Joyless Jihadis

                 A report given to the UN Security Council last March claims that 22,000 foreign fighters from across the globe had already traveled to Syria and Iraq to support ISIS, the vast majority of them coming from Western nations. That number would be even higher today.

                Apparently, however, there is trouble in paradise.

                Many of the would-be Western jihadists are not taken with the lack of creature comforts in the heart of the Caliphate and quite a few have taken to social media outlets to express their frustration. Women converts appear especially troubled. According to a recent report on FoxNews.com, no Starbucks, rude help at beauty salons, lousy restaurants, slow internet and bad cell phone service are some of the most common complaints.

                I don’t know about you, but if I went to the desert to live amongst bloodthirsty killers I would at least expect to be able to enjoy a nice latte’. And I mean, hello, if you’re going to be blowing yourself- and as many others as possible- up soon, you’re going to want a fresh hairstyle. “I swear, these local bitches don’t know a beehive from a Bettie Page, a bob from a bouffant or a chignon from a comb over!”

                It must be terribly frustrating when you’re whiling away the time in between attacks and have to choke down bad Arab food in a tacky restaurant while waiting for Pinterest to appear on your smart phone.

                And voicing unhappiness about the treatment of women is strictly forbidden in the Islamic State. According to that same FoxNews.com report, on Aug. 10, 2015, a Swedish woman named Muhajira Umm Hamza took to Twitter and lashed out against the treatment of women in the city of Raqqah by male muhajirin, or foreign fighters, in a series of tweets.

                "Seriously, I am getting so tired of many men muhajirin now. I feel harassed so often now. Women can't do this or that. What is the point?" read one of the missives. “It's not sharia that men scream or talk to us in the street. It's not. I feel more and more sad here now.”

                "There is so little respect for us,” read another tweet from the same woman. Shortly after her social media rant all of her tweets were deleted.

                Her fate is not known.

                Not everything is lacking or of poor quality in the Levant, however. In fact, many claim that the local suicide-bomber gear is to die for.

                Native jihadists have responded to Western recruit’s complaints with their own tweets on Twitter. “If I hear one more European muhajirah trashing Arab sisters I’m going to lose it,” @GreenBirdofDabiq tweeted on September 10^th, 2015. And we thought you were so stable. She continued, “If you didn’t like Arab culture, u shouldn’t have come here. And don’t trash our Syrian sisters who didn’t grow up with the wealth u have. Yr not better than they r and u risk nullifying yr hijrah.” Ironic?

                We in the West need to be as bold and forthright in confronting immigrants from the Middle East- or elsewhere. “If you disdain our culture, then don’t come here” should be the logical response to many.

                Why? Because if they truly can’t stand our culture, why would they go to the trouble of coming here? If they want asylum, a chance at a better life and a handout from Uncle Sam (U.S. taxpayers), they should be praising “our culture,” not criticizing it.

                And, if that’s not the case, the only other reason for their arrival would be to attempt to destroy the culture they so revile- and many of us along with it.