Thank you for your insight on this, @kurtbeil. It seems like any time an amorphous "terrorist organization" is declared responsible for certain atrocities, it makes sense to first ask who is benefitting from it.
I worked in the UAE back in 2014/15, and heard jack shit about ISIS/ISIL the whole time I was there. Despite living in a country that was so nearby to the conflict (and governed under Islamic Law itself), very little discussion was made about any extremist terrorist groups. What I did hear about was the destruction of civilian populations in Syria, Iran and surrounding areas, from regular people who had become victims of this weird cycle of economics and propaganda, perpetuated by entities who have a vested interest in keeping the "terrorism" going. Some of these people had come to the UAE after losing their home, livelihood or families. Almost nobody was talking about ISIS, because the narrative people are subjected to in other parts of the world often differs so greatly to what people in the U.S. are bombarded with by our own politicians and media. I had no idea what ISIS was, until I returned to the U.S. and saw it all over the news. Common sense would dictate that there's an obvious ulterior motive here. And what's most disturbing is that now this culture of fear isn't just targeted abroad anymore: The latest M.O. is to make it seem like we've all got "sleeper terrorists" in our own neighborhoods, waiting to attack at any moment. It's completely ridiculous, but then again the entire premise depends on ignorance from all sides.
Thanks again, for providing some much-needed perspective and information on a very complicated issue. :)
Very much appreciate the feedback @relocait .. I was losing hope there for a moment, it felt that this was completely ignored.
Very interesting to have a perspective of someone who has lived in the region - the degree to which the US population is subject to the 'official story' or rather state & corporate mass-media instigated and perpetuated propaganda, only becomes frighteningly obvious, when you have such experience.
Thank you
You're welcome, @kurtbeil! Hopefully more people will check this out - it's always nice to have a perspective other than the default provided by our mainstream media. Even after having lived and worked in the region, I still feel kinda limited in my understanding of the situation (I was a flight attendant, nothing super fancy). But, I did get to meet people from various parts of the world, and listen to their perspectives on this, as well as share mine as a U.S. expat. It seems like many of the misconceptions people have come not from willful ignorance, but from a lack of transparency surrounding the true politcal and economic forces that are causing the confusion and paranoia, allowing a climate of "terrorism" to flourish for the benefit of those who have the advantage of seeing the whole picture while simultanrously obscuring it from the public view.
The facts are out there (as you've just demonstrated with your super informative article and links), we've just gotta look a lot harder for it than we should. At least we've got platforms in which we can encourage independant critical thought and info (such as in your post), and things will be changing for the better soon. :)