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This sentiment is common but misguided. For one thing, "impressionable people" will always seek out taboo information. Banning jihadi messaging isn't going to m

This sentiment is common but misguided. For one thing, "impressionable people" will always seek out taboo information. Banning jihadi messaging isn't going to make it less appealing to them (when they find it elsewhere) or to make it disappear from the internet (there's always a way). So this is an ineffective strategy. It is better to target the root cause, which is that jihadi ideas are clearly attractive to a large group of European youths. Just look at the numbers of Europeans travelling to Iraq, Libya, Syria to fight, to sacrifice their lives for this ideology. You can't dismiss all these people as "impressionable". As far as I can tell, they are otherwise normal people who are as rational as you or me. Sure, there are some truly impressionable people out there. And we should prevent them from being radicalized. But it's like with sex or drugs... We talk to our kids about difficult subjects so they are well-informed and are not so naive and easy to manipulate. But we don't talk about jihadi ideology. Why is mainstream society unwilling to challenge their ideas and expose them as wrong? You can't defeat an ideology by pretending that it doesn't exist, which is what you're effectively doing when you censor it. It's a knee-jerk yet cowardly way to avoid confronting the actual problem. And the problem isn't going to go away unless you confront the ideology head-on. Radicalization isn't the inevitable outcome of being exposed to these ideas but is rather the result of losing an argument.

rocqua 9y ago
The question here is how propaganda works. If you compare it to advertising, it would seem that widespread and indiscriminate dissemination works wonders. That is not to say you should deny jihadism exists, but letting the most vocal jihadis be the ones to tell the story doesn't seem wise. The best argument I see against this is essentially the martyrdom of oppression. It doesn't help when they can claim "See, they are afraid of us so they must censor us". Consider the 'fair and balanced' approach to global warming. Giving the obviously wrong a platform doesn't seem to have worked.
- infodroid 9y ago
  The root of the problem as I have mentioned previously is that the propaganda is actually effective. And until you identify the reasons why this is the case, and directly start addressing those reasons, whatever actions you take aren't going to make much of a difference. Banning propaganda from "vocal jihadis" won't make their words any less appealing. And no matter how good your technical controls, it won't prevent a motivated person from finding such material online, one way or another. And while there are many reasons why the jihadi message is so effective, I happen to believe that it is sustained not because the ideas are being widely and indiscriminately dissiminated, but rather because the ideas are not being exposed and challenged. It is bizarre that there are people committing mass murder, motivated by a concrete and well-documented set of beliefs, which nobody is criticizing let alone even willing to discuss in public. Doesn't that sound to you like "they are afraid of us"? I'm sure that's how it looks like to a jihadi recruit.

rocqua 9y ago

The question here is how propaganda works. If you compare it to advertising, it would seem that widespread and indiscriminate dissemination works wonders. That is not to say you should deny jihadism exists, but letting the most vocal jihadis be the ones to tell the story doesn't seem wise. The best argument I see against this is essentially the martyrdom of oppression. It doesn't help when they can claim "See, they are afraid of us so they must censor us". Consider the 'fair and balanced' approach to global warming. Giving the obviously wrong a platform doesn't seem to have worked.

infodroid 9y ago
The root of the problem as I have mentioned previously is that the propaganda is actually effective. And until you identify the reasons why this is the case, and directly start addressing those reasons, whatever actions you take aren't going to make much of a difference. Banning propaganda from "vocal jihadis" won't make their words any less appealing. And no matter how good your technical controls, it won't prevent a motivated person from finding such material online, one way or another. And while there are many reasons why the jihadi message is so effective, I happen to believe that it is sustained not because the ideas are being widely and indiscriminately dissiminated, but rather because the ideas are not being exposed and challenged. It is bizarre that there are people committing mass murder, motivated by a concrete and well-documented set of beliefs, which nobody is criticizing let alone even willing to discuss in public. Doesn't that sound to you like "they are afraid of us"? I'm sure that's how it looks like to a jihadi recruit.