There are a few of reasons why I'm reluctant to label the ISIS as "evil".
First off, it's a generalization. There are obviously really messed up people in the ISIS army, but generally the true believers in any system are a minority. The rhetoric seems mostly pretty vague, which makes it hard to know how serious they are in their religious furor. The PR guy in the Vice video seemed to be holding back laugher as he was reading the propaganda.
Second, Iraq and Syria are in a civil war. That's always a really messy business. What I've seen from ISIS is unfortunately all too typical of civil wars.
Third, many civilized countries have been born out of uncivilized bloodshed, and many fathers of nations in history have been really problematic to say the least.
It also seems to me that the ISIS to some extent is be stirring up fear on purpose. If that is in fact the case, then pretty much everybody in this conflict wants to make them look scary, which in turn means that reliable facts will be really hard to come by.
Note that none of that is meant as a defense or an excuse for any of the atrocities that the ISIS has committed, it's just the reason why I personally will hold back making decisive judgement calls about how "evil" they are unless I really need to make one.
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