The Net and Political Segregation
Muria Endah Sokowati
Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta
Abstract
Ben Anderson (1983) stated that the media creates imagined communities through the use of images and vernaculars that perpetuate stereotypes to the audience. It, then, relates them to one another. But, the use of social media today makes the imagined community concept paradoxical. People now tend to seek out social setting they prefer, and they cluster in community of like-mindedness. Accordingly, the nation will grow more politically segregated. The result is that intolerance grows in political differences, making national consensus impossible. This research attempts to show the segregation emerges through the conversation in social media. Using virtual ethnography based on the massive distribution of hoaxes and fake news phenomenon, this research shows the political segregation formed by the netizen. With the background of the presidential elections in Indonesia, this research illustrates the ideological orientation turns to polarization occurred, which encourage us to reconsider the concept of imagined community. As the results, issues based on ethnic and religion, become the dominant factors of segregation. The segregation is no longer binary, but more complex. This research also reinforces what Merlyna Lim (2017) argued that the discussion of social media users and the internet algorithms have produced multiple forms of tribal nationalism.
Keywords: Political segregation, social media, imagined community, fake news, hoax
Topic: International Symposium on Social Sciences, Humanities, Education, and Religious Studies