Oh wow, I had no idea about the XY incident map. It certainly seems compelling on first glance.
I guess he got swept up in some shared hysteria at the time, went along with it, and then realised which group he was getting swepped up with, and backtracked, cutting ties.
You lose that buff two weeks after acclimitizing to another country, and the perceived extra charisma is actually people nervously smiling around you to mask their limited english (half the language is just obscure idioms)