"Virtual Jihad"

The jihad is real. Opinions about what can or should be done to deal with the problem may or may not be grounded in reality and an understanding of the issue.

For an attempt to discuss the issue see: Virtual Jihad, by Luis Miguel Ariza at Scientific American.

Better yet, take a look at Terror on the Internet - The New Arena, the New Challenges, by Gabriel Weimann, mentioned here despite having a forward by Bruce "shutting down websites is a fool's errand" Hoffman. Mr. Hoffman - an otherwise intelligent fellow - was the inspiration for the essay "Afghanistan, al-Qaida and the Internet".

Getting back to the story "Virtual Jihad", we offer a few observations.

1. Scott Atran is spot on with this:

Atran, who has interviewed several radical jihadists, says that the Internet has spread a homogenized, flat notion of Islam, one that has little to do with Islamic tradition. The militants express a message of martyrdom for the sake of global jihad as life's noblest cause. "I was very surprised to find, from the suburbs of Paris to the jungles of Indonesia, that people gave to me basically the same stuff, in the same words," Atran says.

However, we think he's dreaming when he suggests that jihadis - once committed to the fight - can be reformed:

Atran thinks it may be possible to fight the virulent ideas not just with a fist but also with an outstretched hand. The chat room could serve as a forum for life-affirming ideas as it does for terrorist ones. Convincing jihadists of alternative values would be a long process, he admits. But "I have seen groups of mujahedeens" transformed from fighters to community helpers. If that conversion works in physical space, he says, "I do not see any reasons why we cannot do that in cyberspace."

Feel free to try, but in our opinion the time and effort would be better spent educating Muslim youth about Islam so that when they are confronted by jihadis they are able to offer a refutation.

2. Not surprisingly, we agree with Marc Sageman:

Marc Sageman, a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania and a former CIA officer, notes that the nature of Islamist-jihadist sites could be turned against them. "In jihad, with so many Web sites, you have many potential messages, and you do not know what is true," he remarks. This lack of authenticity, he notes, could serve as a basis for a misinformation campaign to foil jihadists.

Posted on 27 December 2005 @ 15:42