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ISIS Organizations Have Come From a Dysfunctional Society Essay

Updated September 14, 2022
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ISIS Organizations Have Come From a Dysfunctional Society Essay essay

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The beginning of the revolting ISIS organizations is believed to have come from a dysfunctional society. The Middle East has been chaotic since the times of the Yemeni Civil War and upward revolutions resulting in the government system they follow. The Arab nation’s internal conflict is the result of constant neglect that governments and continuous revolts formed divisions in society, provoked violence, ultimately starting a civil war in multiple countries (C.Wittes, 2015). Leaders such as Ghassan Jaoudat Ismail of Syria and Abu Mohannad al-Sweidawi of Iraq suppressed people of their community by threats. Because of the disorder of those in power turned their citizens against them and they looked for defense in other forms such as the extremist group like ISIS.

These events created a Domino effect of openings for groups like al Qaeda and ISIS to form. The US involvement in other countries was placed to combat former threats. As a result, it created the tension between the two countries. The tension between the Shiite empire and the US increased when the United States invaded Iraq to capture Saddam Hussein as well as enforcing a government of democracy. The conflict was not originated with the US, but because of centuries of being oppressed with Ottoman rule, leading to the British overturn that swamped Iran into Sunni control. Soon Sunni control failed, and the Shiite influence expanded from east to west. The United States stimulated the political objectives of the society of Shiites living in former Sunni countries.

ISIS has access to social media in ways the government can’t wrap its head around. They use social media to recruit new members of their organization. “As of early 2015, jihadi groups in Syria have recruited over 20,000 foreign fighters to their cause, the overwhelming majority of who have joined the ranks of the Islamic State (also known as ISIS)” (Fernandez, 2015). ISIS uses social media and propaganda to exploit an internal conflict within Iraq and Syria to an audience like the US. This gave them a worldwide influence, especially if they reach media platforms such as NBC and CNN. The tactic ISIS uses is known as counter-messaging. This is a targeted media platform that was used to persuade the targeted audience, which at this time is the United States. According to the Brookings Institution, social media being targeted should have enforcement terms to prevent the Islamic State (ISIS) and their followers from spreading their beliefs effortlessly (Fernandez, 2015).

Influences of ISIS propaganda in Syria and Iraq start from the reality of those that live there. It has been established that “ISIS propaganda is aimed toward the “Millennial generation” (Blaker, 2015). Statistics states that “89% of adults between the age of 18-29 use social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube. Access to these media platforms allow propaganda to spread drastically. “former National Security Council staff member Hillary Mann Leverett said there were about 90,000 pro-ISIS messages posted on social media each day” (Blaker, 2015). Further studies stated that there are as many as 200,000 pros ISIS post a day. Twitter has canceled many accounts that are used by terrorist organizations such as ISIS. Recently, the company was receiving death threats from them. Over a year twitter has combated the spread of ISIS propaganda on their platform.

“September 2013, at least 4 militants of Al-Shabaab, a Somalia al-Qaeda ally, attacked an upscale shopping mall in Nairobi. Shortly after the gunmen stormed the mall—shooting civilians and reportedly using grenades—the terrorists began “live-tweeting the carnage” from within the mall. Twitter quickly shut down that account, but almost immediately another Twitter account opened which purportedly was also operated by the militants” (Blaker,2015). ISIS constantly reopened new accounts just as fast as they were being deleted. Twitter was then criticized for taking the accounts down after vowing to establish a forum for free speech. As of now, Twitter has terms and conditions that users must vow by which are: “Violence and Threats: You may not publish or post threats of violence against others or promote violence against others. Unlawful Use: You may not use our service for any unlawful purposes or in furtherance of illegal activities. International users agree to comply with all local laws regarding online conduct and acceptable content” (Blaker, 2015).

There is an estimate of 3,000 citizens who have relocated to ISIS territory to support the cause of the extremist group. Social media forms other outlets that connect thousands of different people all over the world. More private communications services like Textnow, Whatsapp, Redphone, ChatSecure, etc, that give individuals direct connect with ISIS controlled cyber systems. Military Cyber Affairs stresses that ISIS extremist does not have to leave the Syrian-Iraq border to threaten the United States security. ISIS recruiters can perform terrorist acts within their own country or border.

