Extremist groups deliberately restrict information and reinforce outgroup hatred to build commitment

Evidence

Recruitment to radical groups deliberately leverages personal vulnerabilities. Radical groups develop ways to bolster ideological commitment through (1) restriction of access to information or circumstances that challenge ideological constructs and (2) social and cognitive strategies for reinforcing ingroup bias and hatred toward people outside the group. — Ryan Andrew Brown, Todd C. Helmus, Rajeev Ramchand, Alina I. Palimaru, Sarah Weilant, Ashley L. Rhoades, and Liisa Hiatt (RAND Corporation), Violent Extremism in America, 61

Categorization

• XREF: Relevant: if recruitment deliberately weaponizes information restriction, then exposure to disconfirming information is precisely what deradicalization must restore - speaks to what reverses commitment. — connects to: Extremist recruitment recruits through belonging and fellowship, not hatred — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 2020; Extremist groups deliberately provoke Islamophobia to recruit disaffected Muslims — Moustafa Bayoumi, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being…, 1004; Hate speech can both escalate and discharge hostility toward outgroups (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Extremist groups deliberately provoke Islamophobia to recruit disaffected Muslims #exemplifies (0.88) — Moustafa Bayoumi, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being…, 1004
• Groups invoke external enemies to justify the suppression of internal disunity #corroborates (0.78) — Manuel Borutta and Jan C. Jansen, Vertriebene and Pieds-Noirs in Postwar…, 649
• Demagogues exploit anxious followers by externalizing hatred onto outgroups #expands (0.74)
• Hate speech can both escalate and discharge hostility toward outgroups #qualifies (0.70)