In discussion with about the Highland park shooting, we (analyst/ research/ journalistic community) need to take stock of our our own biases and buy we have when analyzing this incident as this individuals does not have a straight forward ideological motivation.
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though we can highlight specific extremists patterns and aesthetics, I think it's important to point out that we should not hold up one part, above another, of this attacker's complex web of motivations as the single motivating factor for this attack.
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those who are not experts in the field, might not be aware of the biases of specific researchers and analysts, as a reason for latching on to one segment of the shooters digital footprint because a section of that confirms our own ideological or activist position
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As stated in focusing on a single pattern of an attackers complex motivational tapestry is not the best way to deal with complex violent phenomena. We owe it to those who turn to experts to make that distinction for them and that there is no clear cut explanation
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After digging through all of the shooters digital footprint I can find its hard to tell if Crimo's extreme style is actually a form of ideological extremism. And this is where defining what we mean by terrorism is important.
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. defines extremism as: “the belief than an in-group’s success or survival can never be separated from the need for hostile action against an out-group. The hostile action must be part of the in-group’s definition of success."
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He goes on to state that "Hostile acts can range from verbal attacks and diminishment to discriminatory behavior, violence, and even genocide” An important point of the discussion i've had with on the events of July 4 who’s the ingroup and who’s the outgroup?
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We have a responsibility to make a clear line between what we as experts call violent extremism and what we may call extremism. When looking at Highland park, we cannot simply equate an extreme aesthetic through the lens of the ideology which drove him to violence.
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As it stands it is not a given that his extreme aesthetics were the mobilizing factor for his violent actions this still needs to be shown.
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We need to not fall for the hypodermic needle fallacy "concept of conditioning applied to a mass audiences who were seen as passive recipients of wtv message that was injected by the media, and who can be manipulated to react in a predictable, unthinking and conditioned manner."
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This pitfall is known in the field of media studies, simply because a piece of content exists, it does not mean that it will necessarily be consumed and have a behavioral impact on an individual or group. We cannot make that assumption based on the evidence available
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