Why would balaclava-wearing German extremists use a YouTube cooking show to deliver far-right anti-immigrant content, antisemitism, and other conspiracy theories? “Food,” it turns out, “is a particularly rich domain to embed messages about identity, tradition, culture, and obligations to f amilies, households, and the homeland.” So writes Prof. Cynthia Miller-Idriss in her book Hate In The Homeland: The New Global Far Right, a tour of the online and off locations where a new and younger generation of far-right extremists are cleverly recruiting — among viewers of cooking shows, at martial arts gyms, and within the rapidly expanding gaming and betting culture, among many other trending venues. In a program on Thursday afternoon sponsored by the Yale Program for the Study of Antisemitism (YPSA), Miller-Idriss brought an intimate view not only of the new landscape of far-right recruitment and radicalization but also what can be done to address the problem. Because so much of this is happening online in the world of short-form videos, cartoons, and memes, the recommended defense, according to Miller-Idriss, is an offense that takes the form of inoculating, or what she terms “pre-bunking.” That is done by creating carefully researched and focus-group-tested (she is by training a sociologist) short videos that fight the weaponization of youth culture through humor and wit, fashion and coolness and cleverness. If it can be done with speed (the landscape changes rapidly and there’s always a conspiracy theory du jour) and with the production and presentation values of, say, TikTok and similar platforms, then that maximizes effectiveness. Having researched much of this and based it on her own work in Germany, where for more than a decade Miller-Idriss was embedded with civics teachers and others combatting extremism, she saw first hand the contours of the new far-right marketers. For example, Nazi signs and symbols, which are forbidden in Germany, reappear in a manner that beats the law and appeals to kids, who always, during impressionable years, enjoy outsmarting others. For example, cool hockey-style shirts and other popular fashions with the letters H T L R are marketed, along with items with swastika-esque and other runic calligraphy, and in a manner that is obviously aiming to circumvent the ban because a word without vowels, Miller-Idriss reported, is technically not a word, ruled German judges, and thus not an offense. This is often done with satire and irony that appeals to young people. In short, a kind of hide-and-seek game with authority figures. “The game-playing nature of it positions them as a cooler subculture than the left, or parents, and it has worked drawing in a lot of young people,” she said. There are also hobbies and pleasurable activities, sports and hiking, and through the do-it-yourself culture. In addition to the neo-Nazi chefs on Balaclava Kitchen, Miller-Idress studied, for example, a video series “on installing dry wall that ended up to be full of Nazi content.” Her tracking led her to the fastest-growing sport in the world, mixed martial arts, online as well as in gyms and clubs that are operated by neo-Nazi groups. As with other activities, “these are hubs of recruitment,” she said, “and there are competitions and live-stream tournaments.” Some of these, she added, are already operating in the United States. So what is to be done? In short, she said, as the landscape has changed, so must the approach. De-programming people who have already been drawn into the maw is arduous and basically ineffective, akin to treating lung cancer after 20 years of cigarettes. “We should invest in the public health course,” she said. “Not just in curing the disease but investing in healthy habits. It’s early education, holistic community involvement, taking a public health approach.” Another way to put it: prevention through what she terms “pre-bunking.” To that end she assembled colleagues, video production studios, public opinion testing firms, and considerable funding, and they have created the Polarization Extremism Research Innovation Lab (PERIL) at American University in Washington, D.C., where Miller-Idriss is the resident extremism scholar and one of the founders. In addition to the creation of traditional materials for the whole range of people dealing with the young, from parents and caregivers to teachers and clergy, the lab distinguishes itself in the creation of carefully researched and tested short-form videos that can be deployed to address not only the chronic biases (e.g. Jews rule the world) or deeply rooted prejudices like misogyny, but especially the crazy theory du jour. (Have you heard that all birds are really drones?) Click here for Miller-Idriss’s recent appearance on PBS in connection with her newest book Man Up: The New Misogyny and the Rise of Violent Extremism Click here for PERIL’s site, to review sample materials, and their approach in creating what she and her collaborators call a code book, to create a short video, which is tested, usually with college-age students. The test looks to see that the inoculation, that is, the video, which usually contains a touch of the actual germy material, does not backfire, that is, produce interest as opposed to the intended skepticism or disgust, and make the conspiracy seem attractive. Then when tested, the video is distributed far and wide and evidence collected on effectiveness. Her conclusion is that traditional old-school methods of de-programming and counter-arguing, for example, to say to someone, “Yes, but that is not the true Islam,” just doesn’t work, and that approach should be shelved. But the public health early-intervention model is effective, and there’s scientific evidence to make the case, Miller-Idriss asserts: “Psychological inoculation works. It’s more effective than to counter an argument with facts.” She also cautions that the short-form video to alert young people to false ideas or ideology is only one arrow in the prevention quiver. “It must be part of a larger ecosystem,” she said, which includes collaborating with groups of all kinds — like working with a school in how to respond when there’s a report of a swastika, for example, on a dorm wall or in a public space. Without identifying the actors, Miller-Idriss reported that in one instance a university, for example, responded to a dissemination of antisemitic flyers by saying they were removed because they violated school policy on the use of adhesives. “Well, that angered parents and donors,” she reported, and then the school had to issue another statement that said, in effect, they were removed because of hate. “There are ways to do this to make people feel seen and heard and other ways to make people feel that they are simply toeing the line.” During the Q A that concluded Thursday’s session, one audience member referenced a video Miller-Idriss reported on that, by the evidence gathered, simply didn’t work countering an instance of antisemitism, and the questioner asked why. “Because conspiracy theories are so very hard to counter when all intervention is seen as part of the conspiracy,” she replied. “If you get to people too late, the vaccine will not work; then you can’t ‘pre-bunk.’” Because researchers like Miller-Idriss have to watch a lot of nasty stuff online, she told me once she shared the need for a touch of relief with a friend, who sent her a poem specifically for people, like her, who deal with terrorism and other horrors, a device to clear the mind. It turns out that led her to a group of people in the field who share with each other a poem a day, a kind of literary inoculation. When she receives hers in the email, Miller-Idriss said, “It’s like the equivalent of walking in the woods!” The author with Linda Maizels, Managing Director of the Yale Program for the Study of Antisemitism Some examples of extremist ideas embedded in online clothing shops, as shown in the author’s Thursday presentation. The post Rx For Youth Radicalization: “Pre-Bunking” appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less