The 'Vice' Exit Interviews

Here at the Center on Terrorism, Extremism and Counterterrorism, we were all pretty distraught when we heard about the demise of Vice-dot-com. As extremism moves more and more to the forefront of American politics, not many journalists get it right, but Vice did, thanks in large part to three outstanding reporters, Mack Lamoureux , Anna Merlan , and Tess Owen .

While we don’t have a magic wand that can bring Vice back, we wanted to do something to highlight the work these three reporters have done. So I am very pleased to announce that CTEC will be hosting an online panel discussion on the journalistic challenges of covering extremism. And boy, there’s a lot to talk about—from ethics, to personal security, to political backlash and beyond. I am really looking forward to the conversation. ?

The panel will take place Wednesday, May 1, 2024, at 7 p.m. Easter, 4 p.m. Pacific, and run for about an hour and a half. You can sign up here . Show your support for these intrepid reporters and maybe a learn a few things too!

But there’s more… As if that wasn’t enough excitement, we’re in the middle of a big run of publications from CTEC, including but not limited to two pieces that dropped this week, another next week, and yet another next month. First off is our 2024 election forecast.

New from CTEC: Terrorism, Extremism, and the 2024 Elections

I feel no hesitation in saying the U.S. election is going to be the most consequential in our lifetime, and it’s also likely to be volatile. My CTEC colleagues and I have published a multipart look at some of the key risks that lie ahead this year, including escalating hate speech, conspiracy theories, rising activity from accelerationists, continued activity from militia and Patriot groups, and expected violence around the Mexican elections in June. With contributions from Katherine Petrich, Amy Cooter, Matt Kriner, Sarah Pollack, Sam Jackson, and myself.

New from CTEC: Two Harms of Hate Speech and the Limits of Counter-Speech

CTEC also published a really interesting piece this week on ways to understand and counter hate speech from my colleague Sam Jackson . Sam takes on one of my absolute least favorite tropes—the “marketplace of ideas”—and goes on to describe two different types of hate speech, expressive and persuasive, each with its own considerations.

Next week from CTEC: John Chrysostom, Architect of Antisemitism

Watch this space for a new occasional paper by myself and CTEC’s Michael Broschowitz on John Chrysostom, the early Christian preacher whose sermons attacking Jews have had a lasting impact on the development of antisemitism for over 1,600 years. Most people seriously engaged with antisemitism have likely heard of Chrysostom, but there’s less scholarship on his impact than you might think. If this whets your appetite, don’t worry, there’s more to come. My dissertation will go even deeper on Chrysostom and early Christian in-group/out-group dynamics. ?

Tell a friend

Your help in spreading the word about any and all of these projects and/or events is very much needed and very much appreciated. I think we’ve been doing some outstanding work at the Center over the past year, and I want to help people to find that work and read it. Both the Center and I have left Twitter over the issues of which you are all well aware, and it’s a lot harder to get the word out than it used to be.

Lest I be accused of playing favorites, I will close out with a couple of interesting studies from elsewhere in the world of extremism scholarship.

The Islamic State’s Amaq goes viral: Premium-enabled terror content on X

Nice work from ISD here on how ISIS is rebounding on X-Twitter since Elon Musk gutted verification and Trust and Safety. My two cents, as someone who tracked the downfall of these networks rather closely: The presence of ISIS on Twitter was a problem that had been meaningfully solved prior to Musk’s takeover. By 2017, pro-ISIS networks had been brutally reduced to tiny, short-lived clusters whose content was barely viewed. That these networks can mount any kind of comeback is the result of an appalling dereliction of duty.

Goffman against DNA: genetic stigma and the use of genetic ancestry tests by white nationalists

Really interesting research from Elodie Edwards-Grossi and Joan Donovan looking at Stormfront posts on genetic ancestry testing, including how users coped with the discovery that they were not pure-blooded Whites on both personal and ideological levels.

?J.M. Berger is a writer and researcher focused on extremism as a?Senior Research Fellow for the Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism (CTEC) at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS). Views expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of CTEC or MIIS.?

Support my work

This newsletter is free, but you can support it by purchasing and/or spreading the good word about my books. They include:

• Optimal (2020) : A dystopian novel about a future world run by algorithms, but (surprise) it's really about human nature. Kirkus Reviews called it "gripping."
• Extremism (2018) : As part of the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, I give a brief introduction to extremism and the elements of extremist ideology.
• ISIS: The State of Terror (2015, with Jessica Stern) : Still the definitive introduction to ISIS and its history through 2015.
• Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam (2011): The definitive history of the American citizens who participated in jihadist wars and terrorist organizations from the 1970s through 2011.
• Let the Game Do Its Work (2020) : A long essay/short monograph on my favorite genre of dystopia. As the Amazon listing says, it's not a whole book, and it's priced accordingly. If you buy this, don't be like some of the reviewers and post "Boo, this isn't a whole book." I KNOW, THAT'S WHAT THE LISTING SAYS.

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