[Dragon]

Have y'all been hearing of all the unrest in Jerusalem lately? Riots of course, but also many "unusual" terrorist attacks: 2 (or was it 3?) instances of  Palestinians ramming cars through crowds of people waiting at light rail stops, a Palestinian using his backhoe tractor thingy's backhoe arm to overturn a tour bus, stabbings, etc.

Heard about that, this is the most peculiar thing. It looks like common people just going out and attacking... other common people. This kind of unrest is usually caused by something in particular (say, an oppressive law), but I don't know of any new law or anything that could possibly provoke something like that. Did any of those attackers survive to be questioned?

On one hand, Israel has a record of doing things that gave Palestinians good reasons to be angry (in spite of what they say, there's plenty of ethnic discrimination). On the other hand, it seemed to be improving in that area lately, and I'm not sure what exactly could have prompted those people to just go and attack. There certainly doesn't seem to be any larger organization involved, or we'd be seeing bombings by now.

[Grizzly]

The conditions that created the 2012 war and the 2014 war have not changed significantly. There will be another war in 2016 no doubt.

[karajorma]

It does seem likely. If anything the situation has gotten worse and I'd be surprised if it waits for 2016 to roll round before it kicks off

[Dragon]

Well, there will be a war in 2016, that's for sure. I fully expect it to actually start in 2015, though. I don't think it'd really change much, either. Palestinians' situation won't get any better, Israelis won't be liked any more than they're now, a bunch of people will be dead. Lather, rinse, repeat. Same as in both previous wars.

[Ulala]

So I have no idea what the ISIS flag looks like. I've never bothered to look it up, nor have I seen it appear to me in some fashion with a definition below it explaining what it is. Am I just as bad as those college students?

I suppose I should go look it up now. To the Googlemobile! Hope the NSA doesn't pull me over!

[Phantom Hoover]

Am I just as bad as those college students?

Depends, do you recognise the Israeli flag? If so: yes. You may wish to take preventative action against literally becoming Palestinian.

[Lorric]

I watched the video. Well, the first minute. People aren't reacting because it's blatantly obviously not serious. There's no conviction in his words. It's not believable. Same goes for his body language.

[Mongoose]

Not only that, but most of those kids were presumably on their way to class/whatever and just didn't give a **** about the nutjob yelling something or other.  We had a Crazy Jesus Dude (easel-mounted whiteboard and all) who was always preaching on our campus, and I barely even noticed him anymore after my first few months there.

[IronBeer]

Not only that, but most of those kids were presumably on their way to class/whatever and just didn't give a **** about the nutjob yelling something or other.  We had a Crazy Jesus Dude (easel-mounted whiteboard and all) who was always preaching on our campus, and I barely even noticed him anymore after my first few months there.

My alma mater has one guy who consistently drops by as well. He's the full-on "you deserve hell" brand of preacher. People only watch him to see what sort of crazy he'll pull out of his bag 'o tricks next, and I went to a pretty conservative school in a conservative state. Most people on campus actually have stuff to do, and make an effort to tune out the people trying to get their attention.

[Dragon]

Yup. Generally, people walk by advertisers and such all the time. We don't have preachers on the campus, so if one showed up he'll probably gather some attention, but most people would likely soon depart to go about their business and forget about him. An IS supporter would likely have police called on him eventually if anyone with enough time for that came by, but most people wouldn't give him much heed, either. For most, a nutjob preaching on the street is someone else's problem and not worth their while.