Jihad, Whatever...

I was doing a Google search on "internet" and "terrorists" and stumbled upon this article at a site called GovernmentExecutive.com, published by the conservative National Journal. The premise of the piece is that the world is experiencing a "third wave" of terrorists, whom former CIA case officer Marc Sageman called "terrorist wannabes" ...

These dissidents typically don't associate face to face, rather their interaction has shifted to Internet chat rooms and online forums, which act as "echo chambers" where anger intensifies and participants become more radicalized.

Here's a perfect example of that "echo chamber of hate" phenomenon. (Warning: It's a scary place.) Back to the article:

The latest terrorist wave is largely a self-limiting threat, Sageman said, because it's made up mostly of bored, unemployed young people with fantasies of glory and thrills. That profile lacks the ideological commitment to jihad that is typical of the older al Qaeda generation.

So let's sum this up: The third wave of terrorists is comprised of "wannabes" who spend most of their time alone and online, where they post angry messages and hatch failed plots. They are unemployed, bored and, despite their rage and delusions of grandeur, do not have the "ideological commitment" to jihad that older terrorists have. It appears the era of the Slacker Terrorist is upon us.