Anti-Muslim prejudice in the virtual space: A case study of blog network structure and message features of the ‘Ground Zero mosque controversy’

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to understand how an extremist blog advanced its perspective in the public sphere and further generated public support for prejudicial opinions against Muslims in the US. The authors utilize the case study method, hyperlink network analysis and centering resonance analysis to uncover details of the linkage and message features of the blog. The findings show that this blog developed a highly polarized network that engaged like-minded others, prominent public figures and mainstream media. Additionally, content of the blog employed cultural stereotypes that resonated deeply with public sentiments. Further, the network position and content features of the blog were not static attributions, but constantly evolved as the issue developed. Theoretical and political implications are discussed.

Keywords

blog network controversy Ground Zero mosque Islamophobia Muslim stereotypes

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Adamic

(1999) The small world web. Proceedings of 3rd European Conference of Research and Advanced Technology for Digital Libraries, ECDL.

Ali

. (2011) Fear, Inc.: The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America. Available at: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/08/pdf/islamophobia.pdf (accessed December 2012).

Arendt

(1968) Truth and politics. In: Arendt

(ed.) Between Past and Future: Eight Exercises in Political Thought. New York: Viking Press.

Bahnisch

(2006) The political uses of blogs. In: Bruns

Jacobs

(eds) Uses of Blogs. New York: Peter Lang, 139–149.

Barabasi

(2002) Linked: The New Science of Networks. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing.

Barnard

Feuer

(2010) Outraged, and outrageous. The New York Times, 10 October, MB1.

Bigelow

Fahey

(1993) A typology of issue evolution. Business and Society 32(1): 18–29.

Borgatti

Everett

Freeman

(2002) Ucinet for Windows: Software for social network analysis. Harvard, MA: Analytic Technologies.

Butsch

(2007) Media and Public Spheres. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

10.

Canary

Jennings

(2007) Principles and influence in codes of ethics: A centering resonance analysis comparing pre- and post-Sarbanes-Oxley codes of ethics. Journal of Business Ethics 80: 263–278 (DOI 10.1007/s10551–007–9417–1).

11.

Christian Science Monitor (2010) How to get past the zero-sum debate over planned mosque near Ground Zero. Newspaper Source Plus, 17 August.

12.

CNN (2012) U.S. warns of rising threat of violence amid outrage over anti-Islam video, 14 September. Available at: http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/13/world/meast/embassy-attacks-main/ (accessed December 2012).

13.

Corman

. (2002) Studying complex discursive systems: Centering resonance analysis of communication. Human Communication Research 28: 157–206.

14.

Crawdad Technologies, LLC (2005) Crawdad text analysis system version 1.2.

15.

Elliott

(2010) How the ‘Ground Zero mosque’ fear mongering began. Available at http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/08/16/ground_zero_mosque_origins (accessed December 2012).

16.

Flyvbjerg

(2006) Five misunderstandings about case-study research. Qualitative Inquiry 12(2): 219–245.

17.

Ghosh

(2010) Islamophobia: What’s behind the protests over mosques. Time, 30 August: 20–26. Available at: http://fortune.com/?s=Islamophobia%3A+What%E2%80%99s+behind+the+protests+over+mosques (accessed 10 December 2012).

18.

Gonzalez-Bailon

(2009) Opening the black box of link formation: Social factors underlying the structure of the web. Social Networks 31: 271–280.

19.

Goodstein

(2010) American Muslims ask, will we ever belong? The New York Times, 5 September. Available at: www.nytreprints.com (accessed December 2012).

20.

Habermas

(1989) The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

21.

Halavais

Garrido

(2003) Mapping networks of support for the Zapatista movement. In: McCaughy

Ayers

(eds) Cyberactivism: Online Activism in Theory and Practice. London: Routledge.

22.

Hargittai

Gallo

Kane

(2005) Cross-ideological discussions among top conservative and liberal bloggers. In: Drezner

Farrell

(eds) The Political Promise of Blogging. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

23.

Harp

Tremayne

(2006) The gendered blogosphere: Examining inequality using network and feminist theory. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 83(2): 247–264.

24.

Hauben

(1997) Netcitizen. London: Wiley.

25.

Himelboim

McCreery

Smith

(2013) Birds of a feather Tweet together: Integrating network and content analyses to examine cross-ideology exposure on Twitter. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 18: 154–174 (DOI: 10.1111/jcc4.12001).

26.

Huffaker

(2010) Dimensions of leadership and social influence in online communities. Human Communication Research 36: 593–617 (DOI: 10.1111/j.1468–2958.2010.01390.x).

27.

Jackson

(1997) Assessing the structure of the communication on the World Wide Web, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 3(1). Available at: http://www.ascusc.org/jcmc/vol3/issue1/jackson.htm (accessed December 2012).

