Conflict and concord on the Internet: selvet.dk

• Main Author: Olav Hammer
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Donner Institute 2006-01-01
• Series: Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis
• Subjects: Information technology; Media and religion; Electronic discussion groups; Social media; Internet; Globalization
• Online Access: https://journal.fi/scripta/article/view/67303

The Internet epitomizes globalization. Spanning most of the globe, yet leaving out the most marginalized populations, it reproduces the power structures and inequalities of the world at large. Nevertheless, as technologies become more widely available and more user-friendly, there is the potential to interact on an unprecedented scale with people of other nationalities, backgrounds and religious affiliations. Interaction may, of course, foster dialogue, but can also lead to polemics and aggressive behaviour. In discussion groups, Internet forums where opinions are exchanged, the potential for disagreement is evident. In a sensitive area such as religion, the risk of conflict is obviously present. People in different localities, who may well never meet face-to-face, and who do not even need to present themselves on-line under their real names, might in fact find it particularly tempting to handle conflict situations by using verbal invective. This risk is recognized by Internet users, who have adopted the militant metaphor ‘flame war’ to denote such excessive verbal aggression. Most research on religion on the Internet has focused on the use of this medium within one particular religious tradition, usually Christian or Muslim. Considerably less attention has been devoted to the question of what happens when members of different traditions interact and confront the opinions of others. The present article looks at some of the ways in which potential conflicts in this confrontation between various traditions are managed. The empirical material analysed has been chosen with one main objective in mind: the need to find a discussion group where people of sufficiently divergent opinions meet. The Danish site selvet.dk is a forum where people of quite different persuasions meet, and thus need to work out a modus vivendi when sharp divergences become manifest.