Word: rossing
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...Then, if we're willing to abandon, just for a moment, the framework of legal retribution, there is another lens through which to examine Walker's situation: The Taliban could easily be considered a cult, and Walker simply one of its brainwashed groupies. That's the take from Rick Ross, an expert on cults who lectures frequently on the topic. "My conclusion," Ross explains, "is that this group is an apparitional cult, and not in any way indicative of Islam in general. We've suspected this for some time now, and Walker's presence and behavior provides a sort...
...Ross speculates that Walker, who by all accounts went through a truly astonishing metamorphosis - from shy, quiet teenager drawn to the peaceful tenets of Islam to armed military man - was sucked into al-Qaeda networks during his time in Pakistan. He was taken to Afghanistan, and that's when the trouble really began. "Walker's transformation probably place in one of al-Qaeda's training camps, which are very similar to training ground we see in American-based cults. Bin Laden does what every good cult leader does: He isolates these people within an environment he totally controls - everything they...
...That's particularly dangerous for impressionable types, says Ross, made worse by the absence of any objective analysis or perspective. This is not a situation in which one can just ask a string of questions to a group of learned Islamic scholars. "Which is really too bad," says Ross, "because I'd imagine there would be quite a reaction to some of the Taliban's teachings. So it's okay if I commit mass murder and suicide in the name of jihad? Oh, and by the way, I'd like to visit a strip club beforehand...
...While he's personally sympathetic to Walker's situation, Ross doubts the law will share his view. Generally, he explains, the law will excuse cult members' behaviors up to a certain point. "Once you cross that line," Ross says, committing rape, for example, or murder, "regardless of an undue influence of a leader, you are held responsible for your actions...
...Ross G. Douthat ’02 is a history and literature concentrator in Quincy House. His column appears on alternate Mondays...