Online Reactions to the Muhammad Cartoons: YouTube and the Virtual Ummah

The publication of 12 cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on September 30, 2005, created a great deal of controversy over self-censorship, freedom of speech, and accusations of religious incitement. Muslim activists organized protests, and later hundreds o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal for the scientific study of religion
Main Author: Al-Rawi, Ahmed K. 1975- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Wiley-Blackwell [2015]
In: Journal for the scientific study of religion
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten / Muḥammad 570-632 / Cartoon / YouTube / Reactionary politics / Arabic language / Ummah (Religion) / Geschichte 2005-
RelBib Classification:AD Sociology of religion; religious policy
AG Religious life; material religion
BJ Islam
TK Recent history
ZG Media studies; Digital media; Communication studies
Further subjects:B Muhammad cartoons
B Arab social media
B e-jihad
B Islam
B Denmark
B Youtube
B Arab public sphere
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
Volltext (doi)
Description
Summary:The publication of 12 cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on September 30, 2005, created a great deal of controversy over self-censorship, freedom of speech, and accusations of religious incitement. Muslim activists organized protests, and later hundreds of people were killed and hundreds of others were injured due to violent reactions to the cartoons. This article focuses on how people used YouTube to react to these cartoons by analyzing 261 video clips and 4,153 comments. Results show that the majority of the video clips and comments were moderate and positive in tone toward Islam and Muhammad; however, a small percentage either called for jihad against the West or made lethal threats against the artist. Other comments carried curses or insults against Denmark, while a few others were anti-Islamic. The fact that these online reactions were highly varied in tone suggests that the online public sphere is very much divided.
ISSN:1468-5906
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal for the scientific study of religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/jssr.12191