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News, documents and analysis on violent extremismMonday, May 3, 2021
A Paler Shade of White: In-Group Critique in James Mason's SiegeDiscussions of extremist ideologies naturally focus on how in-groups criticize and attack out-groups. But many important extremist ideological texts are disproportionately focused on criticizing their own in-group. A new research report from J.M. Berger uses linkage-based analysis to examine Siege, a White nationalist tract that has played an important role in shaping modern neo-Nazi movements, including such violent organizations as Atomwaffen Division and The Base. While Siege strongly attacks out-groups, including Jewish and Black people, the book is overwhelmingly a critique of how the White people of its in-group fall short of Nazi ideals. Siege’s central proposition—that the White in-group is disappointing, deeply corrupt, and complacent—shapes its argument for an “accelerationist” strategy to hasten the collapse of society in order to build something entirely new.Buy the new book, Extremism, by J.M. Berger. Previous works include: -- ISIS: The State of Terror by Jessica Stern and J.M. Berger -- Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam For more information, visit www.jmberger.com Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.
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Tuesday, January 12, 2021
J.M. BERGER DISCUSSES CAPITOL ATTACK ON PBS NEWSHOURJ.M. Berger joined Dr. Cynthia Miller-Idriss on PBS Newshour to discuss the role of extremism in the January 6 attack on the Capitol.Buy the new book, Extremism, by J.M. Berger. Previous works include: -- ISIS: The State of Terror by Jessica Stern and J.M. Berger -- Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam For more information, visit www.jmberger.com Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.
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Wednesday, August 26, 2020
OPTIMAL: J.M. BERGER'S NEW DYSTOPIAN NOVELIt's the world that Facebook built. It's the world that Twitter built. It's the world that Google built. It's the world of Optimal... The Algorithm Wars have ended, and the world has been optimized. Thanks to the System, everything that happens is recorded, liked, commented, shared and analyzed at scale in order to produce nonstop and ever-improving recommendations about what kind of job you should have, what kind of food you might enjoy, what kind of music you might like, what kind of exercise you need, and what kind of person you might want to sleep with. It is a world of total information and total freedom… although things tend to go more smoothly when you follow the System’s recommendations. From author J.M. Berger, an expert on the toxic real-world effects of a globally networked society, comes a unique dystopian vision of a total information society built by Silicon Valley, where today’s trends have become tomorrow’s reality. Buy the new book, Extremism, by J.M. Berger. Previous works include: -- ISIS: The State of Terror by Jessica Stern and J.M. Berger -- Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam For more information, visit www.jmberger.com THE YEAR OF LIVING UNCERTAINLYWhen no clear, authoritative source of truth exists, when uncertainty rages, human nature will lead many people to seek a more stable reality by wrapping themselves in an ever-tighter cloak of political, religious, or racial identities. The more uncertainty rises, the more alluring that siren call becomes. And some Americans are responding by seeking out exclusive, all-encompassing identities that are toxic and fragile—and hold the seed of violent extremism.Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.
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Sunday, March 24, 2019
J.M. BERGER ON 'FRESH AIR'J.M. Berger appeared on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross on Monday, March 25, discussing recent developments in extremism, including the New Zealand right-wing terror attack.For full audio, click here. For more on the topic, check out J.M. Berger's new book, Extremism, from MIT Press available from bookstores everywhere, including e-book and audiobook formats. Buy the new book, Extremism, by J.M. Berger. Previous works include: -- ISIS: The State of Terror by Jessica Stern and J.M. Berger -- Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam For more information, visit www.jmberger.com Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.
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Tuesday, February 26, 2019
MAN AND MANIFESTONearly eight years ago, the Norwegian extremist Anders Behring Breivik set the bar for what an individual terrorist could accomplish—detonating a truck bomb in Oslo that killed eight, then murdering 69 more, mostly teenagers, with semiautomatic weapons in another nearby location. Today, he and the 1,500-word manifesto he published to contextualize his actions are inspiring new extremists to take up violence.The Atlantic: The Dangerous Spread of Extremist Manifestos Buy the new book, Extremism, by J.M. Berger. Previous works include: -- ISIS: The State of Terror by Jessica Stern and J.M. Berger -- Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam For more information, visit www.jmberger.com Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.
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Monday, October 15, 2018
THE ALT-RIGHT TWITTER CENSUSVOX-Pol has released its latest report in the VOX-Pol publication series, titled The Alt-Right Twitter Census: Defining and Describing the Audience for Alt-Right Content on Twitter, authored by J.M. Berger, on 15 October 2018.About the Report This report defines and describes the alt-right audience on twitter, and identifies the top ten most influential twitter accounts for the alt-right online. Since 2016, the alt-right have held a significant spot in global politics due to their continually expanding online presence. The report examines this online presence ‘with robust metrics and an analysis of content shared by adherents’, primarily on Twitter. Key Findings There were four overlapping themes apparent that dominated the alt-right network in this study:
J.M. Berger’s prior publications include, with Jonathon Morgan, The ISIS Twitter Census (2015), with Jessica Stern, ISIS: The State of Terror (2015), and Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam (2011), along with numerous other reports and papers. Previous to joining VOX-Pol, J.M. Berger was a Fellow at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, a Non-resident Fellow with Brookings’ Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World, an Associate Fellow at VOX-Pol partner the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King’s College London (KCL), and an Associate Fellow at the International Centre for Counter-terrorism (ICCT) — The Hague. Berger works as a consultant, researcher and trainer on issues related to extremism and social media for clients that include Western governments and technology and security companies. Accessing VOX-Pol Reports All VOX-Pol reports are open-access. This report is available for download HERE. If you would like to receive a hard copy of the report, please email info@voxpol.eu with your request. Source: https://www.voxpol.eu/new-research-report-the-alt-right-twitter-census-by-j-m-berger/ Buy the new book, Extremism, by J.M. Berger. Previous works include: -- ISIS: The State of Terror by Jessica Stern and J.M. Berger -- Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam For more information, visit www.jmberger.com Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.
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Wednesday, August 8, 2018
OUT NOW: 'EXTREMISM' by J.M. BERGER A rising tide of extremist movements threaten to destabilize civil societies around the globe. It has never been more important to understand extremism, yet scholars and policy makers can't even define who is an extremist and why. In this volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, J. M. Berger offers a nuanced introduction to extremist movements, explaining what extremism is, how extremist ideologies are constructed, and why extremism can escalate into violence. Berger shows that although the ideological content of extremist movements varies widely, there are common structural elements. Using diverse case studies, he describes the evolution of identity movements, individual and group radicalization, and more. If we understand the causes of extremism, and the common elements of extremist movements, Berger says, we will be more effective in countering it.Buy now! 'Extremism,' Kindle edition, by J.M. Berger Buy now! 'Extremism,' Google Books edition, by J.M. Berger Pre-order! 'Extremism,' print edition, by J.M. Berger Buy ISIS: The State of Terror by Jessica Stern and J.M. Berger. Buy J.M. Berger's seminal book on American jihadists, Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.
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Tuesday, August 15, 2017
Calling Them Nazis
There’s an increasingly common argument online against referring
to the alt-right by its chosen name. “Call them Nazis” is the refrain. If you
haven’t said it yourself, you’ve probably seen other people saying it.
While this approach may be understandable and may suit certain rhetorical purposes, it’s
a grave mistake for journalists and experts who substantively study and cover the movement to embrace
this approach.
The alt-right category is extremely important to
understanding what’s happening in this movement. Nazis are only part of this movement, or more correctly neo-Nazis, since most of them aren't German nationalists. If neo-Nazis were America’s only
problem, it would be a much smaller problem.
The alt-right encompasses a variety of right-wing and white
supremacist movements, from conspiracists to the KKK. No single movement under the
alt-right umbrella is especially large or effectively mobilized. No single movement under the alt-right umbrella can turn out the
hundreds of adherents necessary to command headlines with an action short of terrorism.
Rejecting the alt-right label might make you feel better,
but it unproductively obscures the primary element that makes it work as a movement—its
ability to unite disparate radical groups with differing beliefs and tactics into
a single amorphous community that is capable of coordinated action. Understand this: If the alt-right movement consisted only of neo-Nazis, we would not be talking about it.
In the fight against the Islamic State, the semantics of “what
to call them” dominated a lot of policy discussion in stupid ways. The Obama
administration generally argued that using the group’s self-appointed name
somehow legitimized its aspiration. Opponents of the group spent years referring
to it as ISIL or Daesh, with no quantifiable impact on the group’s success or
failure.
You can call the alt-right whatever names you like. Express your disdain, it's fine. But those of us who are doing serious work on this issue need to use a label with more analytical utility. The alt-right is meaningfully different from the right-wing movements that preceded it. To understand its appeal and counter its influence, we need to understand it as a distinct category and acknowledge those differences. Books by J.M. Berger: ISIS: The State of Terror by Jessica Stern and J.M. Berger. Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.
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Friday, April 21, 2017
Extremist Construction of Identity This International Centre for Counter-Terrorism – The Hague, Counter-Terrorism Strategic Communications Project Research Paper examines how the white supremacist movement Christian Identity emerged from a non-extremist forerunner known as British Israelism. By examining ideological shifts over the course of nearly a century, the paper seeks to identify key pivot points in the movement’s shift toward extremism and explain the process through which extremist ideologues construct and define in-group and out-group identities. Based on these findings, the paper proposes a new framework for analyzing and understanding the behavior and emergence of extremist groups. The proposed framework can be leveraged to design strategic counter-terrorism communications programs using a linkage-based approach that deconstructs the process of extremist in-group and out-group definition. Future publications will continue this study, seeking to refine the framework and operationalize messaging recommendations. Read the full research paper Related: The Dangerous New Americanism Buy the new book ISIS: The State of Terror by Jessica Stern and J.M. Berger. Buy J.M. Berger's seminal book on American jihadists, Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.
