Belen Fernandez: The notion that Muslim communities are uniquely afflicted by online radicalisation becomes even more preposterous when we consider, for example, the recruitment methods of the US Armed Forces – an entity intimately associated with the devastation of Muslim lives. In his book, “Irregular Army: How the US Military Recruited Neo-Nazis, Gang Members, and Criminals to Fight the War on Terror” – the very title of which suggests a substantial presence of radicals in non-Muslim populations – journalist Matt Kennard recalls some of these methods, such as the “use of video games to glorify military combat, sanitising its perception among the young”. Following the 2002 release of the combat-glorifying Army Game Project for download from the Internet, Kennard writes, “[T]he army proceeded to release the Virtual Army Experience, which it boasted was ‘based on actual missions’ in its promotional video complete with images of Iraq. The game was the standard murder-fest, in which the player hunts down and kills the enemy… It was the ultimate entertainment, except this time it was used to sign up kids for real war.” For what can happen when soldiers conflate real war and video games, see the upbeat and indiscriminate slaughter of Iraqis contained in the WikiLeaks-released footage “Collateral Murder”. As for JAN Trust’s suggestion that Muslim mothers be trained in computing so as to safeguard their offspring from radicalisation, it seems that more effective safeguards might entail a reigning in of destructive militarism abroad and anti-minority discrimination at home. More here.