Our lives are made up of stories. The stories define who we are and what we think of the world around us.
A genuine story has the power to shift perspectives. It can bring about the truth in a space filled with lies, it can move hardhearted people, it can make strangers come together to defend it, and it can scatter hate.
An extremist narrative is a system of stories that collectively provides a coherent worldview for the purpose of supporting individuals, groups, or movements in the furthering of their illegal violence and violence-assisting activities).
(RAN collection, 2019)
Although the link between extremist ideas and violence is contested and variable, exposure to extremist narratives is undeniably critical to the process of radicalisation.
(RAN collection, 2019)
A sense of belonging
The language used tries to empower the reader
An easy solution for complex problems
Often they blame a selected group for the problems of a society
It is not easy to recognise extremism online. Radicalised people and extremist organisations often try to build a community by providing young people with different types of social events: for example concerts or sport events.
At first glance, you might not even be aware what it is about, that you became a target of a recruitment process.
Now that you know what extremism is and how to recognise it online, it is high time to be BRAVE and start your own mission: fight against extreme narratives.
To that end you can design either “counter” narratives or “alternative” narratives.
Counter narratives directly dispute and reject what extremist organisations find to be the one and only truth.
For example, they might share posts about how the activities of Roma/Jewish/Muslim community undermine the values and destroy the culture of the country. They spread messages which fuel adverse emotions, enmity, hatred and try to convince you that you, your whole generation and the entire society are in danger.
At this point, nothing else helps, but FACTS and ARGUMENTS which strip the messages of emotions and contradict to the allegations by realities
Extremist narratives tend to pick the doomsday card and try to convince you that danger is everywhere.
But: Did it ruin your Christmas that you have new neighbours, who settled down in your country, because they find a new job here? Couldn’t you bake your favourite cake that you prepared as a child together with your grandmother? Ohhh, no.
Shifting responsibility
Spreading fear is always the easy way to highlight some difficulty and finding a group to blame is seemingly the solution. But such approach shifts the responsibility to others only without solving the problem. Because you do not have to take responsibility for your own life. It is easier to blame someone else.
Alternative narratives help us to change the whole situation. Basically, it is not about getting into debates with extremist posts, articles and videos. Instead of arguing why they are wrong, you create an alternative which reflects your way of thinking.
Do not communicate in such a way that “I am against exclusion”.
Change the game. By reacting to an extremist post, let everyone know that you are here for promoting human rights for everyone, that you support minority groups or stand up for the excluded ones.
Please check our Playlist for Democracy, and the personal story of 20 people who work hard day after day to build a safe and happy environment for all of us.