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Monday, November 28, 2016
INTELWIRE Resources on Right-Wing and Racist Extremism
In the current U.S. and European political climate, there are significant concerns about the resurgence of right-wing extremism. Here's a list of resources on the subject available on this site and derived from my recent (and not so recent) body of work.
ACADEMIC RESEARCH The Turner Legacy: The Storied Origins and Enduring Impact of White Nationalism’s Deadly Bible
The Turner Diaries, the infamous racist dystopian novel by neo-Nazi William Luther Pierce, has inspired more than 200 murders since its publication in 1978. This paper documents the books that directly and indirectly inspired Turner and examines the extensive violence that the novel has inspired.
Nazis vs. ISIS on Twitter White nationalists are thriving on Twitter and outperforming the Islamic State, which has been notorious for its success using social media, in both recruitment and messaging. A comparitive study of metrics and messaging. What Sovereign Citizens Believe
Members of the sovereign citizen movement are increasingly in the news for their violent confrontations with law enforcement, but their confusing ideology can be difficult to understand. This paper explains in simple language what sovereigns believe, and where those beliefs originated.
A 2012 study of white nationalist use of Twitter, and the introduction of new methods for measuing influence and in-groupness.
A look at government infiltration of antigovernment movements during the 1990s, and some of the troubling dimensions of these operations.
ARTICLES
How Donald Trump Won the White Nationalist Vote Donald Trump wasn't an obvious choice to champion white nationalism in national politics. How he convinced skeptical racists that he was their candidate for president. The Turner Diaries and the Alt Right Before there was an alt-right, there was The Turner Diaries. First published nearly 40 years ago, the infamous dystopian novel depicts a fictional white nationalist revolution culminating in global genocide. The book has inspired both violence and ideological change among white supremacists in its decades of history. Blog Posts on Racist Dystopian Fiction:
Previously:
Buy the new book ISIS: The State of Terror by Jessica Stern and J.M. Berger. Buy J.M. Berger's seminal book on American jihadists, Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.
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BOOKS"...smart, granular analysis..."ISIS: The State of Terror 
"Jessica Stern and J.M. Berger's new book, "ISIS," should be required reading for every politician and policymaker... Their smart, granular analysis is a bracing antidote to both facile dismissals and wild exaggerations... a nuanced and readable account of the ideological and organizational origins of the group." -- Washington Post
More on ISIS: The State of Terror "...a timely warning..."  Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam:
"At a time when some politicians and pundits blur the line between Islam and terrorism, Berger, who knows this subject far better than the demagogues, sharply cautions against vilifying Muslim Americans. ... It is a timely warning from an expert who has not lost his perspective." -- New York Times More on Jihad Joe ABOUT
RECENTNewest posts!A Paler Shade of White: In-Group Critique in James... J.M. BERGER DISCUSSES CAPITOL ATTACK ON PBS NEWSHOUR OPTIMAL: J.M. BERGER'S NEW DYSTOPIAN NOVEL J.M. BERGER ON 'FRESH AIR' MAN AND MANIFESTO THE ALT-RIGHT TWITTER CENSUS OUT NOW: 'EXTREMISM' by J.M. BERGER Calling Them Nazis Extremist Construction of Identity INTELWIRE Resources on Right-Wing and Racist Extre... EXCLUSIVESNew York Pipe Bomb Suspect Linked to Revolution Muslim The Utility of Lone Wolves Interview with Online Jihadist Abu Suleiman Al Nasser A Way Forward for CVE: The Five Ds How Terrorists Use The Internet: Just Like You PATCON: The FBI's Secret War on the Militia Movement Interview About Jihad With Controversial Cleric Bilal Philips Forgeries on the Jihadist Forums U.S. Gave Millions To Charity Linked To Al Qaeda, Anwar Awlaki State Department Secretly Met With Followers of Blind Sheikh State Department Put 'Political Pressure' On FBI To Deport Brother-in-Law Of Osama Bin Laden In 1995 FBI Records Reveal Details Of Nixon-Era Racial Profiling Program Targeting Arabs Gaza Flotilla Official Was Foreign Fighter in Bosnia War U.S. Had 'High Confidence' Of UBL Attack In June 2001 Behind the Handshake: The Rumsfeld-Saddam Meeting |
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