Hate Spin: The Manufacture of Religious Offense and Its Threat to Democracy (Information Policy)

In The United States, Elements Of The Religious Right Fuel Fears Of An Existential Islamic Threat, Spreading Anti-muslim Rhetoric Into Mainstream Politics. In Indonesia, Muslim Absolutists Urge Suppression Of Churches And Minority Sects, Fostering A Climate Of Rising Intolerance. In India, Narendra Modi's Radical Supporters Instigate Communal Riots And Academic Censorship In Pursuit Of Their Hindu Nationalist Vision. Outbreaks Of Religious Intolerance Are Usually Assumed To Be Visceral And Spontaneous. But In Hate Spin, Cherian George Shows That They Often Involve Sophisticated Campaigns Manufactured By Political Opportunists To Mobilize Supporters And Marginalize Opponents. Right-wing Networks Orchestrate The Giving Of Offense And The Taking Of Offense As Instruments Of Identity Politics, Exploiting Democratic Space To Promote Agendas That Undermine Democratic Values. George Calls This Strategy Hate Spin -- A Double-sided Technique That Combines Hate Speech (incitement Through Vilification) With Manufactured Offense-taking (the Performing Of Righteous Indignation). It Is Deployed In Societies As Diverse As Buddhist Myanmar And Orthodox Christian Russia. George Looks At The World's Three Largest Democracies, Where Intolerant Groups Within India's Hindu Right, America's Christian Right, And Indonesia's Muslim Right Are All Accomplished Users Of Hate Spin. He Also Shows How The Internet And Google Have Opened Up New Opportunities For Cross-border Hate Spin. George Argues That Governments Must Protect Vulnerable Communities By Prohibiting Calls To Action That Lead Directly To Discrimination And Violence. But Laws That Try To Protect Believers' Feelings Against All Provocative Expression Invariably Backfire. They Arm Hate Spin Agents' Offense-taking Campaigns With Legal Ammunition. Anti-discrimination Laws And A Commitment To Religious Equality Will Protect Communities More Meaningfully Than Misguided Attempts To Insulate Them From Insult. Hate Spin As Politics By Other Means -- By What Rules? : Human Rights And Religious Authority -- God, Google, And The Globalization Of Offendedness -- India : Narendra Modi And The Harnessing Of Hate -- Indonesia : Democracy Tested Amid Rising Religious Intolerance -- United States : Exceptional Freedoms, Fabricated Fears -- Pushing Back, Through Media And Civil Society -- Assertive Pluralism For A World Of Irreducible Diversity. Cherian George. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. How right-wing political entrepreneurs around the world use religious offense—both given and taken—to mobilize supporters and marginalize opponents. In the United States, elements of the religious right fuel fears of an existential Islamic threat, spreading anti-Muslim rhetoric into mainstream politics. In Indonesia, Muslim absolutists urge suppression of churches and minority sects, fostering a climate of rising intolerance. In India, Narendra Modi's radical supporters instigate communal riots and academic censorship in pursuit of their Hindu nationalist vision. Outbreaks of religious intolerance are usually assumed to be visceral and spontaneous. But in Hate Spin , Cherian George shows that they often involve sophisticated campaigns manufactured by political opportunists to mobilize supporters and marginalize opponents. Right-wing networks orchestrate the giving of offense and the taking of offense as instruments of identity politics, exploiting democratic space to promote agendas that undermine democratic values. George calls this strategy “hate spin”—a double-sided technique that combines hate speech (incitement through vilification) with manufactured offense-taking (the performing of righteous indignation). It is deployed in societies as diverse as Buddhist Myanmar and Orthodox Christian Russia. George looks at the world's three largest democracies, where intolerant groups within India's Hindu right, America's Christian right, and Indonesia's Muslim right are all accomplished users of hate spin. He also shows how the Internet and Google have opened up new opportunities for cross-border hate spin. George argues that governments must protect vulnerable communities by prohibiting calls to action that lead directly to discrimination and violence. But laws that try to protect believers' feelings against all provocative expression invariably backfire. They arm hate spin agents' offense-taking campaigns with legal ammunition. Anti-discrimination laws and a commitment to religious equality will protect communities more meaningfully than misguided attempts to insulate them from insult. Contents 9 Series Editor’s Introduction 11 Preface 15 Acknowledgments 19 1 Hate Spin as Politics by Other Means 21 An Overview 25 An Interdisciplinary Approach to Hate Spin 29 Offense-Giving: Hate Speech and Its Harms 32 Offense-Taking: Manufactured Indignation 37 A Growth Industry? 