I agree, “Jihadis act as if they hate American intervention in Muslim countries” or “Jihadis want to consolidate power and support in their communities” is a better model than “Jihadis act as if they hate Americans”. My point was that all three are way better models than “Jihadis hate our freedom (tm)”.
I think I’m trying to say something else too—that “what do Jihadis want” can be composed into “what does the culture that produced Jihad want out of it” and “what are the motivations of individual Jihadis” (where the latter is very often going to be, simply, to fulfill the expectations of the people they see as their tribe’s legitimate authorities, or climb one of their tribe’s internal credit-allocation gradients).
I agree, “Jihadis act as if they hate American intervention in Muslim countries” or “Jihadis want to consolidate power and support in their communities” is a better model than “Jihadis act as if they hate Americans”. My point was that all three are way better models than “Jihadis hate our freedom (tm)”.
I think I’m trying to say something else too—that “what do Jihadis want” can be composed into “what does the culture that produced Jihad want out of it” and “what are the motivations of individual Jihadis” (where the latter is very often going to be, simply, to fulfill the expectations of the people they see as their tribe’s legitimate authorities, or climb one of their tribe’s internal credit-allocation gradients).