Yucking It Up With Terrorists Online

Culture

from the seriously? dept

Not quite sure what to make of this one. You tend not to think of terrorists as having much of a sense of humor. After all, it often seems like part of the problem is their lack of a sense of the absurd about what they’re doing. The more people learn to laugh at themselves, you would hope, the less likely it seems they are to go on a rampage blowing up others. However, it appears that terrorist organizations are learning that in the internet age, ads are content too. Rather than long, boring speeches by their leaders, they too are looking to make use of the latest in user generated content: specifically putting up “animated videos, comedy clips and Top 10 video lists” in an effort to recruit new terrorists. Of course, this will only increase the belief from some (who seem to have a lack of humor of their own) who like to blame the internet for terrorist activities. Instead, though, perhaps it’s an opportunity to use the same tools to convince people to stay away from such activities.