4. Findings
4.3 Emotional Coping Responses
administration, such as from Stephen Miller, a senior policy advisor, are detrimental to race relations as they might favor the white majority. Image tweets featuring Donald Trump as an anti-protest mobilizer were more prominent directly following tweets posted by the president.
Figure 9. Depicting Trump as a hidden Hitler to show (2017)
4.3 Emotional coping responses
RQ3 attempts to understand the key themes in image tweets in terms of emotionally-arousing responses in the 2017 NAPs, which falls within the emotional route to coping with collective disadvantage. Emotionally-arousing images, as explained previously, was divided into two categories (shared and reciprocal affective responses). Shared affective responses are those that are primarily negative and directed toward members of the out-group (anger and sarcasm), while reciprocal affective responses are those feelings held by group members and directed toward each other (sympathy and admiration).
4.3.1 Shared Affective Responses
Shared affective responses are defined as emotions held by the group participants at the same time (Jasper et al., 1998) and include anger and sarcasm. In respond to RQ3, the twitter
Tweet text:
Stephen Miller’s continued influence in WH should come as
no surprise to anyone. This administration has consistently shown that its true color is white.
#BLM #IndigenousPeoplesDay
#FireStevenMiller #45Resign
#TakeAKnee #Equality
#DefendDACA
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a
tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
image content analysis identified that anger was the most dominant shared affective response with 16.71% (n = 234), while sarcasm as a shared affective response only accounted for 7.21%
(n = 101) of image tweets (see Table 3). The two dominant types of anger were those that portrayed violence or degrading actions toward the opposition (see Figure 8) and anger against the status quo, or the existing state of affairs in the United States.
Table 3
Volume of Shared Affective Responses Image Tweets
Code Code Frequency Code Percentage
Anger 234 16.71%
Profane language 37 2.64%
Violence/ degradation towards opposition 96 6.86%
Anger expressions 3 0.21%
Anger toward status quo 98 7%
Sarcasm 101 7.21%
Using flag as decoration 36 2.57%
Insulting NAPs 62 4.43%
Other 3 0.21%
*Humor 56 4%
* emerging codes
Images that showcased anger against the status quo, especially in regard to politically and socially accepted stances, were typically images of hypocritical actions in American society. For
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a
tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
pray after every time he was successful, also protested the anthem in support of the
anti-abortion/pro-life movement. However, Tebow used to be celebrated for his actions but football players now are condemned for kneeling in order to protest police brutality (see Figure 10).
Thus, anger for this hypocritical stance within the United States was evidenced in the image tweets.
Figure 10. Anger for reactions when Time Tebow knelt during anthem (2017)
One emerging sub-code, humor was identified in the category of the shared affective responses. Humorous image tweets are those that show pictures that are meant to assert superiority over out-group members through mocking and ridiculing behaviors (n = 56, 4%).
Image tweets under humor were often political cartoons and memes. Figure 11 is one example of a political cartoon. It mocks not only the newest proposed border wall decision by President Trump between Mexico and the United States, but it also indicates four negative stereotypical character images found within U.S society: Trump himself, a Ku Klux Klan member, a cowboy with a machine gun, and a pedophile (inferred) priest. This political cartoon was meant to indicate that in no way is the United States a perfect country. In relation to the NAPs,
Tweet text:
Everyone send your #TakeAKnee Pics; To @nflcommish
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a
tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
#TakeAKnee is much more than just a protest against police brutality. It is a protest designed to acknowledge the faults within the United States in order to achieve justice for all.
Figure 11. Political cartoon criticizing the current United States in support of NAPs (2017)
In the 202 image tweets that included Donald Trump, 100 of those images also included some type of anger: profane language (22%), violence or degrading actions towards opposition (69%), and anger expressions (9%). Additionally, images may also have been coded with one or more affective response and typically included anger and the emerging code of humor. This type of image most often expresses anger by violently hurting Donald Trump and by acting out a play on words associated with the NAPs. This is done to invoke a sense of superiority and will be elaborated more in the following section. Figure 12 is an example of this image tweet
combination, including the most common type of anger. The humorous aspect of this picture will always be debatable as humor is subjective, but one can argue that Donald Trump taking a knee to the groin with the caption “Take A Knee” is the intended witticism.
