Racism on the net – the ideal is shattered

The Internet was supposed to enable a new way of interaction, a new way of thinking. It was supposed to allow people to share thoughts, ideas and knowledge across international boundaries, bypassing physical, racial and gender based biases to

The Internet was supposed to enable a new way of interaction, a new way of thinking. It was supposed to allow people to share thoughts, ideas and knowledge across international boundaries, bypassing physical, racial and gender based biases to creating a utopian society based totally upon shared knowledge and the intelligence of its inhabitants.

Phrases such as 'No-one can see what colour you are' and 'Physical features are no longer a limitation, no longer relevant on the Net' were typical of the claims made during the early years, prior to the massive increase in popularity of 'being online.' 'You will be judged based on your intelligence and your contribution, on your knowledge, skills, and most of all on your personality. No longer will people be persecuted due to religion, race, ethnicity or physical disability.' It was the perfect ideal – a place where people were judged based upon their real selves, upon their mind and their soul, not upon the colour of their skin or what church they frequented.

This utopian, romanticised notion was violently shattered late Tuesday night (local time), in the aftermath of one of the world's worst terrorist attacks; the destruction of the World Trade Centre, and the death of many hundreds – perhaps thousands – of innocent people.

Racism does not need a colour upon which to focus its intolerant wrath – all it requires is a perceived allegiance, regardless of whether said allegiance is real or not, and it is this that disproves the idealistic fantasy of equality among Netizens. This fact was bought home to me whilst idling on the Internet Relay Chat channel #Afghanistan, late Wednesday night. Based solely upon the fact that a few users were sitting in an IRC channel whose name was the same as a certain country with which the traditional media is associating terrorist Osama bin Laden, a large proportion of people were entering the channel and spewing forth uninformed, utter crap about Afghani's, Muslims and Islam in general. These people, who were totally ignorant of anything even approaching a solid fact, took it upon themselves to racially vilify a group of people whom they had assumed were ethnic Afghani's. Why? Because the traditional media had been focusing upon the possibility of the terrorist act as originating with bin Laden to such an extent, that people started to take it as fact. Thus, when it was mentioned that Osama is based in Afghanistan, people instantly assumed all Afghani's supported his (supposed) actions.

A small sample of the utter crap that passed for normal banter in #Afghanistan (sans swearing) follows:
'«sand_niggers» U F*$%INGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG SANNNNNNNNDDDDDDDD
[100]«KILLOSAMA» USA USAUSA USAUSA USAUSA USAUSA USAUSA USAUSA USAUSA USAUSA USAUSA USAUSA USAUSA USAUSA USAUSA USAUSA USAUSA USA
[100]«KILLOSAMA» USA USAUSA USAUSA USAUSA USAUSA USAUSA USAUSA USAUSA USAUSA USAUSA USAUSA USAUSA USAUSA USAUSA [100]«ZeroDeLoco» F*$%ING RAG HEADS!!!!
[100]«ZeroDeLoco» F*$%ING RAG HEADS!!!!'



This is a tiny cross section of the content that passed for 'informed commentary' from IRC users in the channel that night. Most of it was constantly streaming past at a good rate of knots, as people came up with the most sickening and racist comments they could think of, and then used cut/paste/repeat constantly until they were kicked and banned.

We can always put the above comments down to the pre-pubescent ignorance and stupidity of a minority of small-minded youth. However, what is even more shocking (and not nearly as attributable to age and lack of worldly experience) is the same type of comments on newsgroups such as those that appeared on the soc.culture hierarchy – traditionally the home of informed discussion and debate. You have the occasional spammer or troublemaker, but newsgroups are generally much more rational places than IRC in the heat of battle.

Typical of user comments on soc.culture.afghan were such posts as 'LOOKS LIKE MOHAMMED WILL HAVE HIS HANDS FULL WITH A BUNCH OF DEAD RAG HEADS! I JUST HOPE THE STENCH OF YOUR BURNING UNBATHED BODIES DOESN'T DRIFT OVER TO AMERICA.' This, despite a total lack of proof linking this act to a religious (Muslim) ideology. Initial reports may say a few of the men were of Middle Eastern appearance, but appearances are easily changed and people easily deceived. Once again, we see the results of media's influence on society being transferred over to the online environment, where people use perceived affiliations in place of the colour of your skin, in order to discriminate.

I have also received multitudes of ICQ and email messages. While some were anonymous, the majority were from people I would not normally consider as racist. ICQ messages espousing the US extermination of all Afghanis/Muslims/Islamic people, showing a total disregard to the fact that a person's race or religion does not make them a terrorist.

Not even our own beloved forums have gone unaffected by the huge amounts of racial hate generated as a result of recent events. Numerous people (who shall remain nameless) have posted messages advocating the total annihilation of all Arab peoples and the deportation of all Muslims, as well as other, much worse, suggestions. Our IRC channel, #atomicmpc, was also draw in and affected.

People do not need to see you as colour X or religion Y in order to demonstrate prejudice; all they need is a focal point for their anger and frustration, and what better focus point than those people who are on the opposite side of a hotly debated topic.

Perhaps the most potent comment I have seen so far came from a newsgroup user on aus.religion.islam. The reason this post is so frightening, is that it possesses none of the childish 'fuck you' mentality usually associated with this type of comment. Instead, this particular person has sat down and logically thought out the entire situation, coming up with a viewpoint that he or she expressed concisely and without use of overly emotive language. It said; 'Muslims are not welcome in my country, my house or my heart as they, as a rule, cannot be trusted.'

Irrational and solely inflammatory comments aimed at making people angry can be ignored, but when people start to think about the topic in question and then come up with a seemingly rational conclusion that is still racist, we have to wonder if the entire world has suddenly lost its ability to think straight.

This type of, for lack of a better word, insanity, is a symptom of the traditional media, and also of online media perpetuating rumours started by traditional media. If you hear something with enough frequency, you may start to believe it, and that is what has happened here. People actually believe that all Muslims are terrorists!

If this continues, we could well end up with a situation straight out of the film 'The Siege', where entire segments of the populace are herded into secure areas based solely upon their ethnic background or religious belief. Think of it as the Salem witch-hunt, but on a national scale.

I had hoped the online community would be above this kind of vilification. After all, isn't one of the Internet's major positive qualities, that of information and knowledge being free to all, that you will not be judged based upon creed, colour, race or religion, but instead upon your contribution to the online society?

We can, however, be thankful for one of the Internet's major advantages, one that contributes greatly to the 'Net's attraction and quality - the ability to put forward all peoples views with the same level of exposure. This is in stark contrast to more tra