NY police commissioner: 'Internet is the new Afghanistan'

NYPD report, "Radicalization in the West: The Homegrown Threat," says Net helps drive and enable Islamist extremism.

The story "NY police commissioner: 'Internet is the new Afghanistan'" published August 15, 2007 at 12:47 PM is no longer available on CNET News.

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[robert1275]

That is not the major cause

The major cause of Islamic extremist movements is not the internet. It is mainly caused by television, written medium such as newspapers, radio, and magazines. What do we see every single day on TV? We see Islamtic suicide bombers killing westerners, or hijackings, killings, and roadside bombs. Young Islamists see and/or hear these media. They are easily swayed by what they see.

[Walt Connery]

Well said...

I agree the traditional news media is responsible for most of it. Suicide bombers ought to be beneath contempt but the traditional media glorifies and publicizes them every time one of them murders himself and others. The traditional media has done such an incredibly poor job actually covering internal events in Iraq that the only thing people in the US hear about is roadside bombings--the positive things happening in the 99% of Iraq that isn't subject to daily murder and mayhem is *never* reported on by the media. Accordingly, the picture painted by the traditional media is so skewed and incorrect it very nearly is a form of brainwashing itself.

The sad, radical truth is that in the US the traditional media is concerned primarily with sensationalism, exaggeration, and political manipulation as opposed to reporting objective fact. To say that the only thing worth reporting on consistently in Iraq is the body count of the war is the same as to say that the only news worthy of publication inside the US is the daily body count racked up on the nation's highways.

Remember how the traditional media coddled Hussein simply to get office space in Hussein's Iraq? It deliberately soft-pedaled the man and ignored his true atrocious behavior all for the sake of maintaining its presence inside the country. Basically, in order to stay in Iraq the traditional media was willing to give Hussein a pass on his butchery. To me, *that* is also beneath contempt.

Like so many others, the police chief doesn't himself understand the extent to which his own perceptions are manipulated by the traditional news media. The fact is that often the only place people can discover the information the news media simply doesn't want to report on is the Internet. Unlike the traditional media outlets, I'd say that better than 99% of the Internet is devoted to topics other than Islamic terrorism, and probably 99% of the other-than-body-count news coming out of Iraq appears on the Internet instead of being reported on by traditional news media, which is far more concerned with suppressing the news out of Iraq it does not want people in the US to know about.

Really, when you get right down to it, this story highlights the real reason that traditional media hates the Internet--traditional media realizes that the Internet greatly dilutes its power to confuse and misinform the American public. They hate it just like they hate talk radio--they hate it because they are nearly completely intolerant of opinions, viewpoints and perceptions which they cannot directly control.

[umbrae]

Bull...

The cause of radical Westerners is George Bush.

[KTLA_knew]

He's right!

There were no "radical Westerners[sic]" before George Bush.

The very first radical the world encountered was at least THREE MONTHS AFTER George Bush was elected.

Until then, we were all enjoying lollipops.

If it hadn't been for George Bush, the world would never have known terrorism, sadly.

[inachu]

I'll deny any assimilation when....

I'll deny any assimilation when it comes to Americans fighting for AIPAC and OIL.

[ralahinn1]

The"weak" minded are always called into service

Those who are "followers" are always fooled into doing things by the "charismatic"(either an individual or a cause). At heart, people always feel they want to"belong" and if an"evil" person or group can trick a person who is weak minded, or has low self esteem on his own to do something...usually by giving them false "power" of some kind...they will do it.
It's not just the internet that lays the ground work for it(it does make it easier) other, more traditional ways serve too(lies, promises, torture,etc). The people that spark these events will use any means available to them because either they believe it's "justifiable" by Allah, or they are the ones truely behind this...the ones who want to rule what ever is left when this is all over.

[frell2003]

Just like the Christian Taliban in this country

So much of the violence worldwide is produced by the greedy suckering soldiers to their cause on the basis of "Our God can beat up their god". It is how Bush justifies Iraq and the catch-all "War on Terror" while being the best recruiting agent bin Laden ever had.