‘Less than a speck of dirt’: exploring the manifestos of nihilistic violent extremists

Most of the limited research on nihilistic violent extremism (NVE) has focused on the Com Network and its affiliated group, 764, which have gained attention for their explicit recruitment and victimization of children. In contrast, this study analyzes the long-form manifestos produced by four nihilistic violent extremists belonging to the Soyjak Video Attacker Fandom (SAVF). Using reflexive thematic analysis, this study seeks to improve our understanding of NVE by answering two research questions: (1) what are the key themes in manifestos produced by the nihilistic violent extremists of the SAVF, and (2) how do these compare to themes of right-wing extremism (RWE)? This analysis constructed four core themes of NVE, degeneracy, no lives matter (but some matter less), self-hatred, and the veneration of violence. These themes help frame nihilistic violence as its own type of violent extremism, distinct from RWE. They can also be used to refine and develop the definitions of NVE used by governments, lawyers, law enforcement/security services and practitioners.