Pro-Thawra social media influencers: are they contributing to the extremism in Lebanon's political environment?

Opinion Analysis by Stephanie El Khoury, Contributor

October 20th, 2020

In today's political climate and biased news outlets, social media in Lebanon has become one of the most important media platforms for individuals to get updates and information. There has been an apparent rise in self-proclaimed thawra-accounts and influencers since through them individuals are able to keep up with the latest news regarding the corrupt class in charge of our government as well as respond to calls for revolution. These pro-thawra accounts and influencers have become an environment of political expression for anti-government individuals that were in the shadows before the October 17th uprisings and that were even once regarded as apolitical. However, as the popularity of these accounts grows, so does the backlash that they receive from followers of political parties. 

If you take the time to scroll down the comments on posts of some of these pages, you will realize that there is in fact several pro-political party individuals that are triggered by the content posted. Most of the times this creates an aggressive and unsettling back and forth between pro-thawra and anti-thawra individuals. While it was never uncommon before the October 17th uprisings to witness this kind of interaction between individuals from different political parties, a new player has entered the field: "pro-thawra" groups. These pro-thawra groups are not shy about their political ideals and do speak their opinions loud and clear. However, pro-thawra social media platforms seem to aim at gas-lighting the aggressive interaction instead of stepping in as moderators between individuals with opposing views.

These behaviors include but are not limited to "exposing" these pro-political party individuals and shaming them, as well as contributing to the toxicity of the conversation through threats and degrading vocabulary. This kind of backlash that these pro-thawra accounts and influencers are engaging in only sets the ground for pro-political party individuals to become more attached to their ideology and in some cases become more aggressive in their behavior and retaliation.

One of the reasons for this is that pro-political party individuals have a toxic relationship with their political parties. In fact, most pro-political party individuals are aware of the corruption that happens within their political party, however, they decided to stay in this relationship for the same reasons that any individual would stay in an abusive relationship: normalized abuse, shame, intimidation, and lack of resources ("Why people stay", 2020). It is in my own personal opinion that a lot of these individuals stay in this toxic relationship for three main reasons: out of fear of social consequences from within their group, due to the concept of risk aversion and the illusion of power that is given to them by their political party. Risk aversion is the need that we have to decrease uncertainty, if the individual stays within their group they are gaining both financially and socially and deciding to switch to a different group would put them at risk of losing this support as well as expecting little to no reward (Chen, 2020). 

Pro-thawra social media accounts and influencers tend to misinterpret and undermine the relationship that political parties have with their followers. Through shaming followers, they are strengthening the bond that these people have with their political party. If you want to understand this better here's a question you should ask yourself, what would be your reaction if someone points out that your parents are bad people and shames you for still living with them? While this could be factually true, your instinct would push you to defend the people that have supported you both financially and emotionally throughout the years as well as drive in you a feeling of fear of losing this support if you leave your household.

It is the same concept for pro-political party individuals when it comes to pro-thawra social media influencers shaming and attacking them for holding certain views and for staying with their party (Batcho, 2017). More dangerously, it takes a grander scale, where it stops becoming about individuals disagreeing and morphs into a battle of ideologies between groups. There is no more in-between views in Lebanon and neutrality has become almost a sin. Pro-thawra accounts and influencers have made this very clear to their audience by claiming that people that do not hit the streets are as bad political followers.

So, with no middle ground and political party followers only being pushed to hold on more dearly to their ideology, these pro-thawra accounts are only enlarging the gap between individuals with opposing views and setting aside discussions between pro-thawra and anti-thawra individuals.

 References

Chen, J. (2020, September 29). What It Means to Be Risk-Averse. Retrieved October 15, 2020, from https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/riskaverse.asp

Why People Stay. (2020, September 28). Retrieved October 15, 2020, from https://www.thehotline.org/support-others/why-people-stay/

Batcho, K. (2017, May 31). Why Shaming Doesn't Work. Retrieved October 15, 2020, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/longing-nostalgia/201705/why-shaming-doesnt-work