Dynamics of violent and dehumanizing rhetoric in far-right social media

Abstract

This article sheds light on mechanisms by which online social interactions contribute to instigating far-right political violence. It presents an analysis of how violence against ethnic and religious minorities is motivated and legitimized in social media, as well as the situational conditions for such violent rhetoric. Online violent rhetoric in a Swedish public far-right social media discussion group was studied using a combination of machine-learning tools and qualitative analysis. The analysis shows that violent rhetoric primarily occurs in the context of narratives about criminals and crimes with (imagined) immigrant perpetrators and often particularly vulnerable victims, linked to a social problem definition of a corrupt and failing state as well as the alleged need to deport immigrants. The use of dehumanizing and infrahumanizing expressions both legitimizes political violence and spurs negative emotions that may increase motivation for violent action.

The role of empathy in reducing hate speech proliferation. Two contact-based interventions in online and off-line settings.

“…After the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan in 2021, antirefugee comments became omnipresent both among regular internet users as well as in mainstream media in the United States (e.g., Fox News evening show host referring to resettling Afghan refugees in America as “invasion,” Shepherd, 2021) or Europe (e.g., Polish public TV journalist claiming that refugees are a “biological weapon,” Ćwiklak, 2021). Considering that the presence of hate speech leads to discrimination and crimes against refugees, immigrants, and minorities (Müller & Schwarz, 2021; Soral et al, 2020; Wahlström et al, 2020), more effort should be directed at developing effective strategies to counteract proliferation of hateful language in communication regarding these groups. When it comes to refugees, an often-used counter narrative to hate speech focuses on individual life stories, emotions, and traumatic experiences of those who were forced to leave their country.…”

Radicalisation, Foreign Fighters and the Ukraine Conflict: A Playground for the Far-Right?

“…The recent shock over how many Americans voted for Don-ald Trump in the 2020 election should make it clear that far-right beliefs are quite popular in some circles, and it must be a worry that even mainstream politicians have helped pedal anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, such as 'cultural Marxism' (The Guardian 2019d). Popular populist politicians have helped do similarly, and the links between such rhetoric and violence have been recognised in academic literature (Wahlström et al 2020). Examples of such ideas inciting violence are growing and include the October 2018 Tree of Life synagogue attack in the US and the radicalisation of Darren Osborne, who carried out a terror attack against Muslims in London in 2017 (The Guardian 2019a).…”

The ‘tarrant effect’: what impact did far-right attacks have on the 8chan forum?

“…Jaki et al, 2019 andCoan, 2019, on Incels.me), and should be situated within the broader research agenda using computational methods to study areas of the far-right online ecosystem (e.g. Törnberg & Wahlström, 2018;Wahlström, Törnberg, & Ekbrand, 2020;Baele, Brace, & Coan 2021). This quantitative approach should be understood as a complement to, rather than a replacement of, more interpretive qualitative work that could be developed on the basis of the present effort.…”