Politically incorrect participatory media: Racist nationalism on r/ImGoingToHellForThis

Abstract

This article examines how racism and nationalism flourish in participatory media spaces by analyzing user comments and images posted on the reddit community r/ImGoingToHellForThis in the week following widespread news coverage of the photograph of Alan Kurdi, a Syrian boy whose dead body was photographed on a beach in Turkey. The community is dominated by racist nationalist discourse that combines textual commentary with photographs and other visual media that have been remediated into offensive visual jokes, which "cloak" the racism. Through an in-depth study of user-submitted comments and visual jokes, this article argues that the "cloaks" that obscure online racism can be at once highly obvious and highly effective. Rather than unmasking obscured racist online ideologies, scholars must also examine how racism flourishes while hiding in plain sight by tracing how racist discourses assemble in participatory media communities.

(((They))) rule: Memetic antagonism and nebulous othering on 4chan

“…While this alleged influence was of relatively narrow significance so long as it pertained to LOLcats memes, this changed with the recent rise in popularity of 4chan's /pol/ 'Politically Incorrect' board, which has been described as the source of 'the real creative energy behind the new right-wing sensibility online today' (Nagle, 2017). 2 Acknowledging how such memes can often provide 'cloaks for covering racism', in line with emerging scholarship on the topic, our approach may be described as a 'critical tracing' of 'politically incorrect participatory media' (Topinka, 2018), in this case of the dynamics of the subcultural milieu of 4chan from which new expressions frequently tend to emerge.…”

Propaganda Model in the Age of Social Media

“…In fact, when a young Syrian refugee, Alan Kurdi, died and his body was stranded on the beach made an object of ridicule through comments and visual jokes (Topinka 2018).…”

Countering Extremists on Social Media: Challenges for Strategic Communication and Content Moderation

“…As the authors of the final contribution to this special issue note, alternative media on the political right “results in a combination of an anti‐hegemonic impetus” and a wide range of both mainstream and extreme political positions, ranging from economic liberalism to nativism (Hall et al, 2020). While research on far‐right exploitation of social media is increasing, much of this work focuses on representation, narratives, ideology, and discourse (Deem, 2019; Froio & Ganesh, 2019; Klein & Muis, 2019; Richards, 2019; Topinka, 2018), as well as disinformation spreading from right‐wing digital news to social media platforms and mainstream media (Benkler et al, 2018; Bennett & Livingston, 2018; Marwick & Lewis, 2017). Developing the context of such activity in comparative perspective, Heft et al (2020) in this special issue provide a thorough mapping of hyperpartisan outlets in right‐wing digital news ecosystems in Austria, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States that contributes a context for both of these lines of inquiry.…”