Abstract
In September 2012, Newsweek magazine used the headline “Muslim Rage” accompanied by an image of angry bearded men as its front cover page. After harsh critique, it invited its readers to discuss the front cover via Twitter under the hashtag #MuslimRage. Unexpectedly for Newsweek, this request triggered an ironic subversion of the notion of “Muslim rage”: social media became tools in a subversive discourse where users did not only play with the notion itself, but ridiculed Western fears of “raging” Muslims. Drawing upon the reactions on Twitter and other social media the article scrutinizes how humor and irony as political and networked social practices provide a means for marginalized groups to establish a counter-discourse.
Keywords
social media, irony, political humor, emotions, Muslims
How to Cite
Schwell, A., (2015) “#MUSLIMRAGE”, Ethnologia Europaea 45(2), 86-104. doi: https://doi.org/10.16995/ee.1170
Publisher Notes
- This article was previously published by Museum Tusculanum Press.