Laughing at the Terrorists

The Outlook section of yesterday's Washington Post had a very interesting article in its recurring section titled "What's the Big Idea?" In yesterday's article, the big idea was a unique antiterrorism tactic: Want to Fight Terrorists? Try Mocking Them.

The article was based on a longer essay from the April issue of the magazine Prospect titled License to Kill. In this essay, the authors hypothesized that violent extremism often appeals to young Muslims because it appears to offer "adventure, excitement, and notoriety," in contrast to their lives which are frequently ones of poverty, oppression, and sexual repression (the 72 virgins waiting to service them in paradise if they're killed in their adventure are just icing on the cake). The authors cite research which shows that most members of Islamic terrorist cells "...tend to be young men with little religious training beyond 'a few cut-and-paste lines' of jihadi literature."

The suggestion? Attack the mystique of glorious jihad, and show that the life of the Islamic extremist is more like that of the petty thug than the heroic secret agent. The authors contend that if the extremists are mocked and belittled, their appeal will diminish.

This may not be as silly as it may sound.

In a 2006 article titled Ridicule as a Weapon, Professor J. Michael Waller of the Institute of World Politics suggested that "...we inadvertently aid our enemies and potential enemies by taking them too seriously," and wondered whether "...our relentless portrayal of individuals, ideologies, movements and philosophies as mortal dangers to America enhance the enemies’ status and prestige." His suggestion: use ridicule as a weapon. He contends that ridicule

- raises morale at home;
- strips the enemy/adversary of his mystique and prestige;
- erodes the enemy’s claim to justice;
- eliminates the enemy’s image of invincibility; and,
- literally, can be a fate worse than death.

We always tend to demonize our enemies, but this runs the risk of making them seem larger and more fearsome than they are. During World War II, Nazi Germany was a truly existential threat to the nations of Europe and to the United States, and the German army seemed utterly invincible for the first few years of the war. But one strategy used against the Nazis was ridicule directed against Adolf Hitler. Hitler was mocked in cartoons that exaggerated his toothbrush mustache and bombastic rhetoric. Comic entertainer Spike Jones lustily sang his hit song "Der Fuehrer's Face," in which the Nazis' "heil!" salute was punctuated with loud raspberries, and Nazi racial and political theories were lampooned. The result was a boost in allied morale at a time when it was sorely needed.

Would ridiculing Islamic terrorists actually work? It might, but it would have to be carefully planned and executed. Care would have to be taken not to mock essential Islamic religious beliefs, but those which are twisted and exaggerated to offer a religious justification of murder. Good targets might be the theological two-step that attempts to show that suicide bombers are not really committing suicide, but carrying out "martyrdom operations," or the promise that those killed in violent jihad will be served in paradise by dark-eyed virgins (what's offered to the women who are conned into being suicide bombers, after all?).

Terrorism justified by religious beliefs is despicable, and the alleged "holy men" who encourage it surely have a special place awaiting them in hell. But if we can use weapons other than guns and missiles against them...if we can make the impressionable young men and women who are swept up in the mystique of violent jihad question their motivation...perhaps we can slowly strip away the appeal of violence.

It's worth a try.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo