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(Hard)Wired for Terror: Unraveling the Mediatized Roots and Routes of Radicalization

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(Hard)Wired for Terror: Unraveling the Mediatized Roots and Routes of Radicalization FACULTEIT SOCIALE WETENSCHAPPEN (HARD)WIRED FOR TERROR: NRAVELING THE EDIATIZED OOTS AND OUTES OF ADICALIZATION U M R R R Thomas FRISSEN Proefschrift aangeboden tot het verkrijgen van de graad van Doctor in de Sociale Wetenschappen Promotor: Prof. Dr. Leen d’Haenens Onderzoekseenheid: Instituut voor Mediastudies [IMS] 2019 FACULTEIT SOCIALE WETENSCHAPPEN (HARD)WIRED FOR TERROR: NRAVELING THE EDIATIZED OOTS AND OUTES OF ADICALIZATION U M R R R Thomas FRISSEN Proefschrift aangeboden tot het verkrijgen van de graad van Doctor in de Sociale Wetenschappen Promotor: Prof. Dr. Leen d’Haenens Onderzoekseenheid: Instituut voor Mediastudies [IMS] Nr. 380 2019 Samenstelling van de examencommissie: Prof. Dr. Trui Steen (voorzitter) Prof. Dr. Leen d’Haenens (promotor) Prof. Dr. Cédric Courtois [KU Leuven] Prof. Dr. Rozane De Cock [KU Leuven] Prof. Dr. Cécile Rousseau [McGill University, CA] Prof. Dr. Erkan Toguslu [KU Leuven] Prof. Dr. Jan Van den Bulck [University of Michigan, USA] De verantwoordelijkheid voor de ingenomen standpunten berust alleen bij de auteur. Gepubliceerd door: Faculteit Sociale Wetenschappen - Onderzoekseenheid: Instituut voor Mediastudies [IMS], KU Leuven, Parkstraat 45 bus 3603- 3000 Leuven, België. Ó 2019 by the author. Niets uit deze uitgave mag worden verveelvoudigd zonder voorafgaande schriftelijke toestemming van de auteur / No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the author. D/2019/8978/8 (Hard)Wired For Terror Unraveling the Mediatized Roots and Routes of Radicalization Thomas Frissen Voor mama. I love you, papa en broerie Lola, je t’aime Abstract Terrorism is communication. It consists of a carefully orchestrated message that has to be conveyed to an audience that goes far beyond those directly involved in the violence of the incident. To ensure an effective communication, terrorists have to make tactical use of the mass media. As such, terrorism has to be composed in function of the logic of the media ecosystem. Concretely, terrorism is subject to ‘the molding forces of the media’; terrorism is mediatized. If we wish to truly understand—and perhaps prevent—terrorism, we first need to unravel and grasp the mediated communicative architecture that underpins it. This dissertation set out with the ambition to do so. (Hard)Wired for Terror is divided into two parts. In the first part, (the ‘Roots’) we provide a historical, semantic analysis of the concepts of radicalism, extremism and terrorism, and how they are interconnected. Furthermore, a comprehensive overview is presented of the state of the art in which the current radicalization and terrorism research is rooted. We challenge insights from individual-psychological and collective-sociological research and bind them together on a social-communicative dimension. By means of a theoretical blend of Social Movement Theory, Mediatization, and Socio-Epidemiology, we propose a new cyclic model of mediatized terrorism and radicalization. In the second part (the ‘Routes’), we present the results of five original empirical studies. Both message-centered and audience-centered analyses were conducted. On the basis of a detailed content analysis, we uncover the moral psychological and theological underpinnings of the ISIS’s worldview. Additionally, survey data of Belgian young adults reveal the ‘effects’ of different forms of Salafi-Jihadist communication artefacts (from beheading videos to terrorist attacks). Ultimately, the dissertation suggests a few policy recommendations with the aim to prevent radicalization and terrorism. Preface and Acknowledgements It was a slow day And the sun was beating On the soldiers by the side of the road There was a bright light A shattering of shop windows The bomb in the baby carriage was wired to the radio ... And I believe These are the days of lasers in the jungle Lasers in the jungle somewhere Staccato signals of constant information A loose affiliation of millionaires And billionaires and baby These are the days of miracle and wonder This is the long distance call The way the camera follows us in slo-mo The way we look to us all, oh yeah" Zo begon het allemaal voor me; mijn academische ontdekkingstocht. Met deze woorden. Het was 18 juli 2012 en samen met mijn moeder zat ik in een volle Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam. Stiekem–voor haar 52e verjaardag–had ik twee tickets besteld voor een concert van Paul Simon en de 25th Anniversary Tour van het Graceland album. Dit steengoede album (1986) werd geproduceerd in Zuid-Afrika. Het was een samenwerking met verschillende Zuid-Afrikaanse (Zoeloe) artiesten, waaronder Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Alleen al het idee was revolutionair—een samenwerking met zwarte, Zoeloe-muzikanten—en dat in de hoogtij dagen van ‘apartheid’. Laat staan de muziek die ze maakten: revolutionair. Toen Ladysmith Black Mambazo “Diamonds on the Soles of her shoes” opende, sprong mijn ma op uit haar stoel en zong mee; ze danste mee. We genoten. Ik weet nog toen ze "The Boy in the Bubble" begonnen te spelen. Ik had de plaat tot in den treure gehoord als kind, maar dit was misschien wel de eerste keer dat ik écht naar de tekst luisterde. "Staccato signals of constant information", "This is the long distance call", "The way the camera follows us in slo-mo". Ik realiseerde me toen pas waar deze plaat eigenlijk over ging. Behalve over apartheid, segregatie, polarisering, geweld, terrorisme, zong Simon eigenlijk over nieuwe media- en communicatietechnologieën. Over een fantastische technologische ontwikkeling op het gebied van media en communicatie, die de mens plots kon voorzien van ‘constant information’. Over camera’s die overal en alles vast konden leggen en uitzenden. Wauw, fantastisch,"days of miracle and wonder". Maar ook over een griezelige, onvermijdelijke keerzijde van diezelfde nieuwe media- en communicatietechnologieën, zeker ten tijde van segregatie, polarisering, terrorisme —"The bomb in the baby carriage was wired to the radio". Zijn observaties fascineerden me. In die tijd, ‘studeerde’ ik Media en Entertainment Management aan de hogeschool InHolland in Rotterdam. Vlak voor het concert had ik mijn ‘scriptie’ afgerond. Met het einde van die studie in zicht, worstelde ik met de vraag ‘wat nu?’. Verder studeren? Of werken? Dankzij Paul Simon’s woorden wist ik het al vrij snel. Ik wilde eigenlijk wel meer weten over die staccato signals of constant information. ‘Wat doet dat nou eigenlijk met ons?’, vroeg ik me af. Die eindeloze camerageilheid, selfies, avocado’s en bikini’s op Instagram, ’t hele hebben en houden op Facebook... "the camera follows us in slo-mo", dacht ik. Maar, wat zijn daar nu de consequenties van? Dat wilde ik gewoon weten. Het werd dus verder studeren. Dat het communicatiewetenschappen zou worden werd me ook al gauw duidelijk. Maar, waar? Nieuw dilemma. Een premaster- en masterjaar in Nederland waren duur—zeker als je al een diploma op zak had. Tijdens een lunch met mijn vader vertelde ik hem dat Amsterdam een mooi programma bood, maar dat de kosten al gauw richting zes à zevenduizend euro zouden kunnen oplopen. Hij keek op, nam een hap van zijn boterham, en zei: “Ennuh. in België? In Leuven, of zo? Is daar niet ook een universiteit?”. Ik keek, ik zag (inschrijvingsgeld 650 euro), en ik schreef me in. Zo simpel als pap eten. En zo zat ik—exact twee maanden na Paul Simon’s concert; op maandag 17 september 2012—in mijn eigen studiootje in Leuven. Achter me liet ik Rotterdam ‘de allermooiste rotstad die er is’, en een groep van buitengewoon dierbare vrienden, die me altijd gesteund hebben in alles: Menno, Dorinth, Michiel (die altijd in Brussel voor me klaar stond), Jan, Gijs, Oscar, Eduard, Robbert, Rob, Iris, Laura, de Mari(lene), Tim. Dank jullie wel voor jullie onvoorwaardelijke vriendschap. Dank jullie wel om toch een klein beetje te geloven in die sukkelaar van InHolland. In Leuven had ik het ook niet slecht, hoor. De opleiding, de Belgische ‘pinkes’, en de stad bevielen me eigenlijk wel goed. Het werd een mooie periode van mijn leven. Een soort nieuwe start. Ik ontmoette veel nieuwe mensen, kreeg een hele leuke nieuwe vriendengroep—Alexander, Bram, Simon, Jeroen, Goele, Eva—en leerde steeds meer nieuwe dingen en theorieën over media en communicatie. Ik begreep al een beetje meer over de effecten van “the camera follows in slo-mo”, maar nog lang niet alles. Het was daarom fantastisch dat ik tijdens het masterjaar mijn thesis kon schrijven over fantoomvibraties. Weer een stapje dichter bij het antwoord op de vragen die Paul Simon bij me gezaaid had. die staccato signals of constant information, ‘Wat doet dat nou eigenlijk met ons?’. Tegelijkertijd werd het een ellendige, kuttijd. Op 3 juli 2013 tussen het schakel- en masterjaar werd mijn moeder—met wie ik precies een jaar eerder nog in Amsterdam zonder enig vermoeden stond te zingen in de Ziggo Dome—gediagnosticeerd met een agressieve, onbehandelbare vorm van kanker: peritoneaal mesothelioom; buikvlieskanker. Geen hond die het weet waar ze dat vandaan had, maar dat leek ook verder niemand te interesseren, want volgens de oncoloog betekende dit nieuws: “geen jaar meer”. Boem. Dat was een harde dreun. Dat kwam wel eventjes binnen. Hij had wel gelijk. Tien maanden later, op woensdag 14 mei 2014, hebben wij mama Susan, op 53 jarige leeftijd, voorgoed los moeten laten. Ook die timing was mooi kut gekozen, want precies drie weken later, op woensdag 4 juni moest ik mijn master thesis verdedigen. Maar dat ging gelukkig niet onaardig. Dankjewel, Prof. Bieke Zaman, voor je gulle beoordeling. Nu lag me dus eigenlijk niks meer in de weg om af te studeren. Ze had het zo graag gewild—en ze heeft er nog zo hard voor gevochten—maar ze heeft mijn afstuderen nét niet meer mee mogen maken. Na mijn master had ik toch nog niet het gevoel helemaal uitgestudeerd te zijn. Die staccato signals of constant information. .’Wat doet dat nou eigenlijk met ons?’.
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