Jihad Cool is a term used by American security experts
concerning the re-branding of militant
jihadism
Jihadism is a neologism which is used in reference to "militant Islamic movements that are perceived as existentially threatening to the West" and "rooted in political Islam."Compare: Appearing earlier in the Pakistani and Indian media, Wes ...
into something fashionable, or
"cool", to younger people through
social media
Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...
, magazines, rap videos, clothing, propaganda videos, and other means.
It is a sub-culture mainly applied to individuals in
developed nations
A developed country (or industrialized country, high-income country, more economically developed country (MEDC), advanced country) is a sovereign state that has a high quality of life, developed economy and advanced technological infrastruct ...
who are recruited to travel to conflict zones on Jihad. For example, Jihadi rap videos make participants look "more MTV than Mosque", according to
NPR
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
, which was the first to report on the phenomenon in 2010.
[“Defeat al Qaeda by removing its "cool" image; The way to beat al Qaeda and stop Islamist groups gaining recruits to violent causes is to remove their "cool" image and make fun of terrorists instead, according to a major international study published on Friday,”]
Michael Holden, April 15, 2010, Reuters.
See also
*Jihadism and hip-hop While many Islamist jihadists view hip-hop negatively due to its Western origins, there have also been examples of hip-hop songs with pro-jihadist lyrics, and of jihadists embracing hip-hop and gangsta culture as a way of attracting Westerner ...
*Jihobbyist
A "jihobbyist" (portmanteau of ''jihad'' and ''hobbyist'') is a term coined by Jarret Brachman that denotes a person who is not an active member of a violent jihadist organization such as Al-Qaeda or the Somali Al-Shabaab yet is receptive to ' ...
*Reappropriation
In linguistics, reappropriation, reclamation, or resignification is the cultural process by which a group reclaims words or artifacts that were previously used in a way disparaging of that group. It is a specific form of a semantic change (i.e. ...
*N-word
In the English language, the word ''nigger'' is an ethnic slur used against black people, especially African Americans. Starting in the late 1990s, references to ''nigger'' have been progressively replaced by the euphemism , notably in cases ...
*Palestinian keffiyeh
The Palestinian ''keffiyeh'' ( ar, كوفية, koofiyyeh) is a chequered black and white scarf that is usually worn around the neck or head. This ''keffiyeh'' has become a symbol of Palestinian nationalism, dating back to the 1936–1939 Arab ...
*Nazi chic
Nazi chic is the use of style, imagery, and paraphernalia in clothing and popular culture related to Nazi-era Germany, especially when used for taboo-breaking or shock value rather than out of genuine sympathies with Nazism or Nazi ideology.
It ...
*Communist chic
Communist chic are elements of popular culture such as fashion and commodities based on communist symbols and other things associated with Communism. Typical examples are T-shirts and other memorabilia with Alberto Korda's iconic photo of Che Gu ...
**Che Guevara in fashion
The Che Guevara trend, or "Che chic", is a fashion trend featuring the Argentinian-born revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara. The phenomenon has attracted attention from the media, political commentators, songwriters, and Cuban American activists ...
*Aestheticization of politics The aestheticization of politics was an idea first coined by Walter Benjamin as being a key ingredient to fascist regimes. Benjamin said that fascism tends towards an aestheticization of politics, in the sense of a spectacle in which it allows the ...
References
Jihadism
Cultural appropriation
Popular culture
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