ISIS and Digital Media

In the New York Times article “ISIS Displaying a Deft Command of Varied Media” (Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/31/world/middleeast/isis-displaying-a-deft-command-of-varied-media.html?_r=0) we read that:

“ISIS is online jihad 3.0. Dozens of Twitter accounts spread its message, and it has posted some major speeches in seven languages. Its videos borrow from Madison Avenue and Hollywood, from combat video games and cable television dramas, and its sensational dispatches are echoed and amplified on social media. When its accounts are blocked, new ones appear immediately. It also uses services like JustPaste to publish battle summaries, SoundCloud to release audio reports, Instagram to share images and WhatsApp to spread graphics and videos.”

The use of the Internet and digital technologies by ISIS, an extremist Muslim group, is very surprising considering the West’s understanding of extremist Islam; extremism is often perceived as being rooted in an antiquated view of the world and as being resistant to modernity. Western media often discusses the core values of extremism as being diametrically opposed to the modern West. In fact, ISIS’s use of the digital is even more shocking considering the concern amongst some Islamists “that if digital technologies are Western, then they are likely to be the Trojan horse that brings in unacceptable cultural practices” (Miller and Hoarst, 2012, 19). In light of extremist Islamists’ embrace and mastery of the digital, it becomes important to reconsider the typical Western view of extremists as antiquated and resistant to the modern. ISIS just like many Western governments has turned to digital media in order to to appeal to a younger demographic. However, rather than spreading traditional Western values ISIS is using digital media to further their goals and spread their own extremist Islamic values. ISIS does not view digital media as oppositional to their core values, but rather a tool to help them spread their message and to accomplish their goal of an Islamic state. ISIS’s use of digital technologies has for them transformed digital media into from a tool seen as promotes Western values into one promoting Islamic values.  

By Zachary Hecht

Works Cited

Horst, H., & Miller, D. 2012. The Digital and the Human: A Prospectus for Digital Anthropology. In: Digital Anthropology London: Berg, pp. 3-35.

Shane, S., & Hubbard, B. (2014, August 31). ISIS Displaying a Deft Command of Varied Media. New York Times, p. A1.