Brian Heslop

10-11-12

Final Paper Abstract

            Separated geographically and by politically-drawn lines, the nations throughout the world have traditionally engaged in conflict through physical interference. Colonization, land disputes, trade-discrepancies, revolutions, and “stone-throwing” among other events have mainly comprised the catalysts for friction and war. However, the influence of the media upon the cultural, ideological, and social domains of society has infused tension among citizens and government leaders as the media more forcefully juxtaposes each country one with another. At the latter end of the 19^th century, newspapers helped excite America to enter the Cuban War of Independence, a dispute between Cuba and Spain that did not concern the U.S. in the least. The Cold War was arguably a war amongst media; efforts to counterbalance the communist-controlled radio and television outlets is evident in the creation of Radio Free Europe. Newspapers, radio, telephone, and television have not only provided a means for conflicting countries to face each other more directly, but these media have increasingly framed the causes of conflict itself.

Now, in the 21^st century, media has become integrated into everyday society in a new way. The internet, social networks, and convergence culture have shaped the nature in which society interacts, thinks, and functions. Given the media’s historic role in discrepancies between nations, what are the affects of new media on an increasingly digital and interconnected world? What new conflicts arise from societies whose laws and cultures collide on a boundary-less virtual playing field?

Such questions have become more and more relevant as we have seen the affects of new media on society unfold. In July 2012, the short film “Innocence of Muslims” was released on YouTube. The film depicts scenes of Muhammad, the founder of Islam and considered a sacred prophet to Muslims. Many Islam scholars believe that visual depictions of Muhammad are forbidden, but the objections of the film are primarily due its inference of Muhammad being a terrorist. When the film was uploaded to YouTube, thousands of people throughout various countries in North Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Europe began protesting its content. Google’s ‘freedom of speech’ policies came under scrutiny, and the film was taken down by YouTube in some countries or banned through legal action by others.

This episode is one of an increasing number of instances that have emerged due to new media. In 2005, a Danish newspaper published cartoons that depicted the prophet Muhammad as a terrorist. Several Danish embassies in Arab nations were vandalized as a result. In another case the next year, the world protested the sentence of an Iranian woman who was to be stoned to death. Iranians who spoke to news outlets in other countries, protesting the woman’s punishment, risked being threatened themselves. In 2010, Terry Jones, a Christian pastor from Florida, threatened to burn the Quran, Islam’s holy book, if the controversial Park51 community center was not moved from its planned location two blocks away from ground zero. His threats sparked outrage throughout the world, even getting President Obama involved. On March 5 2012, the 30 minute film “Kony 2012” was posted on YouTube. The film was hugely popular, receiving 100,000 views within 6 days of it’s release. A showing of the film in Uganda, however, was met with confusion and anger, as many people couldn’t understand why the U.S. would want to celebritize a war lord.

These examples reflect controversies that are catalyzed by new media. Several tensions arise from these scenarios: 1) freedom of speech vs. censorship, 2) the prominence of new media in society vs. previously isolated societies, 3) the policies and ethics that govern new media in one country vs. another, and 4) the control of sovereign-governed countries over a generation of new-media users.

This paper discusses the significance of such tensions as they are discussed in blogs, scholarly articles, and other outlets. Eide et al’s Transnational Media Events: The Mohammed Cartoons & the Imagined Clash of Civilizations discusses free speech theory in the context of the Muhammad cartoons occurrence. MacKinnon’s Consent of the Networked: The Worldwide Struggle For Internet Freedom will provide a solid framework by which I can organize the most important components of the juxtaposition of formerly isolated countries, and the repercussions of the growing digital movement. The book Fundamentalism in the Modern World relays how religious fundamentalism functions in a modern global society, particularly through mass media. Other journal articles include “Re-thinking the Cultural Codes of New Media,” “Online Communities versus Offline Communities in the Arab/Muslim World,” and “Political online communities in Saudi Arabia” among others. Finally, I will discuss the importance of the role of communication scholars in this culture clash brought on by the digital movement. Specifically, I will answer the question, “How can communication (particularly rhetorical) scholars provide a means for new-media users to understand the implications of a boundary-less virtual venue, and how can scholars equip these users to engage in productive discourse that may constrain instances of cultural friction?