Extremism & Whataboutism: A Case Study on Bangalore Riots
- Saloni Dash ,
- Gazal Shekhawat ,
- Syeda Zainab Akbar ,
- Joyojeet Pal
ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW21) |
Published by ACM | Organized by ACM
Editor(s): Shruti Phadke, Jessie Seiler, Tanushree Mitra, Kiran Garimella, Matthew Costello, James Hawdon
Workshop on Addressing Challenges and Opportunities in Online Extremism Research: An Interdisciplinary Perspective
A common diversionary tactic used to deflect attention from contested issues is whataboutery, or whataboutism which, when used by dominant groups to justify their behaviour against marginalised communities, can quickly devolve into extremism. We explore the manifestations of extreme speech in the Indian context, through a case study of violent protests and policing in the city of Bangalore, provoked by a derogatory Facebook post. Analyses of the dominant narratives on Twitter surrounding the incident reveal that most of them employ whataboutism to deflect attention from the triggering post and serve as breeding grounds for religion-based extreme speech. We conclude by discussing how our study proposes an alternative lens of viewing extremism in the Global South.