Tips on Creating Building a Kinder, Gentler Jihadi Blog

MODS: Feel free to shift if this fits better elsewhere.

Just spotted this posting (.pdf of post on non-jihadi web page in case you don't want to a jihadi page) on how to make your jihad blog not SOUND LIKE a jihad blog.

Some highlights:

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“Avoid slogans of revival and jihad. Part of being neutral is to avoid slogans that hint that you are attempting to revive jihad, because for the most part, people who do that, don’t usually present anything unique or new to the plate. Moreover, avoid having images that reveal your opinion; so as a banner for the blog, use something neutral.“

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“(I)f you feel you have something to say on an issue that will reveal a geographical secret location of the Mujahideen or expose one of their secrets or tactics or strategies, then do not speak on it nor hint towards it.”

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“Each post should not be seen as a teacher teaching his readers, but as a student interacting with his readers with his/her’s thoughts without actually physically interacting. This way, your posts will not appear to be ‘brainwashing’ but simply oriented to a more suggestive attitude and friendly thoughtful analysis.”

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(A bit more here.)

So, what do you think the odds are of any of the harsher bloggers taking such advice? While the advice is interesting, and could lead to "kinder, gentler" and less rant-like jihad blogs, I'm guessing the magic of the blog is that if you're cranked enough, you'll write whatever the hell you want on it.

Interesting. These are all tactics and ideas used by the Anti-Jewish & Anti-Israel groups. - so no surprise there!

Anti-Jewish groups worked out long ago, that "researching the holocaust," was far more effective that saying "kill the Yids."

For people in Iraq and Afghanistan, I doubt that the insights of bloggers has significantly more influence upon their views of the world than upon what they see around them. If the goal of the "kinder, gentler" blogs is to whip up anti-western sentiment, then that is probably a realistic goal, but also a rather pointless one. On the other hand, if some wannabe jihadists actually take to doing this stuff and wasting lots of their time doing it, then all the better. We did have some propagandists on our HVI/HVT lists at times. None of them were bloggers.

I think that this is they key phrase:

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Nevertheless, there is a large gap in the Jihadi reporting and the Intellectual framework of educating Muslims on current events.

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One of the key problems that they have is spreading their interpretive structures around and getting them accepted. As Wilf notes, a "neutral" stance often works best :wry:.

I really doubt that they are seeing this part of the blogsphere as a way of whiping up anti-Western sentiment. I find it much more likely that it is being used as a tactic to construct "plausibilities" within a) the academic world and b) muslims outside of Iraq and Afghanistan.

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I find it much more likely that it is being used as a tactic to construct "plausibilities" within a) the academic world and b) muslims outside of Iraq and Afghanistan.

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I'm somewhat leaning toward this view - to GROSSLY oversimplify, like white supremacists wanting to look more like just Republicans, or Marxists wanting to look more like just Democrats, to increase cred among those who don't know more behind the posts?

Hi Milnews,

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Originally Posted by milnews.ca

I'm somewhat leaning toward this view - to GROSSLY oversimplify, like white supremacists wanting to look more like just Republicans, or Marxists wanting to look more like just Democrats, to increase cred among those who don't know more behind the posts?

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Yup. as an "added bonus", it also constructs the rhetorical "centre" closer to what they would like. Think of it like negotiating for a government grant: you ask for 5 times what you actually need and allow yourself to be bargained back to what you wanted in the first place :wry:.

In terms of rhetorical strategies, if this "kinder / gentler" face can gain ground as being "reasonable", then it will gain in status and general acceptance. All they have to do is point towards, say, "collateral damage" caused by airstrikes or the fact that no WMDs were found in Iraq and, presto-chango, that gets adopted as "truth", which undermines the current operations by attacking the will of Coalition homeland populations to support it.

Have you been follwoing the ruckus over "Israeli Aparteid Week" posters in Canadian campuses? This is actually a good example of that tactic in operation.

....the web log link doesn't seem to be working - the main page and the public forum sections still work, though.

Hmmm....

The .pdf scans are on my own web page/wiki, so feel free to peruse those in the absence of the live online version - I would have liked to check back for more comments, though.

....the posting is back:
http://revolution.thabaat.net/?p=1046

Enjoy!

Before I read this (.pdf permalink to non-jihadi web page), I didn't realize Casio watches and Arabic perfume were such robust indicators of jihadi terrorist affiliation....

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“Exposing features of a Mujahid (both potential and active) include …. Outer appearance, for example, growing beard, even stubble, if only it is not a norm or a trend in the society. Also, use of [verbal] expressions, clothes and accessories (Casio watch, Arabian perfume, miswak) that are associated in public opinion with “militants” or “Wahhabists”.”

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And an interesting factoid, if true:

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“According to statistics of Russian security services, during the last several years, around 80-90% successful operations against Mujahideen have been carried out due to surveillance and tapping of mobile phones.”

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A bit more here.