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Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses Volume 13, Issue 2 | March 2021
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Beta Uprising: Is there an Incel Threat to Asia?
Modern incel ideology centers on the punishable - crime.”11 Therein lies the
“blackpill” theory, essentially the “acceptance” involuntary celibate political ideology: Incels
that society is “fixed” against incels due to perceive themselves as sexual Marxists of an
perceived genetic inferiorities such as facial oppressed social class, and “if the root of the
features. Incels believe they are unable to problem is an unfair social system, then there
overcome those disadvantages, leaving them needs to be a revolution to change it.”12
rooted to the bottom rung of society.6 Once
they have accepted the “blackpill,” incels The dehumanising of women, as well as other
primarily rage against “Chads” and “Stacys,” races, ties the incel movement to the
who represent youthful sexual promiscuity. emerging far-right. Interracial relationships -
“Chads” are conventionally attractive, indeed, race-mixing more broadly - are for
muscular men who keep all the “Stacys” to instance an important grievance. Forum
themselves, while “Stacys” are conventionally posters often share news stories of interracial
attractive young women who give all their relationships around the world, highlighting
attention to “Chads” and ignore those them as evidence both that women are
subsequently left as involuntarily celibate. incapable of making their own choices and
Incels, in turn, sometimes refer to themselves that other ethnicities are inferior, even to
as “beta males,” if not even further down the “blackpilled” incels. For instance, after a white
societal ladder.7 Incels are part of the broader Canadian woman was murdered by her
“manosphere” - an online conglomeration of Muslim boyfriend in July 2018, an incel thread
various often-violently misogynistic extremist blamed the woman for her death, on the basis
movements, all advocating varying degrees of that she “could not resist fucking a muslim
male supremacism.8 [sic].”13 The links between the incel movement
and America’s resurgent alt-right has been
The dehumanising of women is a key tenet of reflected in the incel movement’s terrorists,
the incel ideology. In April 2019, an incels.co with the Southern Poverty Law Center even
member posted - in a forum titled “if you could describing Rodger as the first “alt-right killer,”
design your perfect society, how would you largely due to his thoroughly racist
deal with women?” - that women should “be manifesto.14
property of men they [sic] would be used to
breed until they age to the point where they At one point, lamenting an African-American
can no longer reproduce at which point they acquaintance’s sexual prowess, Rodger said
will be put to death.”9 The movement’s most “how could an inferior, ugly black boy be able
notorious member, Elliot Rodger, similarly to get a white girl and not me? I am beautiful,
noted in his manifesto that “[women] are and I am half white myself. I am descended
beasts,” and that “beasts should not be able from British aristocracy. He is descended from
to have any rights in a civilized society.”10 slaves.”15 Incel online forums are also rife with
According to the Southern Poverty Law racist language. Asian and Indian incels are
Center, “to an incel, sex is a basic human right referred to openly as “ricecels” and
for all men.” By this token, “women who deny “currycels,”16 and Asian women are often
them that right are committing a heinous - and
6 Beauchamp, “Our incel problem.” 11 Rachel Janik, “‘I laugh at the death of normies’:
7 Zack Beauchamp, “Incel, the misogynist ideology How incels are celebrating the Toronto mass killing,”
that inspired the deadly Toronto attack, explained,” Southern Poverty Law Center, April 24, 2018,
Vox, April 25, 2018, https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2018/04/24/i-
https://www.vox.com/world/2018/4/25/17277496/ince laugh-death-normies-how-incels-are-celebrating-
l-toronto-attack-alek-minassian. toronto-mass-killing.
8 Manoel Horta Ribeiro, Jeremy Blackburn, Barry 12 Beauchamp, “Incel.”
Bradlyn, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Gianluca Stringhini, 13 “This is what a Muslim can get in Canada,”
Summer Long, Stephanie Greenberg, and Savvas Incels.co, July 23 2018, accessed April 12, 2019.
