Transnational Terrorism – From Memeism To Extremeism

Memes

According to Limor Shifman, author of Memes in Digital Culture, Internet memes are characterized as a piece of digital content that spreads quickly around the web in various iterations and becomes a shared cultural experience. [14] 4chan is known as the birthplace of the meme we know of today, and unfortunately, many of the alt-rights most popular memes grew and continue to grow out of 4chan. The best-known alt-right meme is Pepe, a green cartoon frog that represents “owning your loserdom.” The character didn’t originally have racist connotations, but through countless variations of the frog that proliferated on 4chan, Pepe started to represent mostly bigoted themes. The Anti-Defamation League even went so far to label this cartoon frog, a hate symbol.[15] According to Ryan Milner and Whitney Phillips at The New York Times, the bigoted appropriation of the cartoon frog was meant as a joke, and a way to goad mainstream media into panicking over a cartoon, while also garnering a broader platform.[16]

Memes also refer to image macros, usually consisting of an image, with large white text with a black outline. These memes are meant to be shared on social media and aimed to convey humor and political thought. While many of these images are created organically, they are also strategically created by alt-right users, and other groups, to spread elements of their subculture to the “normies.” These images are created constantly in chan forums, with the hopes that they go viral and permeate into mainstream sites like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Some fail, but others spread rapidly. Extreme images are shared within the group, and milder images are intended to work as gateway drugs to more extreme elements of their ideology. Self-proclaimed 4chan troll, Andrew Anglin, hosts “memetic Mondays” where members on his website post dozens of memes designed to appeal to the masses on mainstream social media platforms. In the leaked style-guide from his website, he urges his members to “keep the tone light… most people are not comfortable with material that comes across as vitriolic, racing, non-ironic hatred…This is obviously a ploy and I actually do want to gas kikes. But that’s neither here nor there.” [17]

According to research, those engaged in trolling score high on the Dark Tetrad, which means they score high in the following personality traits: psychopathy, sadism, narcissism, and Machiavellianism. [18] Research also suggests that those who score high on the dark triad, which includes narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism tend to be more aggressive which may shed light on the tendency of these trolls to leave their keyboards and engage in real-world violence. [19]

According to a CB Insights Report, Memetic warfare is seen as the digital-native version of traditional psychological warfare. This concept has been around since DARPA commissioned research on “military memetics” in 2006, and even suggested a “Meme Control Center” in the CIA.[20] It is unclear whether the Meme Control Center ever actualized, but it is remarkable that the US Government was made aware of this phenomenon more than a decade ago. A major focus of the report was the implications for memetics on the dynamics of mass movements and true believers. Propaganda on its own cannot force its way into an unwilling mind, propaganda penetrates the minds that are open, articulating and justifying opinions that already exist. Meme’s propagated from subcultural movements strategically use ironic racism, bigotry, and misogyny to keep the “tone light,” and ploy people into their movements by gradually opening the minds of people susceptible to whatever brand of hate is propagated, until that individual is successfully “red-pilled.” Taking this “red-pill,” whether you are an incel or an alt-righter (or both), is the beginning of a radicalization process in which an individual becomes inculcated with extremist, subversive views, and in some cases, these individuals shift from memeing to acts of violence.

Case Study 1: Alex Minassian and the Incel Rebellion

On April 23^rd, 2018, in Toronto Canada, 26-year-old Alek Minassian posted a cryptic message on Facebook:

“Private (Recruit) Minassian Infantry 00010, wishing to speak to Sgt 4chan, please. C23249161. The Incel Rebellion has already begun! We will overthrow all the Chads and Stacy! All hail Supreme Gentlemen Elliot Roger!”

