Evil Children: 3 reasons why Begum frightens us

Who’s Afraid Of Shamima Begum?

Few would describe Shamima as anything other than chilling. She stares coldly and indifferently out at you with hard, unfeeling eyes. A shrug. A wave of the hand. But nothing else. No remorse, no shame, no culpability, no feeling. The bloodshed, terror and horror of what she did was a ‘dumb mistake’. Joining ISIS, for Shamima, is no more of an issue than saying something a bit vapid on Twitter. She just doesn’t care. Our grief and anger is an inconvenience.

Some people just don’t come across well, and it’s not always their fault. They’re too stiff, too awkward, too cold. Some struggle with empathy or emotional intelligence. Others can’t understand how other people will feel about something they’re saying, or the social cues people expect. There’s absolutely nothing bad or wrong with this in itself: I think as a community we’ve come leaps and bounds at understanding neurodivergence and the difficulties some people might face in communication. If Shamima is autistic or emotionally…