#MuslimRage: How a Cynical Social-Media Play Became an Awesome Meme
Really good analysis of NewsWeek’s #MuslimRage debacle by Megan Garber for The Atlantic:
@Newsweek: COVER STORY: Ayaan Hirsi Ali on how she survived Muslim rage—and how we can end it
@Newsweek: Want to discuss our latest cover? Let’s hear it with the hashtag: #MuslimRage.
The tagged reactions to Newsweek’s proposal have been … mixed. Some tweets are funny. Some are satirical. Some are cruel. But they are pretty much united in their rejection of Newsweek’s premise that “Muslim rage” is something to be talked about, under the magazine’s brand, on Twitter. Which is also to say: People rejected glibness. They rejected cynicism. They rejected reductive branding. And they did so, specifically, by reappropriating the hashtag Newsweek had proposed. They treated #muslimrage not in the way Newsweek had framed it, but instead as exactly what it was: a joke.
… Newsweek underestimated both its audience and, with them, itself. While it may still be true that a good magazine — just as a good newspaper — is a nation talking to itself, the standards for that conversation have risen considerably since people have been able to talk to each other on their own. Conversation can no longer exist for conversation’s sake alone — which is also to say that people understand, almost intuitively, the difference between being inspired and being trolled.
Or, as Colin put it:
- Colin:
- Turns out people are really good at recognizing bald-faced bullshit.