Schott’s Vocab in today’s New York Times online profiled my concept of “Jihobbyism.” Money quote:
Jihad hobbyists – those who seek out “jihadi” content online, becoming more radical as they do so. Exploring “young, online obsessives who radicalize themselves by ingesting hardcore jihadist Web content, from YouTube videos to discussion forums,” ABC News interviewed terrorism expert Jarret Brachman:
“They make hating America, hating the West, their hobby,” said Brachman, author of “Global Jihadism” and former research director of the West Point-based Combating Terrorism Center. Brachman said these “Ji-hobbyists,” as he dubbed them, nearly always confine their jihadism to the Web and that a “Ji-hobbyist” who becomes operational – who commits a violent act – is an anomaly.
I also push the “jihobbyism” concept in the Dallas Morning Star’s Q&A. Money Q&A:
You’ve coined the term “jihobbyist” to describe the people following this Internet advocacy trend. Who are these guys?
These are fans in the same way other people might follow football teams. But their sport is al-Qaeda. They know the stats of their favorite players and know their backgrounds. They know the teams, and they cheerlead. These guys most often will never do anything and tend to fall out of this when they actually get real responsibilities, real lives. … For the jihobbyists, [Maj. Nidal] Hasan was an overnight hero. You should have seen how the blogs went wild after the Fort Hood shootings.
