The Language of Terrorists: Distinguishing Trolls from Violent Extremists by Julia Ebner
Many thanks to Columbia University Press and NetGalley for
allowing me to preview Julia Ebner’s important and insightful new book The Language of Terrorists: Distinguishing Trolls from Violent Extremists. As someone
who is interested in linguistics and the psychology of extremists and cults,
this book appealed to several of my interests. Furthermore, as online discourse
becomes increasingly muddied while social media and online engagement continues
to rise, Ebner’s book offered some practical and relevant issues of focus.
While the book is an academic text that employs a theoretical analysis of several
online corpuses from forums, I found Ebner’s writing, explanation and analysis
to be clear and relevant. While I don’t teach these topics, I think that some
of the chapters and examples she uses from the language of extremists could
help students not only recognize some of the signs of extremism and might help
them better understand memes and language that they encounter online.
Ebner’s book is organized into 4 parts, and she presents her
argument for the need for a new frame of analysis for the language of
terrorists and extremists to not only improve detection, but to also better
understand motivations and what drives people towards extremism and violence.
She presents examples of different kinds of discourse and discord online to
allow readers to differentiate between online trolls and those who truly intend
to use violence to provoke change. However, it’s also helpful when she applies her
framework to the examples to better see how language markers, word choice, and
even punctuation and style can reflect elements of extremism and violence in
these manifestos and discussion forums. The first section, Trends and
Challenges, examines the difficulty in assessing instances of terrorism and
trolling, noting how trolling has been a part of human psychology that spans across
history and cultures. However, this also makes the detection of extremist
violence even more difficult and challenging since our access to language,
especially printed, published, or produced language has increased significantly
over the past 100 years. Although Ebner doesn’t include Ted Kaczynski, the
Unabomber, in her analysis, he didn’t publish his manifesto until more than 10
years after his first attack, and it came after deliberating about whether to
take his threats seriously or not. Furthermore, he relied on traditional print
publications, like the New York Times to reach a wider audience. As Ebner
notes throughout her analysis, the internet, social media, and other platforms
like Youtube allow individuals and organizations to reach out to other
like-minded individuals for potential recruitment and oftentimes inspiration
for committing more violence. Even as social media and platforms develop norms
and rules to police language, individuals find ways to work around the language,
adopting what author Adam Aleksic calls “algospeak”, language, words, and phrases
that evolve to either trend with or avoid algorithms and detection. Furthermore,
Ebner explores some of the alternate and darker sites that provide a haven for
trolls and terrorists to share their hatred and loathing for society. Sites
like 4 and 8chan are frequently mentioned, where anonymous posters not only
sharing their misanthropy and misogyny but also continually engage in violent
imagery and discussions. While it is fascinating to gain insight into these
groups and individuals, it’s also not always easy to read since their hate
speech is used for analysis throughout the book.
Part II, “Drivers and Detection”, explores some of the
theories of radicalization over time, and how our understanding of terrorism has
evolved with technology and study. Furthermore, Ebner notes that many
terrorists or terrorist groups often published manifestos explaining or attempting
to provide reasons for their actions and their stated goals. It’s through these
manifestos that those who study extremism have identified some key markers and shared
experiences. It’s fascinating to learn how these theories of extremism and
radicalization have evolved, but it’s also rather scary to see how technology
and social media platforms can easily aid in the radicalization process,
especially for individuals who may have had negative social experiences or have
some kind of grievance that they’ve continued to carry around. Online platforms,
social media and chatrooms provide a kind of community that seems to be missing
in many of their real life/in person worlds. Furthermore, we see how many
perpetrators drew inspiration and ideas from prior attacks, as their own
manifestos either mentioned or plagiarized large sections of the manifestos of
other extremists and terrorists. I was actually surprised to see this, and it
made me wonder whether that is some kind of psychological factor as well—that rather
than experiencing a sense of sympathy for the victims or repulsion by the
attacks, those who drew inspiration from other attackers seem to be more fascinated
and almost worshipful of the attacks. I was also disappointed and disgusted to
learn that members of a chat room discussed one attack in terms of video games,
awarding points for victims. It’s troubling enough to read about the beliefs
and ideas of these extremists, but learning more about their reactions to this
violence was also horrible. And this is not to take away from Ebner’s excellent
scholarship and analysis, but I write this more as a warning that parts of this
book can be upsetting to read at times, and it made me question online
interactions. If anything, it also made me realize how important it is to treat
everyone with kindness and respect.
Part III, Patterns and Prediction, delves into the language
of manifestos and examines different groups chat rooms. Ebner uses several
different groups as comparison to the extremist groups, which included a
far-right group and a QAnon group. The comparison groups included a Mormon chat
group and a Soccer fan chat group. While both the Mormon and Soccer groups
included some language of a kind of identity fusion that the extremist groups
featured, these groups often exhibited a collective sense when referring to out
groups. The QAnon and far-right groups often referred to violence and
dehumanization when referring to others. In addition, these extremist groups
often discussed a sense of persecution or fear that is often seen with the great
replacement theory, where resources, rights, and access are often viewed as a zero-sum
game. Both groups often discussed a sense of grievance or negative experiences,
and these are often attributed to the other groups, whether they are
immigrants, minorities, or according to QAnon a satanist cabal that they claim
are lizard people. It was truly strange to delve into the ideas and mindset of
QAnon’s bizarre and scattered thinking, but Ebner’s analysis helps to show how
easily grifters and influencers can use the language of grievance and gamification
to ensnare the lonely and losers into perpetuating violence and chaos.
The last section explores some potential solutions that seek
to balance our right to free speech and expression, while also acknowledging some
of the markers of extremism and the threats of violence that persist in some of
the hidden corners of cyberspace. She provides some practical ideas for attempting
to intervene and reduce opportunities for extremism while seeking to improve
threat assessment. I was very impressed by her recommendations about
deprogramming extremists over time, as she takes a humanist approach and
recognizes that punishment is not effective and is often too late. Rather, she recommends
a kind of re-education paired with interventions to help reverse the biases
that extremist content have built. In addition, Ebner calls for the importance
of digital citizenry online for young people. I appreciated her call for
teaching younger students to engage in more positive and productive online
communities, and how schools and other organizations can promote more of this
approach to online engagement. It was also interesting to read about how
anti-terrorism laws and surveillance can often be exploited by populist and
autocratic leaders, which felt particularly relevant in today’s climate. Ebner
notes that there has been a decline in democracy in some countries, which autocrats
often use as a pretext for curtailing the rights of those who oppose them,
often labeling them as terrorists and using anti-terror laws to unjustly persecute
these groups. Thus, she urges caution in adopting any kind of methods to
examine the language of extremists and terrorists, especially since it can not
only represent a curtailment of freedom of speech, but it may also be used
against those who are clearly exercising the freedom to protest or disagree
with the government. As a result, Ebner advocates for a collaborative approach
that involves education, adoption and regulation by technology platforms and
social media, and government. She also presents some of the issues of AI and
how it may be exploited by extremists, yet how it might also be used (and also
exploited) for surveillance by governments. Ebner raises important considerations
and questions regarding this issue, but she also presents some new and innovative
ways of thinking about language and its markers of extremism. This was a
fascinating book that presents the arguments and ideas about examining language
as a marker of terrorism and extremism, but also cautions policymakers in only
examining language. Ebner lucidly presents her theories, evidence, analysis,
and recommendations so that those beyond academia can learn and consider new
ways in thinking about the language of terrorists. The Language of
Terrorists is a relevant and urgent book written in a clear and engaging
style. Highly recommended!
