Britain's Jihadi Brides Essay

The documentary, Britain’s Jihadi Brides, spoke on how British females, both teenagers and young women, were being radicalized without leaving their bedrooms. Within the Islamic State (IS), there are women whose sole purpose are to radicalize females and provide them with advice on how to get to the IS and what their life will be like when they get there. Many of the parents of the teenagers were noticing differences in them prior to them leaving Britain. Some noticed that their teenagers began to separate themselves from them and that they would hide things. I found it to be interesting how the parents would notice these differences in their children but they did not seem to be trying to resolve the issues. Here in America when most parents
see their teenagers began to act out this way, they will try to talk to them and sort things out so that the teenager is able to understand. Parents are also able and more willing to check to see what their child is doing online which could also limit the amount of Americans being radicalized. I just found it odd and hard to believe that some parents were not at all aware that their child was planning to leave the country to go to Syria.
The IS uses this stage when teenagers began to separate from their parents and the religion of Islam to their advantage.
The radicalizers know that this period when teenagers began to separate from their parents is a fragile time where teenagers are very emotional and may experience a lot of guilt and are looking to their religion to relive themselves of this guilt they are feeling. During this time, radicalizers are able to brain wash them and turn them into religious extremists because the teenagers began to think that joining the IS could be an atonement for the sins they’ve committed. One idea that the documentary talked about was how Britain could get former radicalizers to explain the tactics that IS are using to get teenagers to come and join the fight. I think that using these former radicalizers is a great idea and would allow Britain to better understand the phases that someone goes through when they are being brain washed and would be able to catch more people that are being radicalized. I also think that there should also be a way for Britain’s government to have someone go into Syria and retrieve the girls that want to come back. I know that there may not be many that want to come back home, but for those that do it is very difficult for them to get back on their own because their passports get confiscated once they get into Syria. There may also be lots of security present preventing them from getting on a plane to return home. The women that have already gone over there would have a hard time getting back and having someone besides themselves trying to help them would give them a better chance of getting back home
safely.