Attacking the al Qaeda "Narrative"

[Dominique R. Poirier]

Definitely too funny, Dominique ! The next step, of course, would be to turn it into a YouTube serial.

Marc

Oh sure! I don't doubt it might be a success, the way I imagine it. But, that's beyond the realm both of my possibilities and competencies...

[mmx1]

Berkeley Breathed tried something but 25 newspapers have refused to publish it, including WaPo
http://www.berkeleybreathed.com/pages/index.asp

Note to Opus readers: The Opus strips for August 26 and September 2 have been withheld from publication by a large number of client newspapers across the country, including Opus' host paper The Washington Post. The strips may be viewed in a large format on their respective dates at Salon.com.

[gh_uk]

From today's Sunday Times.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co....cle3177654.ece

CHRIS MORRIS, the satirist whose television act features jokes about paedophilia, drugs, incest and rape, is to make a movie intended to show the funny side of terrorism.

He says the film will seek to do for Islamic terrorism what Dad’s Army, the classic BBC comedy, did for the Nazis by showing them as “scary but also ridiculous”.

Morris said: “Most of us would dearly love to laugh in the face of our worst fears. Why aren’t we laughing at terrorists? Because we don’t know how to, until now.”

Though the film is a work of fiction, Morris has researched it over the past two years by visiting places in Britain associated with terrorist plots, including Leeds, Bradford and Luton.

“I don’t plan for this film to be offensive, but I do want it to be very funny,” Morris said. “I accept, though, that some may find poking fun at terrorists is offensive.

“There is this Dad’s Army side of terrorism and that’s what this film is exploring,” said Morris, who once, while hosting a Radio 1 show, made a hoax announcement about the death of Michael Heseltine, the former Conservative deputy prime minister.

For those not familiar with Mr Morris and his humour, here's an example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvyX-CwHpAQ

Should be interesting...

[davidbfpo]

Found on Friday on the West Point CTC website an article 'Abu Yahya’s Six Easy Steps for Defeating al-Qaeda' By Jarret Brachman.

Link: http://www.terrorismanalysts.com/pt/...d=18&Itemid=54

On an initial reading offers some excellent points on counter-propaganda (apologies if article has appeared on SWJ before).

davidbfpo

[Van]

Y'all are discussing one of the major threads in Dean Ing's "Soft Targets". A great read by a brilliant fiction writer. Note that in the book the comedian who has the nerve to initiate the humor campaign against the irhabi becomes a target of violence, and also note that this book was written in the late '70s early '80s.

My favorite joke from the book was something like (forgive me as I don't have a copy on my desk);
Achmed: "We must kidnap everyone who thinks we are idiots!"
Abdul: "But Achmed, where are we going to keep five billion hostages?"

Also, Jeff Dunham and Achmed the Dead Terrrorist are an excellent example of anti-irhabi humor (though targeted at Western audiences). Gotta love the eyebrows.

I agree that one of the major unspoken objectives of the AQ criminals is to be taken seriously. They also want legitimacy. If we would try to deny them legitimacy, why not also deny them the serious tone that they crave?

[gh_uk]

I agree that one of the major unspoken objectives of the AQ criminals is to be taken seriously.

But the most attractive I found was something such as a team of two: "Overladen Bin" playing the sinister boss with his inseparable dumb lieutenant Richard Reid, aka the "Shoe Bomber," who unwillingly and lamentably always sabotages all missions and plots, owing to the repeated blunders he does.

Isn't a major obstacle to this that regardless of what an aspiring jihadist (be he AQ or of the dispersed, home grown variety) does or does not achieve, in the media (and to an extent in official pronouncements) he (or they) are portrayed in the darkest and most threatening terms, as some sort of super-terrorist?

I was struck by this during the incidents in Glasgow and London in the UK last summer; whilst not wishing to detract from the potential seriousness of the VBIEDs in London, there must be some comic potential in the fact they failed to put enough money in the parking meter (or parked illegally - whichever) and had one of their VBIEDs towed.

Also consider the attack on the airport terminal, as shocking as the imagery of the incident was, its hard to imagine how much more coverage they would have got if they had succeeded. Instead one of them managed to set himself on fire and later died, while the other was knocked down by an unassuming baggage handler who has gone to become a minor media personality as a result (see here).

What I'm trying to say is that it will be very hard to sell a message that counters them being taken seriously when every wannabe, walter mitty or incompetent 'jihadi' is painted in terms of an existential threat to civilisation as we know it. The way in which even their dullards and incompetents (e.g. Reid) are hyped in the public arena bestows more seriousness and legitimacy on them than they could hope for.

I'm originally from Northern Ireland, where we developed a very black brand of humour due to our 'Troubles'. One recurring theme of that humour was the general incompetence and stupidity of Loyalist paramilitaries, a tradition I'm pleased to say has outlasted the Troubles themselves. For example (not my blog):

http://loyalistwonders.wordpress.com...one-fat-chops/

http://loyalistwonders.wordpress.com...-of-the-north/



Perhaps an example to follow?