Hashtag Comedy: From Muslim Rage to #Muslimrage

Liz Sills, null

doi:10.13169/reorient.2.2.0160

ScienceOpen: research and publishing network

For Publishers

For Researchers

Blog
About

Search
Advanced search

530

views

recommends

If you have found this article useful and you think it is important that researchers across the world have access, please consider donating, to ensure that this valuable collection remains Open Access.

ReOrient is published by Pluto Journals, an Open Access publisher. This means that everyone has free and unlimited access to the full-text of all articles from our international collection of social science journals, and the authors don’t pay an author processing charge (APC’s).

scite_

ReOrient

Volume 2, Issue 2

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: found

Is Open Access

Hashtag Comedy: From Muslim Rage to #Muslimrage

Published

research-article

Author(s): Liz Sills

Publication date (Print): Spring 2017

Journal: ReOrient

Publisher: Pluto Journals

Keywords: comedy, Twitter, Islam, cultural studies, media studies

Abstract

After Newsweek published an article in 2012 entitled “Muslim Rage and the Last Gasp of Islamic Hate,” Twitter proliferated with jokes under the hashtag #MuslimRage. These funny one-liners acted as rebuttals to the negative affect of the Newsweek article by opposing its images of uncontrolled ideological anger with funny quips about the innocuous nature of everyday Muslim life. This analysis argues that #MuslimRage tweets became sensational because of their unique form of argumentation through humor that could only happen through Twitter. Because tweets are iconic and enthymematic, they make arguments that function as a form of individualized, massively resonant counterpropaganda. For Muslims, digital jokes created cognitive space of action that directly combated negative stereotyping and public ridicule.

Content

Author and article information

Contributors

Liz Sills

Journal

Journal ID (doi): 10.13169

Journal ID (publisher-id): reorient

Title: ReOrient

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN (Print): 20555601

ISSN (Electronic): 2055561X

Publication date (Print): Spring 2017

Volume: 2

Issue: 2

Pages: 160-174

Affiliations

Liz Sills, Department of Languages, Literature, and Communication, Northern State University, Aberdeen, SD, USA.

Article

Publisher ID: reorient.2.2.0160

DOI: 10.13169/reorient.2.2.0160

SO-VID: ae53497f-29be-4768-a3d0-e0285ca4563e

License:

All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

History

References

Associated Press (2012) Newsweek ending its print publication after 80 years, will shift to all-digital format. The Washington Post . Available at: http://www.washingtonpost.com (accessed 6 April 2017).
Burke, K. (1973) The Philosophy of Literary Form . Berkeley: University of California Press.
Byers, D. (2012) Newsweek cover: “the first gay president.” Politico . Available at: http://www.politico.com (accessed 6 April 2017).
Chappell, B. (2012) “Muslim rage” explodes on Twitter, but in a funny way (yes, really). The Two-Way: Breaking News from NPR . Available at: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/ (accessed 6 April 2017).
Cicero, M. T. (2001) On the Ideal Orator . James M. May and Jakob Wise (Trans.) New York: Oxford University Press.
Crick, N. (2011) Rhetorical Public Speaking . Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Ellul, J. (1965) Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes . New York: Vintage Books.
Foran, C. (2016) How American Muslim women are taking on Trump. The Atlantic . Available at: http://www.theatlantic.com (accessed 6 April 2017).
Furedi, F. (2005) Politics of Fear: Beyond Left and Right . London: Continuum International Publishing Group.
Gruner, C. R. (1965) An experimental study of satire as persuasion. Speech Monographs . 32, 149–54.
Hashtags.org (2012a) Hashtag analytics. Hashtags.org. Available at: http://www.hashtags.org (accessed 6 April 2017).
Hashtags.org (2012b) Twitter finds humor in congressional gridlock with #StarWarsFiscalCliff.Hashtags.org. Available at: http://www.hashtags.org (accessed 6 April 2017).
Hayworth, D. (1928) The social origin and function of laughter. Psychological Review . 35 (5), 367–84.
Help Center (2012) What are hashtags (“#” symbols)? Twitter. Available at: http://twitter.com (accessed 6 April 2017).
Huang, C. (2011) Facebook and Twitter key to Arab Spring uprisings: Report. The National . Available at: http://www.thenational.ae (accessed 6 April 2017).
Lakhoff, G. (2004) Don't Think of an Elephant! Know Your Values and Frame the Debate . White River Junction: Chelsea Green.
Lingarajan, F. (2011) <Jihad> as an Ideograph: Osama bin Laden's Rhetorical Weapon of Choice (Master's thesis). Available at: http://etd.lib.umt.edu/theses/available/etd-06212011-100541/ (accessed 6 April 2017).
McLuhan, M. (1999) Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man . Cambridge: The MIT Press.
Meyer, J. C. (2000) Humor as a double-edged sword: Four functions of humor in communication. Communication Theory . 10 (3), 310–31.
Mirkinson, J. (2012) Newsweek's “MUSLIM RAGE” cover draws angry protest. The Huffington Post . Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com (accessed 6 April 2017).
Morris, D. (1967) The Naked Ape . New York: Dell.
Powell, K. A. (2011) Framing Islam: An analysis of U.S. media coverage of terrorism since 9/11. Communication Studies . 62 (1), 90–112.
Read, M. (2012) 13 powerful images of Muslim rage. Gawker . Available at: http://gawker.com (accessed 6 April 2017).
Sasseen, J., Matsa, K., and Mitchell, A. (2013) News Magazines: Embracing their digital future. The State of the News Media 2013: An Annual Report on American Journalism . Available at: http://www.stateofthemedia.org (accessed 6 April 2017).
Selby, G. S. (2005) Scoffing at the enemy: The Burlesque frame in the rhetoric of Ralph David Abernathy. Southern Communication Journal . 70 (2), 134–45.
Shams, S. (2012) Pakistani shiites face “sectarian cleansing”: Experts. Deutsche Welle . Available at: http://www.dw.de (accessed 6 April 2017).
Sieczkowski, C. (2012) Paris Hilton store in Holy City of Mecca sparks outrage. The Huffington Post . Available at: http://huffingtonpost.com (accessed 6 April 2017).
Young, D. G. (2004) Late-night comedy in election 2000: Its influence on candidate trait ratings and the moderating effects of political knowledge and partisanship. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media . 48 (1), 1–22.
Young, D. G. (2008) The privileged role of the late-night joke: Exploring humor's role in disrupting argument scrutiny. Media Psychology . 11 (1), 119–42.
Zappavigna, M. (2011) Ambient affiliation: A linguistic perspective on Twitter. New Media & Society . 13 (5), 788–806.