Zannettou, “From Pick-Up Artists to Incels: A Data- 14 Keegan Hankes and Alex Amend, “The Alt-Right is
Driven Sketch of the Manosphere,” arXiv, January Killing People,” Southern Poverty Law Center,
21, 2020. February 5, 2018,
9 “If you could design your perfect society, how https://www.splcenter.org/20180205/alt-right-killing-
would you deal with women?,” Incels.co, April 12, people.
2019, accessed April 12, 2019. 15 Rodger, My Twisted World, 84.
10 Elliot Rodger, My Twisted World: The Story of 16 “Gender Ratio Gap in China/India,” Incels.co,
Elliot Rodger (2014), p 117. March 20, 2019, accessed April 12, 2019.
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Beta Uprising: Is there an Incel Threat to Asia?
17 Beauchamp, “Our incel problem.” 22 Hoffman, Ware, and Shapiro, “Assessing the
18 Aja Romano, “How the alt-right’s sexism lures men Threat of Incel Violence.”
into white supremacy,” Vox, April 26, 2018, 23 Kumar Ramakrishna, “The White Supremacist
of Domestic Terrorism in the United States,” Center Far-Right,” Global Network on Extremism &
for Strategic and International Studies, October 22, Technology, February 2, 2021.
2020.
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Beta Uprising: Is there an Incel Threat to Asia?
more patriarchal norms.”26 It is also important perpetrator of the March 2019 mosque
to note that many incels are non-white, shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand,
undermining the white supremacist meanwhile, had frequented forums and sites
undertones inherent in the ideology. Elliot popular with incels, and at the very least
Rodger, despite his boastful claim “to have moved in the same online circles.32 And the
descended from British aristocracy,” was half- perpetrator of the October 2019 shooting at a
Malaysian, and Alek Minassian, the deadliest synagogue in Halle, Germany, had embraced
attacker to date, is of Armenian and Iranian incel language, and may have been at least
descent. Black and Latino incel-related partially driven by the more personal
attackers, meanwhile, have opened fire in frustrations reflected within the incel
schools and universities in the United States27 community.33 In the United Kingdom,
- not to mention Virginia Tech shooter Seung- meanwhile, authorities succeeded in 2019
Hui Cho, a South Korea-born gunman who and 2020 in disrupting two plots of would-be
perpetrated one of the deadliest mass incel terrorists seemingly of Asian origin or
shootings in U.S. history, and who incels ethnicity.34 One of them, a 22-year-old who
frequently applaud as an ideological was born in Indonesia but spent most of his
ancestor.28 Echoing the concerns of other life in Singapore, had stabbed a police officer
scholars, Raffaello Pantucci and Kyler Ong in an earlier incident, hoping to commit
have also argued that “male anger is an issue “suicide by cop.”
in Asia which might ultimately start to see Incel
ideas as meshing with their broader rage and In Asia, there is additionally a rising presence
even present a useful outlet. Violence could of “manosphere” networks not necessarily
be the result.”29 linked directly to incels. In South Korea, for
instance, the social networking site Ilbe has
There is also already evidence suggesting allowed extreme anti-feminism to flourish
that the incel movement is globalising. Incel online, prompting public debates over the
forums display surprising internationalism, merits and legality of content moderation and
with contributors, and the topics they discuss, deplatforming.35 And the recent Nth Room
spanning an array of nationalities.30 Further, case, a digital sex crime operation run on
several major attacks outside North America Telegram, rocked South Korea in 2020,
have been linked, albeit indirectly, with the offering another painful reminder of the
community. In July 2016, for instance, an 18- toxicity and danger of male supremacism and
year-old far-right fanatic killed 10 people, its prevalence on social media.36 Both provide
including himself, in a shooting in Munich, early, pressing warning signs that law
Germany. He had been part of an online enforcement and politicians should not
community which included incels.31 The ignore.37
26 Joseph Franco, “Preempting Incel-Inspired Violent 32 Phil Brandel, “‘I joined an incel group and what I
Extremism in Asia,” Australian Institute of found was surprising,’” News.com.au, March 19,
International Affairs, July 30, 2020. 2019.
