Images of co-religionists under attack recruit young Muslims into militancy

Evidence

A relative of one deceased Islamic extremist observed that his religious school introduced him to videos depicting Muslims under attack. The relative exclaimed: “Of course they’re appalling and for anybody that cares about children they would tug at the heartstrings. I could see easily how somebody could draw you into believing… . We’re immortal, we want to take a stand, we want to make a difference.” Another likewise noted that “those were the images that came to our children’s homes. So there were really recruiters on the internet who sent messages, links to persecutions against Muslims in China for example… . And then young people said, … ‘We’re not going to wait for someone to save us.’” — 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, 341

Categorization

• XREF: Victimhood imagery as recruitment mechanism connects to the social identity threat literature and to how grievance narratives operate across political movements — parallels the martyrdom/oppression fueling described in Muslim-brotherhood and right-wing contexts alike. — connects to: Youth bulges of unemployed young men drive Muslim political violence — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 736; Islamic militancy emerges from politics and only converges with religion; Youth militancy fuses recreation with religious and masculine violence — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims: Race and Labor in…, 925 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Extremist groups deliberately provoke Islamophobia to recruit disaffected Muslims #corroborates (0.90) — Moustafa Bayoumi, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being…, 1004
• Islamic religious piety inversely correlates with attraction to violent extremist groups. #contradicts (0.80) — Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Global…, 476
• State-neglected Muslim youth adopt jihad as a noble global cause #expands (0.80) — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 768
• Islamic militancy emerges from politics and only converges with religion #complicates (0.78)
• Youth militancy fuses recreation with religious and masculine violence #expands (0.75) — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims, 925
• Youth bulges of unemployed young men drive Muslim political violence #qualifies (0.72) — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 736