divide between Eastern and Western culture; this is about the preservation
of human life and dignity, a cause for which we all can fight.