27 Hoffman, Ware, and Shapiro, “Assessing the 33 Daniel Koehler, “The Halle, Germany, Synagogue
Threat of Incel Violence.” Attack and the Evolution of the Far-Right Terror
28 Robyn Pennacchia, “‘Beta Males’ Want To Kill Threat,” CTC Sentinel, 12, no. 11 (December 2019):
Women Because They Can’t Get Laid,” Bust, 2016, 16.
https://bust.com/feminism/15551-beta-males-want- 34 See “Middlesbrough fantasist Anwar Driouich
2018, accessed April 12, 2019; and “This is what a modern slavery in the digital space,” Lowy Institute,
Muslim can get in Canada,” Incels.co, July 23 2018, April 20, 2020, https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-
accessed April 12, 2019. interpreter/nth-room-case-and-modern-slavery-
31 Martin Bernstein, “Das Netzwerk der digital-space.
Todesschützen,” Süddeutsche Zeitung, May 15, 37 Erika Nguyen, “South Korea Online Sexual Abuse
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Beta Uprising: Is there an Incel Threat to Asia?
Human Rights Watch, March 26, 2020, International Centre for Counter-Terrorism – The
https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/03/26/south-korea- Hague (ICCT) Evolutions in Counter-Terrorism, Vol.
online-sexual-abuse-case-illustrates-gaps- 2 (November 2020): 14.
government-response. 42 “Ngl corona virus is pretty fucking based,”
38 Kevin Roose, “A Mass Murder of, and for, the Incels.co, November 30, 2020, accessed December
Internet,” New York Times, March 15, 2019, 1, 2020.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/15/technology/fac 43 Eric Rosand, Khalid Koser, and Lilla Schumicky-
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Beta Uprising: Is there an Incel Threat to Asia?
closed.45 His attack targeted couples at the online “manosphere,” which is increasingly
mall. Frustration at shutdowns - as well as turning to terroristic violence to spread its
anger at “normies” during the return to message and seek revenge for perceived
normality -will provide new dangers. Indeed, wrongdoings. For now, it remains a fringe
one team of scholars at the University of threat, isolated to the West - but Asian law
Cambridge noticed “a significant increase in enforcement and intelligence agencies should
murderous fantasies during the pandemic.”46 be aware of the movement, its ideological and
Law enforcement and intelligence agencies geographical trends, and the possibility for
must exercise extra vigilance to ensure those violence. Governments, including those in
fantasies are not acted upon in the coming Southeast Asia, can take steps towards
months. countering online extremism by encouraging
tech companies to take more responsibility for
There have always been sexually frustrated harmful content online, and by helping protect
and alienated young men around the world, young people from radicalisation by
but the internet has revolutionised their ability encouraging internet literacy and easy access
to coalesce and mobilise - the internet has to mental health resources, both online and
highlighted their grievances, and brought offline.
them closer together.47 And now, the
pandemic has only strengthened many of
those grievances, and multiplied the time the About the author
believers spend in virtual interaction. That is a
dangerous mix, and governments around the Jacob Ware is a Research Associate for
world should be on alert. Counterterrorism at the Council on Foreign
Relations and a graduate of Georgetown
Conclusion University’s Security Studies Program and the
University of St Andrews.
While the threat to Asia seemingly remains
limited for now, some incels have ambitions,
at the very least, of a global revolution. “Do
you mean like an incel caliphate?” one forum
user pondered, responding to an August 2018
thread debating a possible incel revolution. He
added: “Like instead of ISIS it will be incels
who make terror attacks all around the world?
If so, then i think it has already begun and it
will be more powerful in Future [sic].”48
Similarly, a November 2018 thread titled “This
world needs to be cleansed” featured a
commenter noting that “I’d rather live in a
dystopia that [sic] what we have now. Human
society & western culture needs to be
destroyed and then rebuilt or reset.”49 If
aspects of the incel community’s rhetoric is to
be believed, there are darker days ahead in
the efforts to combat incel violence.
Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses Volume 13, Issue 2 | March 2021
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