"Memes" as an Islamophobic Hate Speech Tool

Abstract

This study examines online Islamophobic hate speech through 'internet memes', commonly known as 'caps' in Turkey, and the representation of Muslims in Islamophobic memes. Islamophobic memes were divided into themes and sub-themes through thematic analysis, which is a qualitative research method. Thus, the nature of the online representation of Islamophobic hate speech through memes has been tried to be explored. First, a category of content was created: memes with offensive text and harmless images, memes with harmless text and offensive images, and memes with both offensive text and offensive images, and secondly, by coding the content in the dataset, the themes of 'Violence,' 'Sexism,' 'Stereotyping,' and 'Dehumanization' were reached. These categorizations and themes were created according to the output obtained from the data. It is not a new phenomenon that the media and the far-right cast stereotypes on Muslims through ‘Terror’ and ‘Violence’. However, the dehumanizing approaches of Muslims by memes with offensive and dark humor show how far the dimension of Islamophobia can go in an environment where there is no mechanism to prevent any hateful behavior.

Keywords

• Islamophobia
• Online Hate Speech
• Memes
• Thematic Analysis
• Islamophobic Representation of Muslims

İslamofobik Nefret Söylemi Aracı Olarak "Mem"ler

Öz

Bu çalışmada çevrim içi nefretin en çok görüldüğü alanların başında gelen İslamofobik nefret söyleminin, uzun bir süredir dijital dünyadaki mizahı domine etmekte olan, Türkiye’de yaygın adıyla ‘caps’ olarak kullanılan ‘internet mem’leri aracılığıyla hangi türlerde gerçekleştiği ve Müslümanların, İslamofobik memlerdeki temsili ele alınmıştır. Nitel bir araştırma yöntemi olan tematik analiz yöntemiyle İslamofobik memler, tema ve alt temalara ayırılmış ve memler üzerinden İslamofobik nefret söyleminin çevrim içi mecradaki temsilinin doğası keşfedilmeye çalışılmıştır. İslamofobik içeriklerden oluşturulan veri setinden elde edilen çıktılara göre öncelikle ofansif metin ve zararsız görsel içeren memler, zararsız metin ve ofansif görsel içeren memler ve hem ofansif metin hem de ofansif görsel içeren memler olmak üzere içeriklerin bir kategorisi oluşturulmuş ve veri setindeki memlerin kodlanmasının ardından ortaya ‘Şiddet’, Cinsiyetçilik’, ‘Tek Tipleştirme’ ve ’İnsan dışılaştırma’dan oluşan ana temalar çıkartılmıştır. Medya ve aşırı sağ tarafından ‘Terör’ ve ‘Şiddet’ üzerinden Müslümanlara kalıp yargılar biçilmesi yeni bir olgu değildir. Ancak ofansif ve kara mizah ögeleri barındıran memlerin, Müslümanları insan dışılaştıran yaklaşımları İslamofobinin boyutunun herhangi bir nefret dolu davranışı engelleme mekanizmasının olmadığı bir ortamda nerelere varabileceğini göstermektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• İslamofobi
• Çevrimiçi Nefret Söylemi
• Memler
• Tematik Analiz
• Müslümanların İslamofobik Temsili

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