Purposes of ISIS are providing their youthful target with a sense of belonging. The morals behind ISIS are manipulated to make the youth feel a sense of heroism who are to influence their friends and build their own self-esteem. “Robert Hannigan, UK surveillance chief, stated that, “ISIS and other extremist groups use platforms like Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp to reach their target audience in a language it understands. Their methods include exploiting popular hashtags to disseminate their message.” (Blaker, 2015). A professor at Rhodes College in Memphis feels that radical views come from online. He argues that parents are much more comfortable with an Islamist who is hidden and stays away from controversial issues involved with US policy effects in Muslim countries (Blaker, 2015). The target to the millennials comes from an age gap between generations due to millennials being more active with cyber technology and media.

Research within the Institute for Strategies Dialogue has submitted that Islamic women are the most successful recruiters for other women; studies have shown that about 1 in 6 overseas recruits (ISIS) are female (Blaker, 2015). According to the author, Lisa Blaker of Military Cyber affairs agrees that the potential targeted recruitment for a female is American juvenile girls (Blaker, 2015). Women of the Islamic state-run social media. They often portray their life as very meaningful but tend to include instructions on how to enter their state. The most effective strategy for recruiting women into ISIS is to use other women. Here is an example of the process one known recruiter of ISIS does to achieve her goal: “Ubaydah, whom herself left Europe for Syria early in 2014, posts a blog that encourages other women to make hijra, or migrates, to join the Islamic State. The posts include information about what to bring, how to dress, how much money will be required (which is linked to how long one plans to stay in Turkey), and what to expect once there—what daily life is like in Syria for women who make hijra” (Blaker, 2015).

The Islamic State pro-IS Telegram channel produced cartoons that ultimately made it to YouTube called the “Soon Inshallah”, which showed an IS soldier painting the white house black, and alongside the white house were 6 American flag caskets. Telegram is a messaging app terrorist use to encrypt their privacy. Due to the extra security feature, the ability to keep violent photos and videos was easier than using multi-million-dollar platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Whatsapp, and so on. Those media platforms are typically taken down within a second to discard any offense it may have caused to daily users. Combating ISIS content is done in a form of counter-messaging. The Global Coalition group is developing communications to combat violent messaging. Communication groups have a system of centers that are established all over the private sector that use their knowledge and originality online to challenge the ideology of ISIS and their followers. “There are Counter-ISIS Communication Cell in London and Abu Dhabi that specifically combat ISIS propaganda” (U.S Department of State, 2017). Centers use cyber technologies to find recruits of foreign organizations and introduce them to the content that is used to counter message their ideology.

For example, “videos developed by partners across the Coalition for a recent campaign targeting vulnerable audiences in Tunisia, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia were watched more than 14 million times. The effort has since expanded to other nations, including Libya, Jordan, and France. And Twitter has suspended more than 635,000 ISIS- related or affiliated accounts that have been shown to abuse their platforms since the middle of 2015” (U.S Department of State, 2017).

ISIS uses cyber outlets to broadcast propaganda as well as materials needed for followers to be influenced. According to the FBI, ISIS advocates for violent acts against law enforcement, intelligence personnel, as well as soldiers. No other group has been achievable like ISIS has at conforming people not their twisted philosophy (U.S Department of State, 2017). Because of social media violent extremist can slip into communities for recruitment of American citizens and influencing individuals with their radical views faster then officials are able to locate the threat. Considering extremist organizations are a continuous threat to the United States economy. Terrorist seem to evolve, so making sure that federal, state, local, and international partners stay evolved as well is crucial. Information sharing is a critical factor in investigating and combating ISIS propaganda or any terrorist threat to the United States.

Bibliography

  1. Aboughazala, D., & Mohan, M. (2017, May 10). Cartoons by Islamic State: A new propaganda tool. Retrieved December 6, 2018, from https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-39822475
  2. Blaker, L. (2015). The Islamic State ’s Use of Online Social Media. December 6, 2018, http://dx.doi.org/10.5038/2378-0789.1.1.1004
  3. Fernandez, A. M. (2015, October). Here to stay and growing: Combating ISIS propaganda networks. Retrieved December 6, 2018, from https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/IS-Propaganda_Web_English_v2.pdf
  4. The Global Coalition – Working to Defeat ISIS. (2017, March 22). Retrieved from https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2017/03/268609.htm
  5. Wray, C. (2017, November 30). Keeping America Secure in the New Age of Terror. Retrieved from https://www.fbi.gov/news/testimony/keeping-america-secure-in-the-new-age-of-terror
ISIS Organizations Have Come From a Dysfunctional Society Essay essay

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