In response to my last post a much-better-informed little birdy sent me a transcript of a Homeland Security Committee hearing about online Islamic extremism. It was an interesting read, and I may say something else about it later. But for now, here’s the part that was most immediately striking:
In an effort to raise its
visibility and recruit new members… an Iraqi
insurgent group held a website design contest open to anyone in the world with
an Internet connection. And what was the prize given to the winner of that contest? The opportunity to launch a rocket attack against American forces in Iraq with just the click of
the mouse from the winner’s computer.
It’s inhuman and morally outrageous, yes. But man, that’s a pretty good idea for an online contest. If you could just tone down the evil you might really have something there.
Reminds me of that online hunting company that was in the news a couple of years ago. Of course, people thought it was plenty evil even without the terrorism theme. Maybe the solution is a prize along the lines of getting to push the plunger for a building demolition.