The Guardian: Rising violence among teens linked to online forums glorifying mass killers

Cody Zoschak, ISD-US Senior Manager, spoke to The Guardian about the rising number of non-ideologically motivated teens linked to school shootings and their relationships with online forums that glorify mass killers. He explains that these forums result in a “combination of self-radicalisation and group-enforcing radicalisation,” with many forming “parasocial bonds” with mass shooters. However, children radicalised in this way often do not fit into pre-established ideological categories. “Right now, there’s no bucket for these people to be put in by the authorities, so they’re being treated like ideologically– motivated individuals, or they’re slipping through the cracks because they don’t fit the criteria,” Cody said. 

He also described how these forums play into a larger trend known as nihilistic violence, which he explains as: “The violence is emotional and self-serving rather than political or ideological, and there’s really no desired consequence – the violence is the point.” 

Read the full article on The Guardian’s website.