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Introduction – Aug 15, 2021

Last Thursday Jake Davison went on a shooting rampage in Plymouth that left six dead, including the gunman. In the past he would have been labelled a “lone nut” as he doesn’t seem to have been a Muslim extremist or a far right fanatic.

However, ever ready to exploit current events for their own advantage, it appears that the powers that be are ready to exploit Davison’s shooting for their own ends.

It is obvious to anyone capable of thinking for themselves that the corporate media is used by various state intelligence agencies to manipulate and direct public opinion; think of the way they demonised Saddam Hussein prior to the Iraq invasion or the media’s blanket silence on the controlled demolition of the WTC towers.

We would suggest that what follows is the latest fruit of such collaboration. The Observer suggests that Davison’s rampage was the result of a new type extremism that has been nurtured online. Note, moreover, that it doesn’t identify any specific ideological attributes of this “new blurry extremism” called incel. Rather, it identifies those that hold such views and who “are increasingly cropping up on the radar of intelligence agencies”, like Davison, as a threat.

Apparently, incel is an abbreviation on “involuntary-celebate“. I admit it’s not something I know much about but one may conclude from the following that the ‘intelligence agencies’ charged with protecting the public are trying to create a new threat with which to menace us. Just as they did in the past with the various Muslim extremists that they helped arm and equip.

Nor has Western intelligence been limited to exploiting Islamic militants. In 1985, for example, Britain’s MI5 plotted to assassinate Irish Prime Minister Charles Haughey using Protestant terrorists from Northern Ireland.

So Western intelligence has a long history of using terror outfits, and sometimes even creating them. In fact any ideology will do for their purpose. Recently the Biden administration even warned of the threat posed an “anti-lockdown extremists”.

No doubt the threat posed by “anti-lockdown extremists” has since evaporated but they served a purpose. Whether real or contrived, Western intelligence agencies use terror and the threat of terror for their own ends.

Given this recent history, we would suggest that the following article implies that the intelligence agencies are preparing to launch a new threat with which to menace us. This will conveniently enable them to target those who are not necessarily part of any terror group. Individuals who don’t fit in but who are researching, uncovering inconvenient truths and who won’t buy into the mainstream media’s version of events as “Incel extremists”.

Incel ideology: a new blurry form of extremism incubated online

Mark Townsend – The Observer Aug 15, 2021

For several years, those whose job description includes making the nation safe from terrorism have been documenting something novel and quite chaotic. Thursday’s murderous rampage on the streets of Plymouth merely confirmed the new terror threat has arrived.

The traditional silos of far right and Islamist extremism are disappearing. Instead, the security services are monitoring individuals who have gone for a mixed approach to extremist ideologies, able to accommodate the views of Tommy Robinson alongside Osama bin Laden, often adding a layer of conspiracy theory and fantastical tropes for good measure. Individuals who jump casually between fascist dogma, Islamism or misogyny are increasingly cropping up on the radar of intelligence agencies.

The incel ideology followed by Jake Davison belongs to this new blurry extremism – incubated, propagated and weaponised online.

What hasn’t changed are those seduced. Socially isolated individuals with little stake in society, like Davison, are those most vulnerable. The pandemic has amplified a sense of marginalisation for many. Yet even before the first lockdown, the incel ideology was increasingly popular. Inceldom is classified within a government category known as “mixed, unstable and unclear” ideologies. This category accounted for more than half of all referrals to the counter-terrorism Prevent programme in 2019/20– up from just 11% three years earlier.

Thursday’s killings will mean that the online “manosphere” comes under new scrutiny, its sprawling decentralised network of chat rooms and gaming platforms helping to normalise misogyny. Any attempt to crack down on such hate may, though, only push its members to migrate to newer ungoverned internet platforms.

The police’s decision not to categorise last Thursday’s attack as a terror incident will likely be judged by history as an oversight. Terrorism, by definition, is the threat or use of action to intimidate the public in advancement of a political, religious, racial or ideological cause.

More immediately, it appears to reflect that Devon and Cornwall police are not up to speed with the emerging threat of “mixed, unstable or unclear” ideology.

It is a decision unlikely to be repeated. The next Davison will most likely be known as a terrorist.

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