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] Associated Press (2012) Newsweek ending its print publication after 80 years, will shift to all-digital format. The Washington Post . Available at: http://www.washingtonpost.com (accessed 6 April 2017).

[2] Burke, K. (1973) The Philosophy of Literary Form . Berkeley: University of California Press.

[3] Byers, D. (2012) Newsweek cover: “the first gay president.” Politico . Available at: http://www.politico.com (accessed 6 April 2017).

[4] Chappell, B. (2012) “Muslim rage” explodes on Twitter, but in a funny way (yes, really). The Two-Way: Breaking News from NPR . Available at: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/ (accessed 6 April 2017).

[5] Cicero, M. T. (2001) On the Ideal Orator . James M. May and Jakob Wise (Trans.) New York: Oxford University Press.

[6] Crick, N. (2011) Rhetorical Public Speaking . Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

[7] Ellul, J. (1965) Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes . New York: Vintage Books.

[8] Foran, C. (2016) How American Muslim women are taking on Trump. The Atlantic . Available at: http://www.theatlantic.com (accessed 6 April 2017).

[9] Furedi, F. (2005) Politics of Fear: Beyond Left and Right . London: Continuum International Publishing Group.

[10] Gruner, C. R. (1965) An experimental study of satire as persuasion. Speech Monographs . 32, 149–54.

[11] Hashtags.org (2012a) Hashtag analytics. Hashtags.org. Available at: http://www.hashtags.org (accessed 6 April 2017).

[12] Hashtags.org (2012b) Twitter finds humor in congressional gridlock with #StarWarsFiscalCliff.Hashtags.org. Available at: http://www.hashtags.org (accessed 6 April 2017).

[13] Hayworth, D. (1928) The social origin and function of laughter. Psychological Review . 35 (5), 367–84.

[14] Help Center (2012) What are hashtags (“#” symbols)? Twitter. Available at: http://twitter.com (accessed 6 April 2017).

[15] Huang, C. (2011) Facebook and Twitter key to Arab Spring uprisings: Report. The National . Available at: http://www.thenational.ae (accessed 6 April 2017).

[16] Lakhoff, G. (2004) Don't Think of an Elephant! Know Your Values and Frame the Debate . White River Junction: Chelsea Green.

[17] Lingarajan, F. (2011) <Jihad> as an Ideograph: Osama bin Laden's Rhetorical Weapon of Choice (Master's thesis). Available at: http://etd.lib.umt.edu/theses/available/etd-06212011-100541/ (accessed 6 April 2017).

[18] McLuhan, M. (1999) Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man . Cambridge: The MIT Press.

[19] Meyer, J. C. (2000) Humor as a double-edged sword: Four functions of humor in communication. Communication Theory . 10 (3), 310–31.

[20] Mirkinson, J. (2012) Newsweek's “MUSLIM RAGE” cover draws angry protest. The Huffington Post . Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com (accessed 6 April 2017).

[21] Morris, D. (1967) The Naked Ape . New York: Dell.

[22] Powell, K. A. (2011) Framing Islam: An analysis of U.S. media coverage of terrorism since 9/11. Communication Studies . 62 (1), 90–112.

[23] Read, M. (2012) 13 powerful images of Muslim rage. Gawker . Available at: http://gawker.com (accessed 6 April 2017).

[24] Sasseen, J., Matsa, K., and Mitchell, A. (2013) News Magazines: Embracing their digital future. The State of the News Media 2013: An Annual Report on American Journalism . Available at: http://www.stateofthemedia.org (accessed 6 April 2017).

[25] Selby, G. S. (2005) Scoffing at the enemy: The Burlesque frame in the rhetoric of Ralph David Abernathy. Southern Communication Journal . 70 (2), 134–45.

[26] Shams, S. (2012) Pakistani shiites face “sectarian cleansing”: Experts. Deutsche Welle . Available at: http://www.dw.de (accessed 6 April 2017).

[27] Sieczkowski, C. (2012) Paris Hilton store in Holy City of Mecca sparks outrage. The Huffington Post . Available at: http://huffingtonpost.com (accessed 6 April 2017).

[28] Young, D. G. (2004) Late-night comedy in election 2000: Its influence on candidate trait ratings and the moderating effects of political knowledge and partisanship. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media . 48 (1), 1–22.

[29] Young, D. G. (2008) The privileged role of the late-night joke: Exploring humor's role in disrupting argument scrutiny. Media Psychology . 11 (1), 119–42.

[30] Zappavigna, M. (2011) Ambient affiliation: A linguistic perspective on Twitter. New Media & Society . 13 (5), 788–806.

ReOrient

Hashtag Comedy: From Muslim Rage to #Muslimrage

Contributors

Journal

Affiliations

Article

History

Categories

Comment on this article