“I think raising awareness around far-right radicalisation seems like an easy win – the use of appropriate labelling and terminology would be an important first step.”Īt the time of writing, there is no conclusive evidence that Alexandre Bissonnette was radicalised online. “Applying the same thresholds to far-right extremist content as Islamist extremist online content is vital in order to stem the flow of far-right propaganda currently surfacing on public platforms,” says Melanie Smith, a researcher at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a think tank which works to tackle rising extremism. Efforts to tackle this content should be given the same resources as government attempts to curb Islamic radicalisation online. Elliot Rodger, who killed six people at the University of California in May 2014, was a regular poster on the woman-hating forum PUAhate, and now his own manifesto inspires a new generation of “involuntary celibates” on Reddit. There are now countless examples of such echo chambers leading to terrorist attacks. With echo chambers, self-governance becomes much harder because people end up living in different political universes.” “If you’re in an echo chamber, or listening to people who agree with you, you’re likely to get more extreme. “Members of all demographic groups are vulnerable to radicalisation via the internet,” he says. Sunstein argues this has fuelled political polarisation in the US and the UK. The brevity and urgency of sites such as Twitter mean that all our views can become extreme caricatures, forcing others to define themselves in opposition. Those who become extremists on little-known forums may have been pushed there first by traditional social media. Sunstein’s comments illustrate that online radicalisation is a two-way street. “It happens every month and probably every week.” “A cybercascade occurs when someone says something, and then someone else repeats it, and then someone else does the same, and pretty soon we have a cascade effect, when lots of people think something is true, simply because so many people seem to think it is true – and it might be false,” he says. This is exactly what Cass Sunstein, the author of #Republic: Divided Democracy in the Age of Social Media, thinks is happening. “Being in shitty communities stunts critical thinking and any kind of growth, creating a negative feedback loop.” “The very idea of some naive, confused kid being brainwashed by these people brings my blood to a boil,” he writes. The user goes on to claim that white supremacy websites actively “game” subreddits for “loser/virgin/lonely/angry” young men. Slowly your views on things, like women, race, whatever, will start to change.” “Given enough time in those places, and a lack of sensible human beings to socialize with, one would experience the same thing I did. Now, I never believed them that much, but they would still be there, likely influencing me. “I used to browse 4chan (for about 4 years) back when I was a shutin at college and at home… I was definitely addicted to 4chan … I browsed some of the worst boards there, too … despite conscious efforts, a lot of the garbage did seep its way into my mind. Under the heading “ A warning for young isolated men like myself”, the man known only by his Reddit username, 500ooo, writes: If you find it hard to comprehend how someone can go online with one extreme view and log off with another, an ex-user of the notoriously politically incorrect forum 4Chan describes it best. But the radicalization of white men online is at astronomical levels When we talk about online radicalization we always talk about Muslims. Within the last year, the two communities have bled into each other, after finding a common hero: the 45 th President of the United States, Donald Trump. Similarly, white supremacist websites such as Stormfront have long been a home for extreme right-wing views. Last November, the writer and TED speaker Siyanda Mohutsiwa pointed out – in a series of viral tweets – that we need to reconsider what we think of as “online radicalisation”.įor many years, lonely young men have vented their romantic and sexual frustrations online, which has lead them to form extreme anti-feminist and misogynistic groups such as Reddit’s r/TheRedPill and r/Incels (which stands for “involuntarily celibate”). Science and Technical Research and Development.Infrastructure Management - Transport, Utilities.Information Services, Statistics, Records, Archives.Information and Communications Technology.HR, Training and Organisational Development. Health - Medical and Nursing Management.Facility / Grounds Management and Maintenance.
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