Oedipus and Isis

I have great sympathy for the ex-members of Isis and the Isis bride. They feel the same as me, guilty and as if they have nowhere to go. Many of the ex-members feel they were lied to and tricked into joining ISIS; they feel betrayed. Many were recruited online through lies, promising them a better life. Lots of people join terrorist groups and cults because they feel alienated and that they don’t fit into society to begin with. They believe joining an extremist group with skewed values will give them a sense of belonging. Terror organizations focus on recruiting alienated and ostracized people because they are easy to convince. It’s easy to make the alienated people feel supported and to coerce them into things that may not align with their values.If they knew the extremist group not offer any protection and that many promises were fallacies, they most likely would have never joined.

 I also experienced this trickery as I did not know the man, I killed in self defense was my father. My parents lied to me my whole life. I didn’t know my origins as I was adopted, and my parents were not truthful with me. I would not have killed the man that fateful day if I knew the truth, but I was alienated from the truth just as the Isis members were. Many people would not have joined Isis if they knew the truth about the organization and the terror the wanted to bring the world. If I had known the truth, I would have saved many people from misery but mostly myself. 

I relate to the struggle of being alienated from religious truth. Isis members alienate themselves from their Muslim religion to join an extremist version that uses a skewed version to condone killing people. The Muslim religion does not support anything like this however Isis truly thinks that their version on Islam justifies their violence. And that those who disagree are not true Muslims. They are alienated from the truth of what their religion really means. religion can be very alienating. If you are nit following the religious minority you can be discriminated and left out. Religions of different types can separate people and have created many wars. Its ironic since religion was made to being people together and create connections. I also experienced religious alienation as I believed in my Gods so blindly. I trusted them and believed that they would help me be successful and lead a good life because I was devoted to them. I felt betrayed by the Gods when I learned the truth. When I found out that the prophecy indeed was true, and that I had married my mother and killed my father I lost my faith. I alienated my religion and I no longer wanted the Gods help. I followed my religion blindly, without question. I ended up not trusting it anymore and becoming disconnected from it all. 

Shamima a previous member of Isis and I both felt alienation through our families. Through marriage and through our parents. I felt completely alienated and lied to when I found out that my wife was my mother and my marriage was a incestuous sham. It was vert difficult and I took it very hard. I could not handle seeing Jocasta in that way and gouged my eyes out. Shamima was alienated by her marriage because her husband took her away from her family and brought her into Isis. She was only 15 and had three children with him far away from her home. This was very difficult and traumatic for her being so young and disconnected from her family.

I faced similar consequences as the ex-Isis members. Though we had different actions we ended up on the same path and had similar consequences.People who left Isis are banned from coming back to the country of origin. The government considers them terrorists and will not let them back in or give them their citizenship back. People who leave for Isis burn their passports and all legal documents as a sign of membership and dedication to Isis. This makes it inherently difficult to be let back into the country. I was also banned from my city, sentenced to walk in the desert forever. Both of us were physically alienated from our homes due to the crimes we committed. We were banished because our governments viewed our crimes as atrocious enough to force us to leave our homes forever. Exiled because people believe we no longer deserve to be citizens. We have different stories however, they are the same in many ways. We were both tricked into committing crimes that we did not want to commit. We were tricked because we were alienated from the truth. We now face the same consequences of never being able to go home.