Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1031063
12 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 23 SEPTEMBER 2018 NEWS JAMES DEBONO XENOPHOBIA is a more wide- spread sentiment than homo- phobia, according to a scientific analysis of online comments linked to news reports on mi- grants and the LGBTIQ com- munity. While negative comments on articles about migration are nearly double the positive ones, on LGBTIQ-related reports the positive comments outnumber the negative ones. The study was conducted by Stavros Assimakopoulus and Rebecca Vella Muscat from the University of Malta's Insti- tute of Linguistics and has been published on Xjenza online, the journal of the Malta Chamber of Scientists. The research showed that 19% of online comments on LGBTIQ articles are negative compared to 24% which are positive, and 57%, which are neutral. In the case of articles dealing with migration, 32.3% of com- ments are negative, 16% are posi- tive while 51% are neutral. The study also found that an overwhelming majority of xeno- phobic comments were directed against migrants of a Muslim faith. Researchers said the comments generally reflected an'Us vs Them'dichotomy, depicting mi- grants as a "threat to traditional values and the homogeneity of the island". Other comments blamed migrants for bringing with them "disease, degradation and crime". The most pervasive metaphor found in comments was that of an "invasion", reflected in com- ments about migrants "taking over", "over-running the coun- try" and "exploding in numbers". Most comments were directed at migrants who have not been granted legal residence status. While Muslims are specifically targeted, the study also found that commentators tended to confuse Muslim identity with that of sub-Saharan migrants. "Although not all asylum seekers are Muslims, there is a common perception that all sub-Saharans are Muslims," the researchers said. The study found that most negative comments directed to- wards LGBTIQ persons were motivated by religion and an as- sumption that these individuals defy divine laws. The next prevalent negative sentiment was one that assumed heterosexuality to be the norm and all other orientations abnor- mal or even the result of "dis- ease" and "disorder". The most common metaphori- cal allusion related to these issues was one of "doom" and this was found in expressions linking LG- BTIQ people with"Sodom and Gomorrah", and "hell". The study also included the re- sults of a questionnaire among 209 respondents aged between 18 and 35, the vast majority of which had completed a post-sec- ondary level of education. Participants were faced with contents of articles expressing negative sentiments on both categories and were asked to deem which were acceptable and which were not. The majority of respondents were more likely to find nega- tive comments about migrants acceptable than negative com- ments about LGBTIQ persons. An article which claimed that "some cultures are downright incompatible" and that cultures should not mix, was deemed ac- ceptable or somewhat acceptable by 46%. A comment that labelled the "gay community" as "arrogant" and "aggressive towards achiev- ing a one-sided political agenda at the expense of all other human rights to live and procreate as na- ture intended" was only deemed acceptable or somewhat accept- able by 28% of respondents. Basing themselves on inter- views carried out in a focus group, the authors attributed the more positive attitude towards LGBTIQ issues to their inclusion in the Maltese "in group" and to the "role of recent legislation" in the field. The research suggested that LGBTIQ persons were not per- ceived as a "threat to the coun- try's stability", as opposed to migrants who were largely per- ceived as being a"threat to the Maltese way of life and stability". The discrepancy in attitudes to- wards the two minorities was al- so noted in a paper co-authored by Equality Minister Helena Dal- li and Silvan Agius, director of the Human Rights and Integra- tion Directorate, in a paper pub- lished in Sociology of the Maltese Islands in 2016. While Malta saw a "meteoric rise" on ILGA-Europe's Rainbow Index that measures progress on rights for LGBTIQ people, main- ly due to legislative progress, the authors noted that a similar rap- id rise on the Migrant Integra- tion Policy Index was "unlikely". Dalli and Agius had said that migrant integration was"significantly more complex" to address and needed a sus- tained information campaign to raise awareness and knowledge about what integration meant in practice. The paper cited "harsh words and protests" on online com- ment boards and the social me- dia that accompanied reports on the minister's initiatives promot- ing integration. Xenophobia more wide- spread than homophobia, study shows