Islamofobi og konspirasjonsteori - En diskursanalyse av document.no

Abstract

This thesis is a qualitative study based on Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of a Norwegian islamophobic website, document.no. The focus of the study is on the use of conspiracy theory in islamophobic rhetorics, with the following research questions:

What role does the conspiracy theory of Eurabia play in the islamophobic discourse on document.no? How are islam and muslims incorporated into the political section of this discourse? And how are terrorism-related events interpreted into a conspiracy-theoretical system?

The study shows that the Eurabia theory plays a central part in the islamophobic discourse on document.no, despite rarely being explicitly mentioned. The main points of the Eurabia theory, such as mass immigration of muslims, collaborators within politics and journalism along with the use of misinformation, dominate the islamophobic discourse. Terrorism is interpreted as a part of the process of islamification, and European-wide self-destructive politics are labelled the cause. Islam and muslims – the external enemy – are understood as the symptom of an unsuccessful policy – the internal enemy. The policy, often referred to as multicultural, has become dominant due to the stigmatization of the knowledge and truth that document.no claims to have uncovered. In other words, there exists a network of conspirators who work together to keep the truth hidden. The conspiracy is characterized by scepticism of authorities and the perception of a controlled media.