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Xenophobia: Them vs us
Britannica defines xenophobia as “fear and contempt of strangers or foreigners or of anything designated as foreign, or a conviction that certain foreign individuals and cultures represent a threat to the authentic identity of one’s own nation-state and cannot integrate into the local society peacefully.” Xenophobia has existed as far back as people could differentiate…
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Xenophobia 2020: COVID-19 Anti-Asian Attitudes
Xenophobia has existed throughout history. From earliest times, humans have experienced fear and hatred towards those outside of their own social group, nation or country. Xenophobia – Fear of the Foreign History has witnessed many waves of Xenophobic aggression in various parts of the world (outlined in an article published by Psychologenie). The United States…
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More Racist and Anti-Chinese Sentiments on Twitter During COVID-19
Racism & xenophobia continue to be pervasive and omnipresent forms of hate across all social media platforms. Aroused by the unprecedented toll of the coronavirus pandemic, in addition to a surge in social media use, anti-Chinese sentiments have been especially rampant in an effort to placate the anger, confusion, and sadness induced by the pandemic.…
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Coronavirus Incident Sparks Islamophobia
A single incident sparked a large number of Xenophobic and Islamophobic responses following a viral video captured in early April. The video showed a 25-year old Australian-Muslim woman spitting in a policeman’s face, later coughing on him, and claiming she was due for Coronavirus testing. Counter Jihad and anti-Muslim groups used the video as an…
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Anxiety, Fear, Misinformation & Xenophobia During the Coronavirus
In the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic, social media has become rife with hatred, conspiracy theories and misinformation regarding the spread and origin of the virus. In times of great uncertainty and fear, hate again minorities often rises. In the current situation of Coronavirus, platforms have seen a sharp uptick in hate speech and…
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Coronavirus and the Trolls
Many of those who usually engage in online trolling are now, like everyone else, stuck at home and spending much of their time online. COVID-19 related trolling has been added to their repertoire. This account is a particularly obvious case of trolling as it seeks to pick fights with different users and communities. In this…
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Using Twitter for Hate
This briefing looks at examples of fake news, Islamophobia, racism, xenophobia and hate from a single Twitter user based in New Zealand. This user regularly comments on Australian news and from their language they may be an Australian citizen. The profile was created in October 2019. It is prolific having made 9550 Tweets but has…
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From Food to Hate during COVID-19
In the midst of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) there is a particular strand of anti-Chinese sentiment based around food. This is not a new phenomena, we’ve seen it in anti-Asian racism since we started operating in 2012. With Coronavirus, it’s taken on a new twist. Example 1 An anti-Chinese post on Facebook say “if the Chinese…
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WIN: Hate page Take Back Australia CLOSED
Update December 2014 – WIN! OHPI has been campaigning for the hate page “Take Back Australia” to be closed since the 2nd of October 2014. We’re pleased to report that on December 11th 2014, the day after International Human Rights Day, Facebook finally closed this vile page. On October 10th, prior to coming down, the…










