ISIS Misconceptions

In the video, several panelists present ideas about the brand ISIS has created. In other words, the communication and propaganda materials that promote ISIS and makes it appeal to a certain marginalized group of Muslim youth was examined. Richard Stengel begins by talking about the misconceptions that surround ISIS such as the language of the information used to recruit as well as the reach of ISIS’s messaging. Therefore, I agree with Stengel that many misconceptions exist about ISIS and the lack of knowledge to tackle these misconceptions ultimately serves the interests of the ISIS brand. To begin with, the language of the information being conveyed by ISIS has to be examined, followed by the differentiation between the methods used by Al Qaeda and the self-proclaimed caliphate of ISIS.
The first misconception brought up by Stengel is in regard to ISIS being the enemy of the United States. In fact, the information warfare is between ISIS and the world as the main languages ISIS uses to recruit and appeal to Muslim youth is 83% Arabic, 13% Russian, and 4% spread between English and French (Europol, 2015). Also, the second misconception about the ISIS brand is the difference of methods being employed by ISIS when compared the Al Qaeda, …show more content…
ISIS has succeeded in using the virtual world to create direct, concise, and short communication material which it used to reach out to and recruit Muslim youth globally in ways that Al Qaeda could only dream of. However, it is important to note that the misconception of ISIS is winning the information war is no longer valid. In fact, the production and volume of messaging created by ISIS have fallen by 40% while communication material against ISIS has increased with Arabic being used as the primary language in the information war against ISIS (CSIS,