Amarnath Amarasingam Profile picture
Prof @QueensU | Work: Extremist/social movements, sociology of religion, conspiracy theories, online communities, MENA, South Asia | Hip-Hop is Life 🎤
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Aug 21 11 tweets 3 min read
1. It's really amazing how this chart has been able to circulate virtually unchallenged, even though it violates every rule of how to read crime data.

I don't actually know how he got this chart made from StatsCan data - did he just ADD up everything? It makes no sense. Thread: 2. You cannot just add up different kinds of crime from different regions across Canada and present them as "Trudeau's Canada" - unless the goal is to be completely disingenuous.
May 9, 2023 6 tweets 2 min read
1. On the Texas shooter. I understand everyone jumped on the "he's a Nazi" train, because those on the right tried to claim someone with a name like Mauricio Garcia couldn't be a white nationalist, but I think in this politicized back and forth, some other analysis was lost. 2. To be clear, dude is absolutely a Nazi. But, having spent last night combing through his online profile and diary, I'm more interested in the role that far-right hyper masculinity is playing for him.
Feb 14, 2022 20 tweets 4 min read
1. Thread on populism and the trucker convoy incoming!

My conversations over the last two weeks have gone something like this:

“Amar, what's this thing?
“A populist movement”
“But what do they believe?”
“It’s a populist movement”
“What do they want?”
“It’s a populist movement" 2. This leads me to believe that a quick primer on populism might be useful.

I should note that everything I know about populism comes from research done by Cristobal Rovira Kaltwasser, the late Magaret Canovan, @CasMudde and others. You should read their stuff.
Jan 20, 2022 8 tweets 2 min read
1. So some quick thoughts on that Jordan Peterson op-ed, because I know some of you are going to fall for his argument.

I agree overall that merit and equity need to be better balanced, but I can't think of a worse person to have this conversation with than Jordan Peterson. 2. Look, I'll be the first to agree that "fill out a form online to show us you've thought about intersectionality" isn't the solution that some institutions think it is. They just haven't thought of anything better.
Apr 9, 2021 15 tweets 4 min read
1. "Regardless of intent or ignorance of a second meaning". I'm done with y'all.

I found myself just staring at Mia’s initial comments a few hours ago, wondering what state of mind I would need to be in to call someone who mildly critiqued my work a bitch and a whore. 2. And what got me was the audacity and insecurity of it all. @nimmideviarchy critique was sharp, but also one that had been made countless times: that Western writers often bring the “white feminist framework into her probe of female extremists abroad.” lareviewofbooks.org/article/eviden…
Jan 10, 2021 18 tweets 6 min read
1. (THREAD) So, it seems like the deplatforming debate is once again kicking off, so I thought I would introduce some of the earlier work that was done in this area back when ISIS was buck wild on social media. What have we learned over the last six years might be useful today: 2. One of the earliest studies that discussed the impact of suspensions of ISIS accounts was @intelwire and Morgan's piece: The ISIS Twitter Consensus.

They found that suspensions did have an impact on replies and retweets and overall dissemination. brookings.edu/wp-content/upl…