New Media - New Racism
Anti-Gay Cyber Violence, The “Dirty Little Secret” of Community
Blogging, Normalizing Violence in “Love the Way You Lie” —
Microaggressions
Anti-Gay Speech on the Internet
As of 2011 the Southern Poverty Law Center has identified over
1018 active hate groups; most with active internet sites (up from
932 in 2010)
The growth in hate group Web sites also coincides with an
increase in reported hate crimes (motivated by a bias against
persons based on race, religion, sexual orientation and
ethnicity/national origin
Stormfront
Launched in 1995 by Don Black
- former KKK Grand Dragon
In 2002 the website reported
2000 hits worldwide
After Barak Obama became a
frontrunner in the 2008 election:
over 40,000 unique daily
visitors
After 2012 Election
Why the Internet?
Reduced expense of online communication is key to the rapid
expansion of hate groups (traditional print media costs: production
and distribution)
Anonymous access, sophisticated Web design with audio/video
plugins, relative lack of regulation
Major themes:
speak out against the gay lifestyle
sponsoring organizations typically identifies itself with
Christian, family-oriented values
Hate
Hate is not simply prejudice or dislike of some person or group;
hate is “repulsion and justification of violence or oppression against
those different from us”
Hate crimes are illegal, but hate speech (generally protected by the
First Amendment) is not
Anti-Gay Speech on the Internet
Construction of narratives that misrepresent the gay lifestyle to
create a basis for hatred
child molestation
disease spreading
mentally unstable
deviant
Christian organizations declare homosexuality as ‘the chief enemy
of a natural family’ and that ‘same-sex marriage will lead to the
degradation of society’
Less than Human
Techniques for reducing individuals to a singular (undesirable) trait
lays the groundwork for making verbal and physical violence
acceptable
Beyond constructing dehumanizing representations, some anti-gay
Web sites encourage some type of call to action
Westboro Baptist Church (godhatesfags.com)
justification of their hatred rooted in biblical teachings
American (hyper)patriotism to promote the virtues of
hating gays and lesbians (homosexuality = un-American)
Postsecret Community Blogging
Postsecret
Self-disclose on a postcard?
Potential for relational and
identity resolution
sharing a secret on the
blog might be a way to
help others
Normalization of Men’s Violence
Against Women
The song’s lyrics and video imagery
reproduce cultural myths about intimate
partner violence:
Men and women are equally
responsible for perpetuating violence
in a relationship
Women ‘ask’ to be abused
Violence is a means to ignite sexual
arousal
Tough Guise (Documentary)
Worldwide, domestic violence is as serious as a cause for death and
incapacity among women aged 15-49 years as cancer, and a greater
cause of ill health than traffic accidents and malaria combined
Racial Microaggressions
commonplace verbal behavioral or environmental indignities that
communicate hostile, derogatory or negative racial slights toward people of
color:
microassult
microinsult
microinvalidation
Almost all interracial encounters are prone to microaggressions
President Clinton’s Race Advisory Board - racism continues to plague the
US:
one of the most divisive forces in our society
racial
legacies of the past continue to haunt current policies and
practices
racial inequalities are so deeply ingrained in American society that they
are nearly invisible
most white Americans are unaware of the advantages they enjoy
The Changing Face of Racism
In the post-civil rights era, racism has undergone a transformation:
modern racism, symbolic racism, aversive racism
Emphasize that racism is more likely to be disguised and covert,
ambiguous and more difficult to identify and acknowledge.
association to rigid ‘traditional American’ values: individualism,
self-reliance, hard work, etc.
The invisible nature of this new racism prevents meaningful dialogue
about race in society
so pervasive and automatic in daily conversations and interactions
that they are often dismissed and glossed over as being innocent
and innocuous
Microassault
Explicit racial derogation by either verbal or nonverbal means:
name-calling, avoidant behavior, purposeful discriminatory
actions.
referring to someone as ‘colored’ or ‘Oriental’ or using racial
epithets
Most likely to be conscious and deliberate
only hold notions of others inferiority privately
only display them publicly when they (a) lose control or (b)
feel relatively safe to engage in a microassult
Microinsult
Communication that convey rudeness, insensitivity and demean a
person’s racial heritage or identity
“I believe the most qualified person person should get the job,
regardless of race” or “How did you get your job?”
underlying message: (a) people of color are not qualified and
(b) as a minoritized group member, you must have obtained
the position through some affirmative action or quota
program (regardless of qualifications)
Nonverbal: failure of acknowledgement, avoiding eye contact, etc.
conveys to the person of color that they and their
contributions are unimportant
Microinvalidation
Communications that exclude, negate or nullify the thoughts,
feelings or experiential reality of a person of color
“You speak very good English” or “I dont see color” or “We
are all human beings” or “Dont be so oversensitive”
The Catch-22 of Responding to
Microaggressions
Determine whether a microaggression has occurred
use of experiential reality and others validation
Deciding to do nothing
frequent occurrence: (a) unable to determine whether a
microaggression has occurred (b) at a loss for how to
respond (c) fearful of the consequences (d) rationalizing that
‘it wont do any good’ and (e) engaging in self-deception
Responding with (perceived) anger is likely to engender negative
consequences:
accused of being racially oversensitive or playing the ‘race
card’
told that their emotional outbursts confirm stereotypes about
people of color
New (Media) Ways of Responding
Shit White Girls Say...To Black Girls
Shit White Girls Say... To Black Girls part 2