Hate Groups, eExtremists & Social Media
With the extreme growth of the cyber-world it appears everyone and everything is shifting there, from politics to extremists groups. it appears the internet is providing a space for communication of all sorts. Terrorism is something that has always been prominent and always will exist, it is amazing and unfortunate the way it has invaded our consciousness, giving society a fearful awareness (Seib & Janbek). there is no terrorism without communication and social media has allowed terrorist leaders to access a wider audience. YouTube has been shown to be one useful tool for terrorist, allowing them to advertise themselves in a location that has innate attraction to a young audience (Seib & Janbek). without the internet aiding terrorists in recruiting individuals they would probably be unable to reach a substantial supportive audience. the internet allows terrorists to dodge obstacles that they once had to face through the shadows of the physical world.
The internet more than any other source of information, attracts younger individuals, so will hate groups, who are shifting to the internet and promoting their hate via the net, recruit younger and vulnerable members? Is this shift in means of outsourcing information creating haters? People will sympathize and be tricked into becoming involved in hate groups. Former chief of operations at the FBI, Buck Revell didn't seem to see terrorists and hate groups using the internet as such a bad thing. He told U.S news that "As long as they don't specifically engage in criminal acts, they can do anything they want to aid and abet their activities. This is a safe haven for them". But is this a valid statement to make, when the internet has become a forum used to plan attacks and to promote unjust opinions and behaviors One of the many example is, in February 1996, three junior 'high school' students in NY, were charged with plotting to set off a homemade bomb in their school. Their chargers were made based on the plans which had been found on the internet.
http://archive.adl.org/terror/focus/16_focus_a.asp
Your comment about the younger generations is very true. We all know the majority of social media users are younger, so it is quite valid to say that these groups will possibly be aimed to recruit younger people.
ReplyDeleteI also agree how this directly targets the vulnerability of younger people. They just want to belong and be accepted by peers, so belonging to a group would sound very appealing to them.
ReplyDeleteSo true about younger people. it's like, extremist views have been made "easier to have" by Social media, that people won't get judged for it...
ReplyDelete