Moments later the 26-year-old drove a rental van down a busy sidewalk along Toronto’s Yonge Street, striking pedestrians on the way, resulting in the deaths of 10 people. [21] While Canadian police declined to call his attack terrorism, a Brookings Institute analyst suggested the fretting over words is beside the point and states “Violent subcultures on the web are no longer the province of jihadists alone.”[22]  At first glance the post appears to be the rambling of a deranged killer, the post reflects language and sentiment prevalent on the subcultural online community of 4chan, as well as a page on Reddit which has since been removed, which Minassian frequented. To briefly decode this post, Minassian was a self-proclaimed member of the incel community (involuntary celibate), which, the more you research becomes increasingly complex and consists of those who are simply “love-shy,” to those who rationalize rape and mass-murder. This community often loathes those who they refer to as “Chads and Stacys” which is code for attractive sexually active men and women. The term” Incel Rebellion” refers to a violent response to sexual deprivation. At the end of his post, Minassian praised a fellow misogynist murderer, Elliot Roger, responsible for the 2014 Isla Vista killing spree that left 7 dead. Elliot Rodgers also frequented 4chan, and is now considered an “incel hero,” in which communities commemorate the day of the Isla Vista massacre as “Saint Elliot’s Day.” Across incel forums, references to “Going ER,” are commonly used by incels to encourage others in their group to take out their frustration through acts of direct violence.

By committing these murders, Minassian and Rodgers sought not only to harm innocent people, but also sow fear and spread their subversive ideology, ideally sparking others to commit these actions, and some did. Just recently, a Florida man walked into Hot Yoga Tallahassee and killed two people, according to reports the individual frequented online internet subcultures and sympathized frequently with Elliot Rodgers.  [23] In addition to the mentioned attacks, the perpetrator of the Umpqua Community College mass shooting in 2015 also had links to the incel community, as well as Parkland shooter who once commented on a YouTube video, “Elliot Rodger will not be forgotten.” [24]

These individuals were self-radicalized on the dark recesses of the internet, and particularly 4chan, and chan like forums like 2chan, 8chan, wizchan, and reddit. This is not just a movement of sad misogynists, but a cult of online hate that often encourage acts of terror. These attacks serve as a reminder that radicalization, or “red-pilling,” that take place online can morph into real-world violence.

Case Study 2: The Radicalization of Andrew Anglin and the Rise of the Alt-Right

The Daily Stormer is arguably the leading hate site on the internet. Anglin describes his approach to draw in millennial readers by using “non-ironic Nazism masquerading as ironic Nazism.” A frequent commenter and reader of the Daily Stormer was Dylann Roof, who murdered nine black people in Charleston South Carolina. Roof has now become a hero to Anglin’s followers, who honor him with “bowl cut” memes. [25] The fascinating thing about Anglin, who went on to start the most hateful site on the internet that has incited and led to real-world violence, was that he started out as a happy-go-lucky kid. His school teacher from grade school described him as the adorable boy who loved dinosaurs, and in High School, he was known as a hippie who baked cookies for girls. [26]

According to an expose on Anglin published in The Atlantic, following the divorce of his parents Anglin found an emotional outlet, listening to the well-known conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, and soon after was following online conspiracy theory sites. Anglin also began spending time on 4chan, specifically in the politically incorrect forum, /pol/. After ironically posting racist comments, the racism stuck. Over an email interview with a reporter, Anglin stated that “4chan was more influential on me than anything.” Anglin views 4chan as a fertile recruiting ground for The Daily Stormer, and the Alt-Right. According to Keegan Kankes of the Southern Poverty Law Center, “The Daily Stormer is a perfect example of the influence of 4chan has had on the rest of the messaging machine for white supremacy.” [27] Although it is difficult to assess how many 4channers have engaged in violent crimes, the Daily Stormer’s audience included at least three readers who were convicted of murder in the last 4 years. [28]

Conclusion:

It is unsettling how rapidly far-right messaging is spreading through online subcultural spaces, and how these groups use ironic memes and their deep knowledge of internet culture to spread white supremacist, far-right, and misogynist ideologies. According to Alice Marwick, a social media scholar at UNC-Chapel Hill, extremists using memes for recruitment is a technique “not much different from Islamic radicalization.” [29] During the height of the ISIS insurgency the meme acted as an accessible and viral tool in the jihadist social media strategy. In regard to far-right terrorism, Daniel Koehler from George Washington University’s program on Extremism has emphasized the risk of CBRN terror plots that often evolve out of large support networks with violent radicalization processes, carried out by longtime members of white supremacists and neo-Nazi groups. [30] The movements emerging out of the depths of online subcultural forums represent a unique threat as they increase in both size and violent rhetoric due to their internet fluency and use of memes as a recruitment and radicalization tool.

