Exclusivism in Cyberspace: Challenges in Interfaith Communication

Abstract

This article tries to see a phenomenon called Echo Chambers through the perspective of Stella Ting-Toomey's Intercultural Communication theory. This study shows that the development of social media was also followed by the shadow of Echo Chambers. The tendency to isolate oneself and associate with those who understand one another will create separate spaces between one religion and another. As a result, communication which is an effort to eliminate the polarization of the differences between "Us" and "The Others" is precisely the way to form exclusivism in cyberspace. Among the efforts to anticipate the emergence of a gap is to create melting-pot spaces in the real world. Counter narrative also needs to be built to open these exclusive barriers. Muslim scholars sought to introduce the importance of communication in achieving the harmony in community. Some Ulama have also explained the role and function of communication in achieving the goals of the muslims, as well as trying to provide an Islamic perspective regarding communication behavior. More importantly, is to create a person who is a wise, open user of social media and uses epoche in looking at the world outside.

Covidiot di Masyarakat Post-Truth: Dari Anti-Otoritarianisme ke Anti-Religiusitas

“…Dalam konstruksinya, post-truth adalah dalil epistemologis dimana status kebenaran diafirmasi hanya jika hal itu dianggap benar oleh sebuah komunitas yang mendukungnya(Blackburn 2018:9) Post-truth kemudian semakin mendapatkan tempatnya dengan topangan media sosial yang mampu menyampaikan informasi palsu dalam waktu yang singkat dengan jangkauan yang sangat luas. (Haack 2019;Yahya, Fajari, and Farhah 2019). Dalam sejumlah penelitian, post-truth terbukti memainkan peran yang krusial dalam membentuk opini masyarakat di berbagai diskursus, dari politik praktis (Allcott and Gentzkow 2017;Barrera et al 2019;Colino, Colino, and Colino 2016;Utami 2018;Wilsdon 2018) hingga kerukunan antar umat beragama(Maulana, Awaludin, and Fauzi 2021).Logika yang sama juga melandasi pandemi COVID-19.…”