Since the website is dedicated to monitoring the global Jihadi Movement, I thought it only fitting that the inaugural post feature Jihadis lampooning the practice. Welcome to the hall of infinite mirrors that is Jihadi Studies.
Watching the Watchers
Posted: 7th May 2008 by Will McCants in Western mediaTags: pundits, Western media
Do “they” normally post to forums in English, or is that so their targets would actually be able to read their snipes?
On the Ekhlaas forum, where I get most of my stuff, they usually post in Arabic. However, they do have a small subsection for English posts, which is where I got this one.
Dr. McCants – Will it be a positive or negative if you show up on those boards?
A pleasure to see this blog up and running; it’s definitely been added to my daily round-up with the likes of Abu Muqawama and SWJ.
Regards,
Matt
Thanks Matt. It’s nice that you’ve included me in such august company.
I’ve already shown up a few times on the boards. The commentary hasn’t been scathing, but then again I’m not a media personality. Visibility invites scorn.
[...] Readers may wonder why I am harping on experts and not the media. It is because the media relies on experts, who should resist the temptation to feed fear for the sake of fortune or advance a name to advance their own career. In recent years, both impulses have led to a strange symbiosis in which AQ ideologues and Western experts feed off one another’s attention. Watching the Watchers indeed. [...]