According to DARPA, memes have the ability to act as a contagion, but more empirical, quantitative research is needed to develop a deeper understanding of this phenomenon so we can effectively combat those leveraging it for nefarious reasons. [31] While censorship of extremist content under the guise of an ironic meme would inevitably stir a free speech debate, at the very least, media hygiene and narrative awareness should be stressed among parents and the young adults. Increased diligence is required to distinguish if the content you or your child is looking at is humor or ironic hatred. Media companies also have a responsibility to help control the spread of hate and propaganda on their platforms.

As of now, 4chan claims to have 22 million monthly visitors. [32] Perhaps some of these visitors go to the site out of curiosity only to leave repulsed shortly after, perhaps a handful will be “red-pilled” and view and share ironically hateful and misogynistic memes, and of that handful, conceivably a few will violently act on their subversive hatred they found there.

Works Cited

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• “The Alt-Right Is Killing People.” Southern Poverty Law Center, www.splcenter.org/20180205/alt-right-killing-people#young.
• Anglin, Andrew. “Daily Stormer Style Guide.”
• “’The Atlantic’: The Making Of An American Nazi.” NPR, NPR, 14 Nov. 2017, www.npr.org/2017/11/14/564006409/how-andrew-anglin-transformed-from-small-town-boy-to-neo-nazi-standout.
• Bacon, John. “Incel: What It Is and Why Alek Minassian Praised Elliot Rodger.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 26 Apr. 2018, www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/04/25/incel-what-and-why-alek-minassian-praised-elliot-rodger/549577002/.
• Barlow, Rich. “Call It What You Want – The ‘Incel Rebellion’ Is Terrorism.” WBUR, WBUR, 30 Apr. 2018, www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2018/04/30/call-it-what-you-want-the-incel-rebellion-is-terrorism.
• Beran, Dale. “4chan: The Skeleton Key to the Rise of Trump – Dale Beran – Medium.” Medium.com, Medium, 14 Feb. 2017, medium.com/@DaleBeran/4chan-the-skeleton-key-to-the-rise-of-trump-624e7cb798cb.
• Buckels, E.e., et al. “Trolls Just Want to Have Fun.” PsycEXTRA Dataset, 2014, doi:10.1037/e520722015-006.
• Davey, Jacob, and Julia Ebner. “The Fringe Insurgency.” Www.isdglobal.org, www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/The-Fringe-Insurgency-221017.pdf.
• Finkelstein, Robert. “Presentation on Military Memetics.” Robotics Technology, 2011, robotictechnologyinc.com/images/upload/file/Presentation%20Military%20Memetics%20Tutorial%2013%20Dec%2011.pdf.
• “Florida Man Who Killed Two Women at Yoga Studio Spoke of ‘Incel’ Hero Elliot Rodger in Online Video.” Southern Poverty Law Center, www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2018/11/03/florida-man-who-killed-two-women-yoga-studio-spoke-incel-hero-elliot-rodger-online-video.
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• Koehler, Daniel. “Beware of CBRN Terrorism – From the Far-Right.” Small Wars Journal, smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/beware-of-cbrn-terrorism-from-the-far-right.
• Lastuk, J. M. “Relationships between the Dark Triad and Humor Styles.” PsycEXTRA Dataset, 2011, doi:10.1037/e676392012-088.
• Lees, Matt. “What Gamergate Should Have Taught Us about the ‘Alt-Right’.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 1 Dec. 2016, www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/01/gamergate-alt-right-hate-trump.
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• “Pepe the Frog.” Anti-Defamation League, www.adl.org/education/references/hate-symbols/pepe-the-frog.
• Reitman, Janet. “All-American Nazis: Inside the Rise of Fascist Youth in the U.S.” Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone, 13 Nov. 2018, www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/all-american-nazis-628023/.
• Russell, Nathan J. “An Introduction to the Overton Window of Political Possibilities.” Mackinac Center: Advancing Liberty and Opportunity, www.mackinac.org/7504.
• Siegel, Jacob. “Dylann Roof, 4chan, and the New Online Racism.” The Daily Beast, The Daily Beast Company, 29 June 2015, www.thedailybeast.com/dylann-roof-4chan-and-the-new-online-racism.
• Smith, Craig. “10 Amazing 4chan Statistics and Facts.” DMR, DMR, 28 Oct. 2018, expandedramblings.com/index.php/4chan-statistics-facts/.
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