1. Aimless, unhappy child with low self-esteem, looking to fill a void with some sense of purpose. Classic description of a person that adopts a radical ideology. ISIS/AQ/whatever soldiers are not the principled, committed ideologues some would have us believe but are mostly, as intelligence analysts describe them, just "little losers". 2. In regards to the Becky situation, this reminds me of my (white) Dad's situation growing up. He and his brother were almost exclusively raised by a by their black housekeeper. Even my Grandmother would admit that Hanna was more of a mother than she ever was. G'Ma also did not like black people, except for every one she knew because they were obviously not like the rest. For some reason I even have a niece named Hanna. It took a lot of courage for Shepard to approach Becky and a lot of love for her to put his actions aside.