Robin Hood Complex: The Fight Against Islamic State
What motivates a person to fight someone else’s war? This behavior is called Robin Hood complex.
The media has covered the stories of Western men and women who have left their countries and travelled to Iraq and Syria to join the terror group Islamic State. At the same time there is an emerging group of Western men and women who travel to the same region as volunteers to join the fight against the world’s most feared terrorist organization. Many of these volunteers have no previous military experience. What drives them to do this?
One man states that what convinced him was when he saw children being forced into refugee camps. He simply decided that he couldn’t just sit there and allow that to happen because he had two kids and a wife. For him, three months away from his loved ones is a small price to pay for helping to get rid of ISIS.
When Westerners are caught, ISIS executes them and uploads the video on the Internet. Until now many journalists have been killed and the videos of their murders have been used for ISIS propaganda.
Before heading to the front lines, volunteers buy what they need at a local market where the majority of shops sell military equipment, clothing and weapons. The shop owners actually lower their prices for the volunteers because they understand that these people are there to help them. The locals welcome the volunteers because they realize that they are risking their lives for them.
Some of the volunteers believe that Western governments have let the Kurdish people down by not trying harder to defend them.
The induction that the group of international volunteers gets is more like a handshake and a cup of tea. After a few words are exchanged they are immediately sent to the front line in two taxis. Joining the Peshmerga is so effortless that it causes one to questions the screening process. Some of the volunteers are ex military who were discharged but who want to continue fighting. Others never got to see any action while enlisted and have joined to finally participate in combat. Not surprisingly, there are a few who have warrants out for their arrest and they travel to Kurdistan to hide from the law. All volunteers fund their own trip and sometimes get donations from online pages. Watch this now.
Loading...
