Violence for the Sake of Violence: Understanding Nonideological Extremism
Two recent school shootings in the United States highlight the growing—and often misunderstood—trend of nonideological terrorism.
In 2024, 65 percent of terrorist attacks in Western countries could not be tied to any specific ideology, with individual attackers’ belief systems and motivations cobbled together from various and sometimes contradictory sources, according to the latest Global Terrorism Index. This speaks to a broader trend of online radicalization, deifying past attackers, and performative violence.
“In December, Natalie ‘Samantha’ Rupnow killed a student, a substitute-teacher coordinator, and herself at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison,” NPR reported. “The following month, 17-year-old Solomon Henderson killed himself and another student at Antioch High School in Nashville. Both appear to have been heavily influenced by mass killers of the past and preoccupied with the prospect of adding themselves to such a list.”
Matthew Kriner, managing director at the Accelerationism Research Consortium, warned that this trend is about “violence for the sake of violence.” He added that “One thing that we’re trying to get people to start to wrap their heads around is that anything and everything is becoming a pathway to violence.”
This shift toward nonideological violence is linked to true crime subcultures online, where people deeply and obsessively review past attacks. The trend also relates to Saints Culture, which venerates mass killers as superhuman figures and praises high kill counts. This also connects to the leaderless resistance model of extremism.
“I see this form of violence as ‘aspirational’ which is to say that the subjects aspire to be recognized in their specific community of like-minded individuals (virtual communities) as ‘saints’ or prominent figures by committing mass violence,” says Steve Crimando, CTM (Certified Threat Manager), founder of Behavioral Science Applications and chair of the ASIS Extremism and Political Instability Community (EPIC). “The idea of inspirational violence vs. aspirational violence is a central feature of nonideological violent extremism.”
In briefings to threat assessment professionals, Crimando noted that this trend relies heavily on nonideological nihilism, or the absolute embrace of apocalyptic thinking where a wave of online, antisocial subcultures actively promote the aesthetic or brand of nihilism and mass violence. Message boards often share a tone of hate, self-loathing, and hopelessness, as well as rage at the wider world. The most common emotion is a profound, painful loneliness and pathological envy of others who seem happy, Crimando wrote in one educational presentation.
According to a 2022 post from the Global Network on Extremism and Technology, “The rise in ideological nihilism—or the absolute embrace of apocalyptic thinking and what is often referred to online as ‘doomerism’—has come hand in hand with the rapid emergence of dozens if not hundreds of online antisocial subcultures which actively promote the aesthetic of nihilism and violence. The proliferation of these subcultures is by no means a new phenomenon, however, the process has rapidly accelerated as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The increased time spent online by many young people in particular during the initial stages of the crisis, combined with the social isolation brought about by the associated lockdowns and school closures, drove some users to darker corners of social media and the Internet more broadly, where they often found burgeoning niche communities eager to accept them.
“The vast majority of these subcultures and online communities are by their very nature benign and nonviolent, however, the inherently antisocial and nihilistic subsect has grown significantly, likely encouraged by the political turmoil, social upheaval, and general apocalypticism of the past two years,” the post continued. “Within the ideologically nihilistic online space, disconnection and broad discontent with society is central to the worldview, and active rebellion against society in one form or another is often encouraged. Within the most extreme elements of this subcultural milieu, mass violence itself is often encouraged, particularly in cases in which extremist and ideological infiltration is a factor.”
Nonideological nihilists who launch mass violence attacks often leave no political manifesto or no direct motivation for the event beyond a desire to cause harm and gain notoriety.
“Due to the lionization/canonization of previous attackers within the virtual communities, individuals may seek to emulate or outdo others to achieve fame and ‘sainthood’ within the virtual community rather than simply have the world know their name,” Crimando tells Security Management. “So, it is [about] seeking a revered place in the pantheon of Saints who have committed extreme violence, not necessarily recognition in the wider society. In ideological extremism, the violence is to advance a belief or cause through the use of violence. In non-ideological nihilistic violence extremism, the subject may have adopted a fatalistic mindset and for selfish reasons is committing violence to become someone important within a very narrow community in which they belong, and a striving to become something/someone for more selfish reasons, rather than a larger movement.
“Trends like loneliness, increased screentime use/dependency, themes of hopeless the culture related to climate change, the political environment, etc., all can be contributing factors,” he continues. Additionally, messages from a wide range of known violent extremist ideologies can motivate someone to follow the template for violent action to become someone, when the individual might otherwise feel empty, alone, and useless.
View this post on Instagram
This effort to forge an identity through violent actions is often performative and reliant on specific aesthetic cues that identify the person as part of this in-group.
“The aesthetic of non-ideological violent nihilism is central to mass shooter culture,” Crimando explains. “This is often an attempt at self-definition and following a specific cultural script that includes certain aesthetics like costuming and symbology. The current aesthetic is to be dressed in tactical gear, including helmet with a mounted camera, vest, and other body armor, and a black long-gun—usually an AR-style weapon, often decorated with white writing and symbols including the names of previous attackers. This has spawned a cycle of self-replicating attacks.”
These visual commonalities can help threat assessment professionals identify potentially dangerous behavior and fixations. Crimando says that visual signs can be interest in or acquisition of tactical clothing or equipment; fascination with or worship of previous nihilistic attackers; participation in nihilistic virtual communities that promote violence toward themselves or others; self-identification or curating a persona of a mass killer; the leakage of ideas related to mobilizing and fulfilling a nihilistic fantasy of destroying oneself or others.
But threat assessments will likely be challenging here, due to a number of factors, Crimando says, such as:
- It is a rapidly evolving trend that that is not yet familiar to many threat assessors.
- It does not clearly adhere to traditional markers or risk indicators associated with known groups or ideologies.
- Most of the movement toward extreme views and violent ideation occurs in the darker corners of the Internet (Discord, etc.).
- Communication in virtual communities tends to fan the flames of fatalism and potential violence to self and others, which can increase risk.
- The threat actors can be socially isolated, limiting the ability of others to detect risk indicators.
Want to learn more about changes in extremism, intelligence, and threat assessment? Check out this collection of articles from Security Management.
