Salad Bar Extremism

Coined By

FBI Director Christopher Wray

Definition

An ideologically incoherent worldview where individuals cherry-pick elements from different ideologies to form their own belief system, often without concern for coherence.

Year Coined

2020

Observed Regions

United States, Canada, United Kingdom

Alternative Terms

Mixed, Unstable or Unclear (MUU) ideology (UK), Composite Violent Extremism (Valens Global), Idiosyncratic patterns of radicalization, Ideology à la carte.

Mobilizing Concepts

Reactionary and anti-liberal politics, preservation of power, viewing outgroup success as a threat, narratives rooted in fear, anger, and victimhood, weaponized victimhood.

Associated Generation

COVID Generation

2018

2020

2020

2019-2022

"This "salad bar' extremism, originally used to describe an emerging phenomenon in the U.S., is now present in Canada," a report released Thursday by the Organization for the Prevention of Violence (OPV) reads. Hate, Extremism, and Terrorism In Alberta, Canada, and Beyond measures the shift in activity between 2019 to 2022. [...] ##### Quick Links # 'Salad-bar' extremism on the rise in Canada, report says ## Extremists increasingly cherry-picking elements from different ideologies: report ## Social Sharing Extremists in Canada are increasingly cherry-picking aspects of various violent ideologies to form their own belief system, in a phenomenon known as "salad-bar extremism," a new report has found. [...] "The structure and landscape of [ideologically motivated violence extremism] actors continues its shift from group-based tactics to lone-actor and small-cell activity, particularly within the realm of xenophobic extremism," the report reads. Part of the reason for the shift, King hypothesized, is that that some of the patriot and militia groups such as The Three Percenters and Proud Boys have been added to Canada's list of terrorist entities.

This type of threat is what's often referred to by FBI director Christopher Wray as "salad bar" extremism. In the U.K., it's known by the acronym MUU -- mixed, unstable or unclear. Security firm Valens Global calls the phenomenon "composite violent extremism." [...] ## ABC News ## Live ## Video ## Shows ## Shop ## Stream on stream logo # The challenges to US security posed by 'salad bar' extremism This type of radicalization has seen an uptick in recent years, one expert said. A Hispanic man accused of shooting and killing eight people at an outlet mall in Texas earlier this month held a mix of views consistent with neo-Nazism and involuntary celibate extremist ideologies, authorities said. [...] The terms broadly refer to "idiosyncratic patterns of radicalization," according to Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, the CEO of Valens Global who leads a project on domestic extremism for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.

motivating domestic extremists to commit criminal, sometimes violent, acts. Since then, officials have noted the emergence of individuals acting on the basis of “salad bar ideology” extremism, a term used in 2020 by FBI Director Christopher Wray to describe the nature of some of the recent violent extremist threats. Meleagrou-Hitchens and co-author Moustafa Ayad sought to offer conceptual clarity of what this means in their most recent report on the topic. Specifically, the report focuses on [...] Meghan Conroy rounded out the panelists’ remarks with her discussion of mobilizing concepts. Conroy argued that the nature of mixed ideology is not random, but is based on reactionary and anti-liberal politics. She identifies several mobilizing concepts for these reactionaries including: the preservation of power, the view of outgroup success as a threat, and narratives rooted in fear, anger, and victimhood. The ultimate mobilization narrative is weaponized victimhood, which is used to justify [...] The George Washington University, Washington, DC The George Washington University, Washington, DC

emergence of individuals acting based on “salad bar ideology” extremism, a term used in 2020 by FBI Director Christopher Wray to describe the nature of some of the recent violent extremist threats. Their ideologies, according to Director Wray, “are kind of a jumble…a mixture of ideologies that don’t fit together.” He went on to say that some extremists “take a mish mash of different kinds of ideologies often that don’t fit coherently together, and sometimes are even in tension with each other, [...] In the years since the FBI’s warning, other Western countries have expressed similar concerns about this evolution of the terrorist threat. In the United Kingdom (U.K.), the government’s Channel project has seen a spike in referrals of individuals classified as having a “mixed, unstable or unclear ideology” since 2020. This category now represents the majority of referrals, and includes individuals who “show an interest in multiple extremist ideologies at the same time” or who “switch from one