Tweet text:
� � � IM NOT APOLOGIZING.
#TakeAKnee
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a
tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Figure 12. Cartoon image of football player and Trump – violent (2017).
4.3.2 Reciprocal Affective Responses
Reciprocal affective responses are defined as participants’ on-going feelings toward each other, such as solidarity and loyalty, and the specific emotions they elicit (Jasper et al., 1998).
For reciprocal affective responses, admiration was expressed the most with 31.71% (N = 444) and sympathy was shown in 20.57% of the image tweets (n = 274) (see Table 4). 18.56% of image tweets that included admiration were those directed toward those engaging in protest activities associated with the NAPs. This type of image tweet had used members of family in addition to strangers and celebrities as a focal point of praise, such as Lebron James (professional basketball player) or Megan Rapinoe (professional soccer player). Meaning, that if family
members, celebrities, or even complete strangers engaged in protest activities, and the user found those actions admirable, images of them were shared via image tweets (praising the protestors) to the user’s followers through posts that could be publicly viewed (see Figure 15). Concerning image tweets that referenced sympathy, more than half of them were those of white people engaging in protest activities (n = 186, 13.29%).
Tweet text:
Tick tock.... #PenceStunt
#Pencewalkout #TakeAKnee
#TakeTheKnee #TakeAKneeNFL
#nfl TrumpIsAWhiteSupremacist
#Trumpsuckspence
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a
tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Table 4
Frequency and Percentage of Reciprocal Affective Responses Image Tweets
Code Code Frequency Code Percentage
Admiration 444 31.71%
Noted NAP supporters 121 8.64%
Noted NAP protesters 264 18.56%
Historical figures 59 4.21%
Sympathy 274 20.57%
Minority in pain 29 2.07%
Murder victims/ calls to end unjustified killings 89 6.36%
Bystanders in protest (non-P.O.C) 186 13.29%
Other 6 0.43%
Out of the top most retweeted image tweets, three of those included the sub-code of admiration as its focal point (see Figures 13 - 15). The first image is of Colin Kaepernick on the cover of Time magazine (Figure 13), thus the subject of admiration, which had 99,000 retweets.
Time magazine is quite an influential as it has the world’s largest circulation for a weekly magazine with a readership of 25 million, 20 million within the United States alone (Time Magazine, 2018). Thus, the large amount of retweets that the image of Kaepernick on the cover of Time magazine received, might be attributed to the magazines own popularity in the U.S.
With 35,000 retweets, the second picture of protesters is from the 1960’s in the United States during the Civil Rights Movement (Figure 14). This image tweet shows an appreciation of
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a
tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
peaceful means. This is especially important within the context of the NAPs as they are also non-violent protests used to gain awareness for issues that minority members face in modern day American.
The last image (Figure 15), with 4,800 retweets, is of a modern day volleyball player who is the only individual on her team engaging in protest activities during the playing of the national anthem. Support for the NAPs and admiration for the volleyball player who kneeled when no one else did, was gained through the context and framing of the image tweet. However, it should be noted that “Those engaging in protest activities being recognized,” as a type of admiration was depicted in the image tweets more often than “Noted NAP supporters” or “Historical figures involved in social movements or social justice (i.e., Martin Luther King Jr.).”
Figure 13. Praise for Colin Kaepernick on the cover of Time magazine (2017) Tweet text:
#Kaepernick started kneeling in protest during Obama's presidency.
This wasn't abt Trump until Trump tried to make it abt Trump.
#TakeAKnee
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a
tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Figure 14. Admiration for historical 1960’s Civil Rights Movement protesters (2017)
Figure 15. Volleyball player praised for kneeling during national anthem. (2017)