Disciples of Destruction

I started this blog talking about the murder of Theo Van Gogh at the hands of an Islamic true believer. Even as Theo lay there bleeding to death, he asked his attacker if there was any way to work it out. Alas Theo's belief in a peaceable way was destined to failure.

Since then, these true believers and their enablers have kept up the violence against anyone who dares question their faith or its prophet. We saw the blood libel that was peddled by Imams to their followers of purported cartoons ridiculing their Prophet, cartoons that did not exist until the Imams decided that they did exist. And when actual cartoons were crafted that poked fun at the Prophet, much as would a political cartoonist draw caricatures of politicians. The uproar has been deafening and violent.

Now the case of Jihad Jane should not be a real surprise since several years ago a female Belgium convert to Islam travelled to Iraq and proceeded to blow herself up for no gain. But there are several differences with Jihad Jane. First she is outwardly a typical American soccer-mom. Second is her activity that got her arrested, she was planning and recruiting people to kill a Swedish cartoonist over certain cartoons she found offensive. And now it emerges that one of her recruits is another American woman who presently sits in an Irish jail being questioned along with an Algerian who might be her husband and LaRose's possible contact.

I am merely scratching at the surface of what might have driven LaRose and Paulin-Ramirez based on similar past cases. From what I have read of both women, they seem to have found a home in Islam and with it came a strong desire to protect that home. What particularly strikes me in the Paulin-Ramirez case is it seems Jamie has always been searching for belonging. Her parents had divorced and she has a step-father who it seems is also a convert to Islam. Four marriages had done nothing to slake her quest to belong. Nor having a child to raise or to be with family satisfied that desire.

This is not a new phenomena though. Its part of human nature to belong to a survival group or tribe. We saw Johnny Lindh Walker fly to Afghanistan to join the Islamic struggle against all that is evil in the West and he became an accessory to the murder of Mike Spann. Then there is the case of Jose Padilla. Gadahn is still hiding in a cave on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. But Jamie Paulin-Ramirez might belong to another group of those seeking to belong, that of the Manson family. Manson was a master manipulator and he attracted around him people who seemed to have everything but were still hungry for something. He seemed to give them that something and they became his fervent followers. And when he asked for them to kill, they willingly did so and created the Tate-LaBianca attrocities. All I can say is, I am glad the West stopped LaRose and Paulin-Ramirez before they could carry out their atrocity and murder the cartoonist.