A London rapper is one of “the Beatles” suspected of killing James Foley

[Snarkoleptic]

http://qz.com/254492

The British authorities suspect a rapper from London, known as L Jinny, of being one of the ISIL militants who beheaded the journalist James Foley in a video released earlier this week, reports the Independent. Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary is thought to be one of three British militants—dubbed the Beatles—who are guarding hostages near Raqqa, Syria. He has left a macabre trail on social media.

Bary traveled to Syria earlier this year to fight as part of ISIL, which began as militants in the country and declared an Islamic caliphate after taking large swathes of central Iraq in the summer, and came to attention earlier this month for posting a picture of himself on Twitter with one finger in the air and holding a severed head in Raqqa. “Chillin’ with my homie or what’s left of him,” he wrote in the tweet.

[bigtree]

1. any particular reason you can discern

. . . for emphasizing the Beatles or that he's a 'rapper?

[Snarkoleptic]

2. I believe some of the freed captives called the British captors

"The Beatles" because they had British accents and were more likely to issue beatings than the non-Brits.

As for the rapper part, I suspect it's of interest since he's got a seemingly successful music career with songs played on BBC and music videos on youtube.

If he had been a convenience store clerk, I suspect the article would have reported that as well.

[bigtree]

3. my question was why are those details emphasized in reports?

. . . what's your take?

What do you believe we are expected to discern from those details?

I find them mostly irrelevant, except to an actual investigation, I suppose. In fact, I find the addition and repetition of those details sensationalistic and even a bit promoting of these criminals; self-serving to the interests of those reporting it, mostly. I'm interested in the motivation of the ones who feed us these details and what they are trying to convey.

[lunatica]

4. I would imagine it's to narrow the desciption down to one actual person

We don't know if what the media is saying is factual, but we have no reason to believe it isn't. And if the evidence is strong it certainly should be made public. ISIS members are dangerous to living things.

[bigtree]

5. I think it's crapolla to promote their media or their agenda

. . . I'm wondering why they don't focus on the details of the victim's life with as much gusto and effort.

I also wonder if they are trying to equate rappers with terrorists with their inclusion of the lyrics and such. I find it offensive and self-serving.

[Snarkoleptic]

6. I agree it's not particularly relevant, but the fact that authorities have ID'd

one of these guys would seem to steer the story in the direction of finding out more about him.
So, my take is that it's a thin story that they felt needed to be fleshed out. To me, the curious thing is him chucking fame and fortune in favor of the horrors of war.

I clicked on one of his music videos in hopes of getting a glimpse into the mindset of a killer, but in the video he just looked like a typical 25-year old kid.

[bigtree]

7. that might be a reasonable take, that he's an impressionable youth

. . . but I'm not thinking 'typical' at all, given his alleged proclivity to such unhinged violence.

Thanks for the response, Snarkoleptic.

[Snarkoleptic]

8. Nothing at all typical, indeed.

[CJCRANE]

9. I think there's some kind of hypnosis technique

that's doing this to these guys.

We've all heard of the Fox News effect where people's personalities change from prolonged exposure and they get more belligerent. We can see that in some members of the Tea Party with their exposure to RW media where they believe all kinds of absurd conspiracy theories and often talk total nonsense. (Of course that's all anecdotal but you get my drift).

Now imagine you take some impressionable young guy from a rough background and convert him to a religion where they repeat the same prayers over and over...and add in your own extremist slogans too. That's going to have an effect after a while.

[magical thyme]

10. except he's apparently NOT from a "rough background." another case of "affluenza" :(

just saw this over at SMH:

"The former rapper left his family home in an affluent west London suburb last year to fight in the civil war in Syria."

http://m.smh.com.au/world/rapper-identified-as-james-foleys-executioner-reports-20140824-107w1i.html

[CJCRANE]

11. Fair enough.

I still think there's some kind of negative use of NLP happening with these guys.

[magical thyme]

12. either that or really, really piss-poor parenting.

or some combination of the two.