Madness

I am trying to understand the mindset of these radical Islamists. I am talking about ISIS (or ISIL, as some call it/them). I cannot understand even what little I know about the group. The linked story from the BBC  shortens it to "IS"... which doesn't help me at all.

From what I gather, they want to establish a caliphate, which is (according to Wiki)...

"(in Arabic: خلافة‎ khilāfa, meaning "succession") is an Islamic state led by a supreme religious and political leader known as a caliph – i.e. "successor" – to Muhammad."

I read that as "We want a dictator!" I don't know how else to describe it.  I had a conversation many years ago with a member of the Nation Of Islam. He told me that "strong-man" rule is a good thing. And I have to agree that, at times, it would seem so. Almost all government, at one time, was of that design. America broke the mold when it established a republic. Rome was, at first, a republic but it was still ruled by the privileged (the wealthy) who essentially owned the Senate, as were all the initial republics. Citizens could vote for others to represent them but the game was rigged, as they say.

I cannot grasp the mentality that screams "I don't want freedom!" But that is what these people demand. When we were in the midst of the Cold War, I once heard communism being described as "freedom" from want. That is, that it was freer than capitalism because it promised that the needs of the least would be met. It didn't make sense to me because, possibly, I had been raised in a capitalist society. To me, having all my needs met was not freedom. Especially if it meant that a police state would be the way it was done.

I fear that there are just too many willing to give up individual freedom.