Student Muhammed Sheglabo signing up for jihad is alarming
Posted by Matt Hayden on Monday, February 23, 2015
Lately residents of this sunny, pleasant, and generally peaceful city have learned of a rather alarming development: We've produced our first jihadi. Student Muhammed Sheglabo has been seduced by dreams of glory in seeking an Islamic caliphate and headed off to fight for this cause in Iraq.
The whole phenomenon is as mad as it is wrong no matter where it occurs in Australia. But it seems doubly so when it happens over here in the mild west. You'd expect a city like Sydney to produce a few guys like this, after all. It has a much bigger, more radicalized and inward-looking Islamic population than this city has. If you're a non-Muslim of European descent in a place like Lakemba you're in the minority. Walking down those streets, it's like you're in another country. There's nowhere in Perth that has reached that level of cultural separatism yet.
Then there's the fact that he was an economics student at Murdoch University. Granted, this campus produces more than its fair share of lunatics. But they're mostly of the far left, warmist variety. Supporting the imposition of Sharia law through extreme violence has just never been their thing.
While Sheglabo's economics education may well have been in the Keynesian mode and therefore completely wrong-headed, odds are he would still have managed to snare a decent gig upon graduation. So he had a secure future to look forward to in one of the world's most liveable cities. This was in marked contrast to most of his fellow Aussie IS recruits, the vast majority of whom were on the dole.
This just goes to show how effective Islamic State recruiters must be, not to mention how easily accessible their propaganda is. Sheglabo's fellow students must not only be upset, but completely mystified to think that the young bloke they sat next to in lectures has gone off to join a bunch of head hackers in the Middle East. He must have appeared to be part of this democratic, sophisticated, modern world. But it turns out that in own mind and heart he certainly was not.
It's this deep sense of societal fracturing that is so disturbing. How the hell did it get to this point?
Many factors are at play of course. But there's no doubt that something is deeply awry. And most sensible Aussies understand that. Needless to say, you're unlikely to find many of those in our ulta-PC mainstream media. Take this gargle on WA Today, for example.
The reporter seeks to diminish the scale and significance of this young guy's misadventure by creating a scenario in which Sheglabo will most likely be far from any action. He'll probably be carrying a mop, not a gun, he says.
He cites as evidence for his claim his own experience in the Australian Army. Gawd! This just shows his inability to understand the issue at hand. Islamic State is a weaponized mob of pre-mediaeval barbarians running around beheading and immolating people at their whim. It's pointless trying to draw parallels with a conventional, civilized army. Clearly, all bets are off with this mob.
The whole phenomenon is as mad as it is wrong no matter where it occurs in Australia. But it seems doubly so when it happens over here in the mild west. You'd expect a city like Sydney to produce a few guys like this, after all. It has a much bigger, more radicalized and inward-looking Islamic population than this city has. If you're a non-Muslim of European descent in a place like Lakemba you're in the minority. Walking down those streets, it's like you're in another country. There's nowhere in Perth that has reached that level of cultural separatism yet.
Then there's the fact that he was an economics student at Murdoch University. Granted, this campus produces more than its fair share of lunatics. But they're mostly of the far left, warmist variety. Supporting the imposition of Sharia law through extreme violence has just never been their thing.
While Sheglabo's economics education may well have been in the Keynesian mode and therefore completely wrong-headed, odds are he would still have managed to snare a decent gig upon graduation. So he had a secure future to look forward to in one of the world's most liveable cities. This was in marked contrast to most of his fellow Aussie IS recruits, the vast majority of whom were on the dole.
This just goes to show how effective Islamic State recruiters must be, not to mention how easily accessible their propaganda is. Sheglabo's fellow students must not only be upset, but completely mystified to think that the young bloke they sat next to in lectures has gone off to join a bunch of head hackers in the Middle East. He must have appeared to be part of this democratic, sophisticated, modern world. But it turns out that in own mind and heart he certainly was not.
It's this deep sense of societal fracturing that is so disturbing. How the hell did it get to this point?
Many factors are at play of course. But there's no doubt that something is deeply awry. And most sensible Aussies understand that. Needless to say, you're unlikely to find many of those in our ulta-PC mainstream media. Take this gargle on WA Today, for example.
The reporter seeks to diminish the scale and significance of this young guy's misadventure by creating a scenario in which Sheglabo will most likely be far from any action. He'll probably be carrying a mop, not a gun, he says.
He cites as evidence for his claim his own experience in the Australian Army. Gawd! This just shows his inability to understand the issue at hand. Islamic State is a weaponized mob of pre-mediaeval barbarians running around beheading and immolating people at their whim. It's pointless trying to draw parallels with a conventional, civilized army. Clearly, all bets are off with this mob.
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