A perspective that I found interesting, though I do not recall who originally said it, pointed out that in Western societies we watch movies like Star Wars, in which the evil and powerful Empire seeks to control the universe and all its inhabitants and a small band of rebels fights back for their freedom. In the case of radical groups like ISIS, they see themselves as the Jedi rebel force and Western society as the Empire. To them, and other groups like them, they are simply fighting for their freedom. I thought that was an interesting analogy. There are always two sides to every story and a million perspectives that go along with every situation.

You also raise a lot of good point regarding disenfranchisement and meaning of life issues. Interesting article