KMT 2019 nr 4 Download PDF

Can jihad be cool? New media in the service of armed jihad

Cite: , Czy dżihad może być cool? Nowe media w służbie zbrojnego dżihadu, "Kultura - Media - Teologia", 2019( 39) nr 4, s. 32-49.

DOI: 10.21697/kmt.39.2

The aim of the article is to present the phenomenon of cool / pop / street jihad as the effect of the new media. In the conducted analysis, the author shows the relationship between the growing popularity of social media and the possibility of the radicalization of young Muslims around the world. Describing the reasons for the development of e-jihad, at the same time refers them to the features of the millennial generation, pointing to the reasons for the attractiveness and effectiveness of portraying jihad as a fashionable lifestyle or subculture. Based on the conducted research, the author systematizes the described phenomena by differentiating them according to the objectives and characteristics of the auditorium to which they are addressed. The author shows the mechanism transforming the banal (according to them) young people’s life into a celebrity adventure, which they can present to a wide audience using social media. According to the author, this mechanism is the greatest force and at the same time the most dangerous element of the described phenomena, which leads to the radicalization the part of the young Muslims around the world.

About authors

Zofia Sawicka

ORCID: 0000-0001-7679-5303