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Politically incorrect participatory media: racist nationalism on r/ImGoingToHellForThis

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journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 07:22 authored by Robert J Topinka
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.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

New Media & Society

ISSN

1461-4448

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Issue

5

Volume

20

Page range

2050-2069

Department affiliated with

  • Media and Film Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2017-07-24

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2017-07-24

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2017-07-24

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