It's not about ISIS crucifying or not crucifying its members; it's about ISIS constantly deciding exactly what we're talking about.
Most of ISIS's PR strategy would rightly seem insane to most of us, but ISIS wants to amplify how extremist they are. They want to be perceived as a group willing to do anything for their cause. With every story they're saying, "We are creating a perfect Islamic state, and nothing in our way will stop us. You should both fear and respect us."
There's an interesting PR term called "agenda setting." You can't dictate whether or not people agree with you, but you can decide which angle they're looking at you from.
The beheading of US journalists was completely intentional. They wanted us to be afraid of how ruthless they are. Now we're getting stories of "Teenage boy from country X left his family to join ISIS." That's just them recruiting.
The sad part of all this isn't that ISIS has a PR machine, but that we're so awful at detecting it, and that we let them get away with it even when it's made up out of whole cloth.
Most of ISIS's PR strategy would rightly seem insane to most of us, but ISIS wants to amplify how extremist they are. They want to be perceived as a group willing to do anything for their cause. With every story they're saying, "We are creating a perfect Islamic state, and nothing in our way will stop us. You should both fear and respect us."
There's an interesting PR term called "agenda setting." You can't dictate whether or not people agree with you, but you can decide which angle they're looking at you from.
The beheading of US journalists was completely intentional. They wanted us to be afraid of how ruthless they are. Now we're getting stories of "Teenage boy from country X left his family to join ISIS." That's just them recruiting.
The sad part of all this isn't that ISIS has a PR machine, but that we're so awful at detecting it, and that we let them get away with it even when it's made up out of whole cloth.