I will admit to being an incurable romantic, but somehow I think it was safer to be a romantic in my day. The American Thinker posted a story yesterday about how a naive American high school girl almost became a terrorist. She wasn’t going to kill anyone–she was just going to act as a nurse to help wounded terrorists back to health.
The story (told through the eyes of her neighbor) describes nineteen-year-old Shannon Conley as a local girl born and raised in normalcy. After a rocky high school career resulting in a GED, she went to college and was working as a certified nurses aide. She met a thirty-two-year-old Tunisian terrorist who wanted to marry her and bring her to live in Tunisia.
What the story reports about Miss Conley shows her to be a bit odd:
Miss Conley doesn’t seem to have been interested in speaking with the Mosque elders. (She admitted the only things she knew about Islam were learned online.) Instead, despite having converted to Islam, she hung out at Faith Bible Church. People there thought she was trying to blow the place up. According to her, she first went there to learn about Christianity and then had fun scaring them.
…Miss Conley seems more concerned about pleasing Terrorist Fiancé than following Islam. According to Islam, you need the father’s permission to marry. Miss Conley’s dad was wise enough to give an emphatic “no” when Terrorist Fiancé skyped him to ask for his daughter’s hand in marriage. Yet, far from being bound by religious conviction, Miss Conley shrugged that off to fly to meet Terrorist Fiancé anyway.
When Miss Conley headed for the airport, her father called the U.S. Marshals.
The author of the article attributed Miss Conley’s conversion to the type of mind control used in abusive relationships.
The author states:
…I think her case has more in common with domestic violence victims.
Women who become victims of domestic violence fall into classic types. A significantly older man preys on a teenaged or young 20s girl. Miss Conley’s 19. Terrorist Fiancé is 32.
The victim is usually attracted to the abuser’s powerful personality and makes her life revolve around him. Miss Conley was moving halfway around the world and giving up all her family.
The abuser engages in mind control to get his victim to follow his every whim. Miss Conley was even willing to kill her own countrymen for her fiancé. Yet, Miss Conley said she didn’t want to kill anyone personally. She preferred to nurse the terrorists back to health. Terrorists enjoy killing people; abused women blindly serve their man.
This should be a warning to all parents of daughters–teach your daughters about healthy and unhealthy relationships. Keep communication lines open and watch for signs of unhealthy relationships. I think it is okay to believe in Prince Charming as long as you understand that he is a fictional character.
