Internet as "Powerful Machine for Recruiting"
I've been searching the research literature for evidence to support the notion that social movement organizations (of any kind) have effectively used the Internet as a recruiting tool. I've yet to find much that makes this case. There are, however, an abundance of news reports and media tales of the Internet as a kind of deus ex machina. Most recently, this story appeared in the Christian Science Monitor about the recruitment of Islamic terrorists.
Here are a few snippets from the article:
"But it is the confluence of America's decision to invade Iraq and new communication technologies that has created the most powerful machine for recruiting new terrorists in history, says Evan Kohlmann, an American terrorism consultant who has tracked jihadi websites since the late 1990s.
"America and its allies are now facing a multifront war: In Iraq, which is turning out a new generation of Arab jihadis; in Europe, where Muslim admirers of Al Qaeda are embracing the cause because of anger over the Iraq war; and on the Internet, which has become a megaphone for radical jihadi ideologies.
In this piece, for instance, the Internet is both a "powerful" recruiting mechanism and a "megaphone." Both of characterizations, it seems to me, fail to understand the medium. A powerful recruiting tool would have to have some way of luring members, which the Internet lacks. And, a "megaphone" suggests a kind of broadcast medium. The real story about the role the Internet plays here is about offering connection, links between otherwise isolated individuals and groups.
And, of course, understanding the Internet within the broader context of Jihad vs. McWorld is the real challenge, one that I haven't seen elsewhere yet.
Here are a few snippets from the article:
"But it is the confluence of America's decision to invade Iraq and new communication technologies that has created the most powerful machine for recruiting new terrorists in history, says Evan Kohlmann, an American terrorism consultant who has tracked jihadi websites since the late 1990s.
"America and its allies are now facing a multifront war: In Iraq, which is turning out a new generation of Arab jihadis; in Europe, where Muslim admirers of Al Qaeda are embracing the cause because of anger over the Iraq war; and on the Internet, which has become a megaphone for radical jihadi ideologies.
In this piece, for instance, the Internet is both a "powerful" recruiting mechanism and a "megaphone." Both of characterizations, it seems to me, fail to understand the medium. A powerful recruiting tool would have to have some way of luring members, which the Internet lacks. And, a "megaphone" suggests a kind of broadcast medium. The real story about the role the Internet plays here is about offering connection, links between otherwise isolated individuals and groups.
And, of course, understanding the Internet within the broader context of Jihad vs. McWorld is the real challenge, one that I haven't seen elsewhere yet.
posted by Jessie Daniels at
6:26 AM
