Perception Gaps

A column by Daniel Byman in The Atlantic summarized in current issue of The Week describes jihadists as bumbling morons and points out that they are mostly untrained, foolish and, in many cases, obsessed with sex and porn. Asking rhetorically whether this knowledge of their heroes might undermine jihadists' appeal to young, disaffected Muslims, Byman concluded, "Who wants to join an organization of smut-obsessed, incompetent fools?"

Sadly, I have to point out to Mr. Byman, that the same logic might discourage folks from joining the "Tea Party". However, in spite of their many unsupportable contradictions, the common so-called wisdom is that these smut-obsessed (e.g. gays are a threat to civilization), incompetent (e.g. Sarah and Michelle, etc.) fools are a force to be reckoned with. But are they really?