The authors of the book “Countering Hate” spoke at Syracuse University on Wednesday night about the patterns behind hateful and extremist acts and how they can be prevented at the personal and government level.

More than 50 people attended the talk at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications to hear Bob Pearson and Haroon Ullah, the authors of the book. Ullah described “Countering Hate” as a playbook to counter extremism. The authors discussed how hate or terrorist groups use the internet to spread misinformation to people at a young age.

Pearson, an adjunct professor at SU and at the University of Texas at Austin, began the lecture by describing the significant role of the mobile phone in shaping the memories and habits of youth.

He said the average person owns their first phone around the age of 10 years old. Media messages displayed to the viewer online and through mobile devices shape them, particularly during those developmental years, he said — a negative message continuously spread through a particular outlet has a cumulative effect on the viewer.

The authors also discussed the influence of microtargeted messages.

Ullah encouraged the audience to list the first terms that came to mind upon hearing the word “ISIS.” Audience members said they thought of beheading, terrorists and violence.

A reason for these connotations is the techniques extremists used to gear messages toward specific audiences, said Ullah, who works as chief strategy officer at the U.S. Agency for Global Media. He previously worked at the Community Engagement Office at the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan.

Ullah said terrorist organizations like ISIS spread videos of beheadings and violence to English-speaking audiences, but the Arabic-speaking audiences received more positive, appealing messages relating to identity, belonging and trust.

“They understood audience segmentation better than we did,” Ullah said.

Ullah also discussed the myth of young people being converted overnight to extremist groups and ideology.

Instead, the extremist groups “exacerbated existing grievances,” Ullah said. The first step in combating hatred and extremism is to understand the “hate journey,” he said. The hate journey consists of the causes and factors behind acts of violence or the adoption of hateful ideologies.

To combat misinformation online, Pearson proposed reforming privacy rules to “intervene when appropriate,” he said.

Social media corporations such as Facebook and Twitter often delete accounts and “declare victories,” Pearson said. By the time these accounts are removed, often the damage is already done, he added.

Ullah said that there is often a digital trail behind hateful acts, which he described as “digital dust.” The “dust” allows an individual’s hate journey to be analyzed, he added.

About half of the event was devoted to answering audience questions. A member of the audience asked about the role of news in returning the United States to a fact-based reality.

Pearson said he does not believe the media will become less partisan. Instead, he advocates for individuals to be aware of their actions both in real life and in the digital space, he said.

He encouraged the audience to engage with people who seem lonely, to determine whether to engage with hateful rhetoric online and to volunteer to help youth.

“This work is not easy,” Ullah said.

Published on November 7, 2018 at 11:39 pm

Contact Emma: esfolts@syr.edu