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ABSTRACT
In recent years, far-right organisations have formed in response to what they believe to be the threat from the rise of Islam in Australia. Parallel movements have spawned an extensive literature internationally. In this study I investigate this movement in Australia using automated text analysis of all public posts from two of the most popular Australian anti-Islam groups on social media. This approach complements traditional polling methods by offering access to large samples of the spontaneously generated opinions, allowing subjects to speak in their own words. My analysis finds evidence that concerns about terrorism and the perceived political threat from Islam are paramount in these groups’ discussion of Muslims. I conclude by discussing the implications for counter-messaging strategies.
近年来，随着人们认为伊斯兰教在澳大利亚的兴起造成了威胁，极右组织应运而生。国际上也有同样的情形，文献上累累皆是。本文对澳大利亚两个最著名的反伊斯兰群在社交媒体上的所有邮件做了自动文本分析。本文提供了自动生成舆论的大样本，让主体讲自己的话，这样就补充了传统的统计方法的不足。根据笔者的分析，对恐怖主义的关注与想象的伊斯兰政治威胁是这两个群体的首要话题。笔者最后还就反信息策略做了讨论。
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes on contributor
Charles Miller is a lecturer in politics and international relations at the ANU's School of Politics and International Relations. He received his PhD in political science from Duke University in 2013.
Notes
9. The other groups being Aboriginals, Asians and Jewish Australians.
11. The fact that the sample consists of only public Facebook posts could raise concerns of selection bias. Given the risk of hate speech prosecution, individuals may not make publicly available certain opinions. However, as the analysis below will show, given the level and type of hostility expressed in the comments and tweets, which were made public, such selection bias would only make my stated conclusions stronger.
12. Boycott Halal had 97,829 likes and One Nation 32,317 at the time the analysis was carried out. The next largest group Halal Choices had 21,477 likes. By contrast, Reclaim Australia’s Twitter account had only 2217 followers. Even Pauline Hanson had, at the time of writing, only 19,700 Twitter followers, just over half the number of likes One Nation has on Facebook.