28.

Jacobs

Rushkoff

(2006) Blogs and the communications renaissance. In: Bruns

Jacobs

(eds) Users of Blogs. New York: Peter Lang, 239–247.

29.

Khan

(2013) Sharia Law, Islamophobia and the U.S. Constitution: New tectonic plates of the culture wars. University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class 12(1): 123–139.

30.

Khiabany

Williamson

(2012) Terror, culture and anti-Muslim racism. In: Freedman

Thussu

(eds) Media and Terrorism: Global Perspectives. London: Sage.

31.

Mahon

Waddock

(1992) Strategic issues management: An integration of issue lifecycle perspectives. Business & Society 31(1): 19–32.

32.

Marranci

(2004) Multiculturalism, Islam and the clash of civilizations theory: Rethinking Islamophobia. Culture and Religion 5(1): 105–117.

33.

McClary

(2012) Attacks on US mosques prompt Muslim security concerns. NBC News, 17 August. Available at: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/17/13321512-attacks-on-us-mosques-prompt-muslim-security-concerns?lite (accessed December 2012)

34.

McPhee

Corman

Dooley

(2002) Organizational knowledge expression and management: Centering resonance analysis of organizational discourse. Management Communication Quarterly 16: 274–281.

35.

McPherson

Smith-Lovin

Cook

(2001) Birds of a feather: Homophily in social networks. Annual Review of Sociology 27: 415–444.

36.

Meraz

(2009) Is there an elite hold? Traditional media to social media agenda setting influence in blog networks. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 14: 682–707.

37.

Mill

(1956[1859]) On Liberty. Indianapolis: Bobbs–Merrill.

38.

Nacos

Torres-Reyna

(2007) Fueling Our Fears: Stereotyping, Media Coverage, and Public Opinion of Muslim Americans. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.

39.

Ostrow

(2010) Mislabeled mosque spins fears. The Denver Post, 22 August: E01.

40.

Papacharissi

(2002) The virtual sphere: The Internet as a public sphere. New Media and Society, 4(1): 9–27.

41.

Park

(2003) Hyperlink network analysis: A new method for the study of social structure on the web. Connections 25: 49−61.

42.

Park

Thelwall

(2003) Hyperlink analyses of the World Wide Web: A review. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, 6. Available at: http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol8/issue4/park.html (accessed December 2012).

43.

Park

Thelwall

(2008) Link analysis: Hyperlink patterns and social structure on politicians’ web sites in South Korea. Quality& Quantity 42: 687–697.

44.

Reese

. (2007) Mapping the blogosphere: Professional and citizen-based media in the global news arena. Journalism 8(3): 235–261.

45.

Rehman

(2007) 9/11 and the war on terrorism: The clash of ‘words’, ‘cultures’ and ‘civilizations’: Myth or reality. In: Craith

(ed.) Language, Power, and Identity Politics. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 198–215.

46.

Roy

Ross

(2011) The circle of terror: Strategic localizations of global media terror meta-discourses in the U.S., India and Scotland. Media, War & Conflict 4(3): 1–15.

47.

Said

(1981) Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World. New York: Vintage.

48.

Shaheen

(2001) Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People. New York: Olive Branch.

49.

Shane

(2011) Killings spotlight anti-Muslim thoughts in U.S. The New York Times, 25 July: A1.

50.

Snobelen

(2010) Ground Zero tumult groundless. London Free Press, 28 August: E5.

51.

Tremayne

. (2006) Issue publics on the Web: Applying network theory to the war blogosphere. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 12(1): 290–310.

52.

Tyler

Wilkinson

Huberman

(2005) E-mail as spectroscopy: Automated discovery of community structure within organizations. The Information Society: An International Journal 21(2): 143–153.

53.

Van Dijk

(1997) Political discourse and racism: Describing others in Western parliaments. In: Riggins

(ed.) The Language and Politics of Exclusion: Others in Discourse. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 31–64.

54.

Wall

(2005) Blogs of war: Weblogs as news. Journalism 6(2): 153–172.

55.

Wasserman

Faust

(1994) Social Network Analysis: Methods and Applications. New York: Cambridge University Press.

56.

Wojcieszak

(2011) Computer-mediated false consensus: Radical online groups, social networks and news media. Mass Communication and Society 14: 527–546.

57.

Yang

(2012) When transnational civil network meets local context: An exploratory hyperlink network analysis of Northern/Southern NGOs’ virtual network in China. Journal of International & Intercultural Communication 5(3): 40–60.

58.

Yardi

Boyd

(2010) Tweeting from the town square: Measuring geographic local networks. Proceedings of the Fourth International AAAI Conference on Weblogs and Social Media, New England, May.

59.

Yin

(1994) Case Study Research: Design and Methods. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.