41 2 By What Rules? Human Rights and Religious Authority 45 The Human Rights Perspective 46 Dimensions of Difference 53 The US First Amendment: A More Liberal Standard 61 Defamation of Religion: The Traditionalist Challenge 66 Religion and Democracy 69 3 God, Google, and the Globalization of Offendedness 77 Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses 79 The Jyllands-Posten Prophet Muhammad Cartoons 81 The Innocence of Muslims Video 86 Regulating Internet Intermediaries 91 Spoilers, Trolls, and Symbolic Targets 97 4 India: Narendra Modi and the Harnessing of Hate 103 The Rise of Hindu Nationalism 104 Sectarianism and the Regulation of Offense 109 Hate Speech on the Road to 2014 114 The Battleground of History 121 A Year Later 128 5 Indonesia: Democracy Tested amid Rising Intolerance 131 Religion in Indonesian Democracy 133 The Legal Environment 139 Anti-Christian Hate 142 The Persecution of Deviance 145 A Consolidated Democracy of Uncertain Quality 150 6 United States: Exceptional Freedoms, Fabricated Fears 159 The First Amendment and the Culture Wars 162 The Cultivation of Islamophobia 166 Opposition to Mosques 169 Challenging Books 175 Targeting Sharia 178 Adapting to Exceptional Conditions 182 7 Pushing Back, Through Media and Civil Society 185 The Mixed Media Landscape 187 Crowdsourced Hate Spin 200 Responses from Civil Society 203 A Role for Faith-Based Groups 208 8 Assertive Pluralism for a World of Irreducible Diversity 211 How Hate Spin Works 213 How the Law Should Respond 222 From Speech to Equality 228 Notes 239 Preface 239 Chapter 1 239 Chapter 2 245 Chapter 3 251 Chapter 4 256 Chapter 5 263 Chapter 6 269 Chapter 7 275 Chapter 8 281 References 287 Index 313 Eruptions of religious intolerance are often described as spontaneous and visceral. This book, however, argues that most major episodes of religious offense are purposefully manufactured by political entrepreneurs. These actors use “hate spin” as an instrument of contentious politics. Hate spin combines conventional hate speech with the more novel strategy of offense-taking. In either of these two modes—vilification or indignation—hate spin stokes up communities’ fears, exploits identity politics, and instigates mob action. It oppresses minorities and degrades the culture of tolerance essential for democratic life. This book analyzes how hate spin works and what it means for freedom of expression. It examines the phenomenon in the world’s three largest democracies, showing how the Hindu right in India, the Muslim right in Indonesia and the Christian right in United States have all employed variants of the same strategy. It also looks at major trans-boundary cases, including online. International human rights norms provide a workable framework for a policy response. States need to prohibit incitement that would cause actual harm to vulnerable groups. But blasphemy laws and other attempts to enforce respect for religion backfire by allowing hate spin agents to hijack state power for their offense-taking campaigns. More can be achieved by promoting equality and fighting discrimination than by regulating speech. Beyond the law, resisting hate spin requires the cooperation of media and civil society, morally courageous political leadership, and an inclusive framing of national identity. Research on digital communication and society is rapidly expanding within the field of media and communication studies as global connectivity reaches the remotest parts of the world. Mobile devices and the internet are providing new means of entry into the digital age, and the number of stakeholders with an interest in the communication environment is growing fast. 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The result is both an invaluable, interdisciplinary reference and a springboard for students and scholars who want to learn about specific social and political movements, and the various concepts, perspectives, and methodologies used to analyze those movements This three volume encyclopedia comprises over 400 entries in a user-friendly A-Z format. The coverage is broad-based, and reflects major social and political movements and related collective phenomena throughout segments of history and across the world: from the antislavery movement, to the Tiananmen Square student protests of 1989, to the Arab Spring. This work brings together leading scholars, all of whom come to the project with exemplary track records and international standing. As you would expect from a resource in this field, the contributor team spans several disciplines and includes scholars from over twenty-five countries. The result is both an invaluable, interdisciplinary reference and a springboard for students and scholars who want to learn about specific social and political movements, and the various concepts, perspectives, and methodologies used to analyze these movements. Comprehensive, authoritative, interdisciplinary, and up-to-date, The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social and Political Movements contains over 400 entries across three volumes, exploring social and political movements and related collective phenomena throughout the world. Comprises over 400 entries about major social and political movements and related collective phenomena throughout segments of history and across the world: from the antislavery movement, to the Tiananmen Square student protests of 1989, to the Arab Spring Eruptions of religious intolerance are often described as spontaneous and visceral. This work, however, argues that most major episodes of religious offense are purposefully manufactured by political entrepreneurs