Female Canadian soldier who fought with Kurds against Isis says they are just 'a thorn in the side'

[Betty Karlson]

20. Those head-cutting extremists in Raqqa are not a Middle-Eastern phenomenon.

They have been culturally influenced by Western entertainment: Game of Thrones, rap music, and violent video games.

The same GTA games that sought to garner sympathy for soldiers who callously mow down their opponents, the games that were designed to inspire indifference for "the enemy"? They were not just played by lily-whote mid-western Caucasians. They were played by the same guys that are now callously mowing down their opponents, and who are indifferent to the suffering of their "enemy" (which they say is us).

Those movies and series that portray women as sexual objects, as helpless and childlike creatures, and who show hyper-masculine men being rewarded by female affections after they kill a couple of less masculine guys? They didn't just entertain the college Republicans in Austin. They were watched by the Raqqa bunch.