Islamic State and Hollywood

Modern, prestigious, recruiting armed infidels with concepts and slogans, subjected to suspicion and discord and in the Islamic tradition — they attempt to atone for past atrocities by targeting the achievements of Islamic civilization’s antiquities and buildings.

Their prestige matters as they draw attention to the need for a comprehensive revision of our educational system, especially religious schools that need to expunge teachings outside of mainstream Islam. Though they profess Islam, they deceive the young rather than try to coexist with and tolerate others in favor of a religious and sectarian mosaic.

But the commonalities between Hollywood and groups affiliated with Islamic State are being overlooked. In addition to the modern and postmodern techniques of the puzzling juxtaposed conservatives and Salafist heretics, they both rewrite traditional texts to fit their interpretation and communicate through the latest media, specifically television.

Both progress in our informational world. Both generally measure each other, but for one of them, their scenes are real.

Their stunning flow of images disables the senses and stimulates libido and pleasure. Because receiving such images doesn’t require effort or focus just like those of pop culture, they both operate on instant gratification.

Some research compares them to the media and psychological war waged by the United States to enter Iraq, whose shock and awe vocabulary resembles the Islamic State group’s theater of murder and slaughter and Hollywood’s portrayals of lighting and launching warheads.

I heard of a young man, not yet 22 years old, first arriving to study in the U.S. who saw a cartoon depicting planes bombing the twin towers in New York.

That was several years before 9/11.