MOSCOW, November 1 (RIA Novosti) — Each seventh British youth has a “warm and favourable” attitude towards Islamic State (IS), according to a recent poll, which might be caused by either anti-establishment feelings, or the alleged Islamization of the UK.
One in seven Britons under 25 years of age have expressed pro-Jihadi feelings in a poll, quoted by the Times newspaper Friday. The poll asked 2,000 adults to place several nations, or equivalent entities on a scale from one to ten with one meaning the lowest sympathy and ten being the highest. Islamic State was surprisingly rated higher than expected on the resulting lists, with each tenth Londoner and each twelfth Scotsman saying they tend to favour Islamic State’s cause. 88% of the polled gave Islamic State a low score, but 5.2% of 18- to 34-year-olds rated it a 9-10.
In general, 14% of under-25s and 12% of 25- to 34-year-olds gave Islamic State scores of 6-10. These figures account for about 3 million British citizens.
UK academics suggest, the Times report, that such sympathy is explained by the terrorist organization’s machismo and masculine, though violent, appeal. UK-based Muslims are naturally favorable towards IS, scientists say, but many non-Muslims also share positive attitude to the Jihadi entity, which is instilled by their disapproval of policies made by the British government, as well as social norms and, in a more general sense, the way of life in modern Western society.
"There’s a big trend here – does the state matter anymore? It fits in with scepticism about the EU,” Prof. Jonathan Githens-Mazer of Exeter University said, as quoted by Daily Star.
Most Britons are ignorant about international relations and politics in general, the Times say. Citizens of the developed world also tend to distrust mainstream media and therefore do not take the IS threat as seriously as it is pictured on television and print. Also, the feeling of rebellion against the establishment has become the norm in the Western world since its debut in the 1950s. All these reasons combined give us a positive viewpoint of IS, Prof. Marat Shterin of King’s College London told The Times.
The poll results may as well show the growing Islamization in the UK and the developed world in general, suggests Daniel Greenfield of the New York-based Freedom Center, as quoted by the Frontpage Mag. In his view, London’s one million Muslims, who represent 12% of the city’s population, have led up to such results. Young people, however rebellious they may be, would not support the Jihadi murderers, Mr. Greenfield contends.
“There’s a lot of nonsense about skepticism among young people, but this isn’t about young people. It’s about Muslims,” he said. “One in ten under the age of 25 are Muslim,” he adds, referring to a report by the Office for National Statistics, concluding, “numbers suggest that most or virtually all young Muslim settlers in the UK support ISIS.”
At least 500 British citizens have joined Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, some of who have already returned from the Middle East. The media, through a destructive discourse, portrays IS as a bloodthirsty entity of Jihadi maniacs, who behead adults and children, rape women and torture and crucify their opponents, suggesting that what happens in the Middle East may come to the UK. Such cultivated fears may prove real as time passes by. But the fact remains that major international threats are very often used domestically as a tool of mass manipulation both in the West and elsewhere.
