The Power of ISIS' Message

By Patrick Skinner

Patrick Skinner is the Director of Special Projects for The Soufan Group. He is a former CIA Case Officer, with extensive experience in source handling and source networks, specializing in counter-terrorism issues. In addition to his intelligence experience, he has law enforcement experience with the US Air Marshals and the US Capitol Police, as well as search and rescue experience in the US Coast Guard.

A great deal of attention in the U.S. has understandably been paid to how ISIS promotes its ideology, with a focus on ISIS’ social media prowess and its ability to reach a potentially limitless supply of lone wolf actors. Yet the medium is less important than the message, and specifically, the “stickiness” of the message. The term “stickiness,” as applied to ideas, was popularized by Malcolm Gladwell in The Tipping Point, in which the ideas that “stick” to people are the most successful. ISIS’ message is dangerous because it is extremely sticky, but for a counterintuitive reason. ISIS rejects almost every other group and belief system, but its message does the exact opposite: it offers something for everyone. The universality of the message makes the group extremely dangerous; it is able to draw in people from across the spectrum of geography, education, nationality, and personality.

For many, the exclusivity of any given group is what makes it desirable, the reasoning being that the harder it is to gain entry, the better the group must be. Candidates for acceptance must know the minutiae of the group’s history, philosophy, goals, and—above all—its rules. It also doesn’t hurt to know someone on the inside—this applies to terrorist organizations as well. But exclusivity does not really apply to ISIS when it comes to its ability to inspire domestic terror attacks. Most often, the group does not know the names of the people who aim to kill in its name, nor does it care about the individual motivations of nameless actors; ISIS just wants claim for the action and the regenerative power of publicity.

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