Men are overrepresented on the anti-Islam websites

According to the new report from the newspaper Klassekampen (The Class Struggle, a left-wing Norwegian daily newspaper) single, childless and low-educated men over the age of 65 are overrepresented on the anti-Islam websites.

Klassekampen had used the analysis software “Alexa” to investigate eight anti-Islam websites including Gates of Vienna, Jihad Watch, Bryssel Journal, Islam Watch and Atlas Shrugged. According to the newspaper’s statistics people over the age of 65 are overrepresented on all of the sites. Here, men clearly dominate and most of them were not educated beyond the primary level.

Few of the site visitors have children, and most of those who visit these sites do so from their homes and from work. The statistics presented by the newspaper are well in line with the political landscape that dominates the European extreme-right parties, notes the journalist and author of “The Hate against Muslims”, Andreas Malm. “There is an obviousl dominance of older men, often unemployed, who can feel abandoned by the society seeking explanations and someone to blame”. Malm adds, “A typical conspiracy theoretician is older, lone man obsessed with a particular question (e.g. Muslim presence in the country etc.) and thus attracted to various anti-Islam conspiracy theories floating online.” His analysis is supported by Tor Bach, the chief editor of the website Vespen (the Wasp, a monitoring extremism site in Norway). “These group of older people have certain common traits.” He continues “firstly, their primary characteristic is that they feel suspicion against the entire society and the democratic system. Secondly, they hold a firm belief that someone will hurt them “. He is reluctant to generalize too much; nevertheless he maintains the notion that these men are angry and frustrated people who feel neglected when their opinion is not heard.

Share Button

Sources