‘Re-educating the Roma? You must be joking. . .’: Racism and prejudice in online discussion forums

Abstract

This article explores prejudicial and racist discourse in reader comments in internet news discussion forums. Based on data from an online debate among Czech commenters on the mainstream iDnes.cz news site, it seeks to contribute to the existing critical linguistic approaches to discursive strategies of othering. Analysing user comments referencing a news article on a sensitive social topic, namely the complicated reception of Central European Roma immigrants in the UK, the paper focuses on three salient themes found in the data: (a) the re-education of the ethnic minority; (b) the users’ perception of the media as politically correct and siding with the outgroup; and (c) the outgroup’s negative stereotype associating it with criminality. The paper argues that the discourse on these topics simultaneously relies on and reinforces the negative stereotype of the ethnic group, while revealing a complicated relationship between three stakeholders: the ingroup, represented by the commenters; the outgroup, made up of members of the ethnic groups; and the media, as representatives of the authorities and the elites. The findings reveal how quasi-humorous comments that involve such stereotypical representations contribute to the normalization of everyday racism against ethnic outgroups.1

Why do we need a sociocognitive-CDA in hate speech studies? A corpus-based systematic review

“…The terms used also differ from one another. Some use the term criminal for refugees or immigrants in Sweden and the UK (Merrill and Åkerlund, 2018; Chovanec, 2021); others use the term the new Nazis for Muslim groups in the UK (Burke et al, 2020). In several European countries, such as Cyprus and Poland, immigrant groups are conceptualized as dirty, immoral, barbaric, animal, invasions, and terrorist people (Baider and Kopytowska, 2017: 214).…”

The expression of hate speech against Afro-descendant, Roma, and LGBTQ+ communities in YouTube comments

“…In both examples, the speaker's intention is to harm/marginalize the target group, reinforcing common stereotypes and prejudice associated with this community, often portrayed as lazy and profiteer Machin 2019, 2022;Buturoiu and Corbu 2020;Chovanec 2021;Erjavec 2001). On the contrary, the comment in Example ( 6) is simply classified as "offensive" because it does not target the individual based on their perceived characteristics and group membership, but rather because of the perspective they expressed in a previous comment.…”

“…Although interesting, these results are not completely surprising. In fact, the Roma community has experienced centuries of discrimination and social exclusion across Europe (Achim 2004; Maeso 2021), perpetuated both on social and conventional media, through normalized discourses alluding to Roma criminality, illiteracy, immorality, promiscuity, laziness and resistance to integration into mainstream society Machin 2019, 2022;Chovanec 2021;Erjavec 2001). In what concerns the Portuguese social context, the Roma community is still considered the most vulnerable group, being victims of poverty and social exclusion (Casa-Nova 2021; Maeso 2021, Magano and Mendes 2021).…”

“…For example, the nouns problema ('trouble') and polícia ('policeman') may evoke the criminality stereotyping and over-policing towards the Afro-descendant group (Council of Europe 2021). Regarding the Roma community, in addition to the noun problema ('trouble'), the presence of terms like lei ('law'), direito ('rights') and medo ('fear') is remarkable, associated with Anti-Roma rhetoric across Europe, which perpetuates the stereotypes that the Roma are dangerous, and live perpetually outside the law Machin 2019, 2022;Buturoiu and Corbu 2020;Chovanec 2021;Erjavec 2001).…”

Engaging with the claim of Roma people through twitter: who is behind the hashtags?

“…Existing literature concerning Roma issues in the context of social media has primarily fixated on one particular facet, namely, the utilization of social media as a battleground for combatting antigypsyism (Gavra, 2012;End, 2017;Chovanec, 2021). The hashtag #RomaLivesMatter has gained traction within social media platforms, serving as a rallying cry to protest and advocate for the rights of Roma communities (Costache, 2021).…”