Sunday, January 18, 2015

Anti-Terrorism Messages Lack Substance


This morning, I heard a segment on USA National Public Radio entitled Building Ties to Counter Religious Extremism in LA. The segment features two law enforcement types extensively, and two Muslims, Amina Mirza Qazi and Salam al-Maryati, who present different points of view. I've written on this blog extensively on the Global War on Terror, so I'd encourage you to review those posts.


The 2nd law enforcement person criticized government "anti-extremist" messaging such as the United States Department of State Twitter account @ThinkAgain_DOS.


There's also the effort of AverageMohamed.com. While I have no doubt that the intention is good, I found the videos unpersuasive and amatuerish. Maybe that is the level needed for those who might be influenced by what must be the equally (to me) unpersuasive and amatuerish videos produced by hirabi militants.
 


Beyond actually learning some basics about Islam, would anybody direct me to effective "anti-terrorism" messaging?

Patrick Skinner of The Soufan Group recommended providing activities to Muslim youth to get them away from the Internet. That struck me as sound, and not just for Muslim youth. But I don't know of any state or federal funding for that purpose.