Tweet
Cihan News Agency (CNA), Turkey
October 24, 2014 Friday
Dr. Titley : With social media comes opportunities for hate speech
Ä°STANBUL (CÄ°HAN)- Irish scholar Dr. Gavan Titley spoke to an audience
addressing "hate speech" in social media at BoÄ?azici University in
Ä°stanbul in a program presented in partnership with the Hrant Dink
Foundation on Thursday.
His presentation entitled, `The circulation of `hate `in a hybrid
media environment: System, context and content,' addressed hate speech
in popular media, particularly social media. Titley's research focused
on not just the use of hate speech but the qualifications for hate
speech.
Titley explained that social media is commonly accepted as the largest
and most accessible platform for hate speech. Most common social media
websites, especially Twitter and Facebook, which are becoming sources
for news and are free for anyone with access to internet, the hegemony
over who addresses the general public is naturally disintegrating.
Although, Titley argued that there is still hegemony to some degree
within social media that comes from the `power' or `importance' of a
person ` as measured by their followers.
With the boom of social media also comes a grey area between what is
professional, what is social and what is political, explained the
scholar. Another aspect about the uncertainty of hate speech is that
while hate speech is a legal matter, it is also a sensual matter,
according to Titley. He explained that if there is a statement that
one sees on the internet and if that same statement was written on a
wall and you see it when walking down the street, and it is offensive
and discriminatory to the extent that it infringes on one freedom or
the right for security, then it should be considered hate speech.
The issue of hegemony in social media and hate speech is a matter that
occurs often in Turkish politics. Only last week, Ankara Mayor Melih
Gökçek made provocative remarks concerning Kurds, Armenians and
atheists on his Twitter page.
The mayor tweeted, `Peace to the Kurds in the east who are putting
their lives on the line for the nation [Turkey] and solidarity and for
Islam.' In his next tweet, Gökçek continued, `But there are those
posing as Kurds that are actually Armenian atheists... (By the way, I
absolve our Armenian brothers and sisters that are citizens of their
nation.)' In this message, the Mayor referred to `hidden' Armenians
who pretended to be Muslim Kurds in the Dersim mountains to avoid
persecution during the massacres of Armenians in 1915.
Mayor Gökçek received a lot of negative feedback and was criticized
for making discriminatory remarks against Armenians and atheists.
Gökçek also illustrates the hegemony that Titley referred to for
although Gökçek is using Twitter -- a free, social media platform --
he currently has 2.09 million followers; therefore he holds a greater
chance of being heard, and to be heard is to have power, according to
Titley.
In August, a similar incident involving racist comments came from
President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an. During a television broadcast on Star
TV and NTV, President ErdoÄ?an said: `Let all Turks in Turkey say they
are Turks and all Kurds say they are Kurds. What is wrong with that?
You wouldn't believe the things they have said about me. They have
said I am Georgian ... they have said even uglier things -- they have
called me Armenian, but I am Turkish.' Criticisms were raised about
ErdoÄ?an's assertion that being Armenian is `uglier' than being
Georgian.
In his comments, ErdoÄ?an defends his Turkish identity by debasing
remarks that called him Georgian or Armenian, therefore taking pride
in his Turkish identity. Dr. Titley explained on Thursday, that hate
speech is often the result of love. He remarked: `Hate in terms of
nationalism, or hate in terms of anti-feminism, always starts from a
declaration of love. I don't actually hate them, but I love my country
or I love my identity or I love my language and I'm forced to hate
them because what they [foreigners] have done to me.' In this way,
ErdoÄ?an is putting down other ethnic groups because he shows that he
holds his Turkishness at greater value and to be considered an
Armenian would be insulting for him.
(Cihan/Today's Zaman) CÄ°HAN
October 24, 2014 Friday
Dr. Titley : With social media comes opportunities for hate speech
Ä°STANBUL (CÄ°HAN)- Irish scholar Dr. Gavan Titley spoke to an audience
addressing "hate speech" in social media at BoÄ?azici University in
Ä°stanbul in a program presented in partnership with the Hrant Dink
Foundation on Thursday.
His presentation entitled, `The circulation of `hate `in a hybrid
media environment: System, context and content,' addressed hate speech
in popular media, particularly social media. Titley's research focused
on not just the use of hate speech but the qualifications for hate
speech.
Titley explained that social media is commonly accepted as the largest
and most accessible platform for hate speech. Most common social media
websites, especially Twitter and Facebook, which are becoming sources
for news and are free for anyone with access to internet, the hegemony
over who addresses the general public is naturally disintegrating.
Although, Titley argued that there is still hegemony to some degree
within social media that comes from the `power' or `importance' of a
person ` as measured by their followers.
With the boom of social media also comes a grey area between what is
professional, what is social and what is political, explained the
scholar. Another aspect about the uncertainty of hate speech is that
while hate speech is a legal matter, it is also a sensual matter,
according to Titley. He explained that if there is a statement that
one sees on the internet and if that same statement was written on a
wall and you see it when walking down the street, and it is offensive
and discriminatory to the extent that it infringes on one freedom or
the right for security, then it should be considered hate speech.
The issue of hegemony in social media and hate speech is a matter that
occurs often in Turkish politics. Only last week, Ankara Mayor Melih
Gökçek made provocative remarks concerning Kurds, Armenians and
atheists on his Twitter page.
The mayor tweeted, `Peace to the Kurds in the east who are putting
their lives on the line for the nation [Turkey] and solidarity and for
Islam.' In his next tweet, Gökçek continued, `But there are those
posing as Kurds that are actually Armenian atheists... (By the way, I
absolve our Armenian brothers and sisters that are citizens of their
nation.)' In this message, the Mayor referred to `hidden' Armenians
who pretended to be Muslim Kurds in the Dersim mountains to avoid
persecution during the massacres of Armenians in 1915.
Mayor Gökçek received a lot of negative feedback and was criticized
for making discriminatory remarks against Armenians and atheists.
Gökçek also illustrates the hegemony that Titley referred to for
although Gökçek is using Twitter -- a free, social media platform --
he currently has 2.09 million followers; therefore he holds a greater
chance of being heard, and to be heard is to have power, according to
Titley.
In August, a similar incident involving racist comments came from
President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an. During a television broadcast on Star
TV and NTV, President ErdoÄ?an said: `Let all Turks in Turkey say they
are Turks and all Kurds say they are Kurds. What is wrong with that?
You wouldn't believe the things they have said about me. They have
said I am Georgian ... they have said even uglier things -- they have
called me Armenian, but I am Turkish.' Criticisms were raised about
ErdoÄ?an's assertion that being Armenian is `uglier' than being
Georgian.
In his comments, ErdoÄ?an defends his Turkish identity by debasing
remarks that called him Georgian or Armenian, therefore taking pride
in his Turkish identity. Dr. Titley explained on Thursday, that hate
speech is often the result of love. He remarked: `Hate in terms of
nationalism, or hate in terms of anti-feminism, always starts from a
declaration of love. I don't actually hate them, but I love my country
or I love my identity or I love my language and I'm forced to hate
them because what they [foreigners] have done to me.' In this way,
ErdoÄ?an is putting down other ethnic groups because he shows that he
holds his Turkishness at greater value and to be considered an
Armenian would be insulting for him.
(Cihan/Today's Zaman) CÄ°HAN