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Lumifer comments on Are we failing the ideological Turing test in the case of ISIS? (a crazy ideas thread) - Less Wrong Discussion
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ISIS are Fremen (in terms of appeal to men).
I don't know about that. The Fremen are the Bedouin. That's not ISIS at all.
I think what I am trying to say is what makes ISIS cool to people who go join ISIS is quite similar to what makes Fremen cool. People run off to join for what they think the lifestyle is.
I still don't think so, though I say this subject to the huge caveat that I don't understand what make ISIS "cool". There is some commonality to ISIS and Fremen because both provide a well-defined meaning and a purpose to your life plus a band of brothers and sisters to be part of, but the same is true for pretty much any revolutionary/rebel movement.
It's not just that, it's the severity of lifestyle. What's cool about this type of Islam to people that join is self-denial in pursuit of a "higher goal." There is definitely a decadence/severity dichotomy in Islam (but people interpret it differently, of course).
Fremen live on a planet that has almost no water, that has enormous mindless animals that will kill them instantly, they are constantly hounded by off-world powers meddling due to "hydraulic empire" stuff. Fremen are a very severe, self-denying culture. There is something to this that appeals to a particular type of person (generally a male person).
Of course I wonder how many folks from the West really understand what they are getting into when they run off to join, and what their "higher goals" really entail.
Yeah, except later it turns out that the Fremen ride these animals as steeds and can control them pretty well...
This is a whole classic trope: tough, wild, free people who live in harsh open spaces. Another example is Aiel from The Wheel of Time. I guess some highly romanticised descriptions of American Indians qualify as well.
I have a pretty large prior that they have no fucking clue.