Boat People And Terrorists The Media-driven Moral Panic And . - CURVE

coverage periods. Furthermore, this approach not only provided rich data, but it also allowedresearch participants to build a group knowledge base through their discussions, and in manyinstances enabled them to relate their individual experiences with group experiences.1.3F indingsMy findings are that the May 2009 period did no t represent a moral panic because itlacked the legacy criteria I have established as a new requirement. However, it wasconstitutive o f a traditional moral panic (as outlined by Cohen and G oode and Ben-Yehuda)and proved to be a precursor episode to the moral panic that arouse from the landing o f theMV Sun Sea in August 2010.The May 2009 protests was not a moral panic in my new sense o f the term sincethere was no formal change or proposal to change the ways in which this group would bepunished. However, as an episode in a longer panic, it established Tamil activists as folkdevils through several stereotypes and “Us” versus “Them ” distinctions. In particular, Tamilactivists were perceived as “bad immigrants”, rule breakers, and were directly and indirectlyconflated with Tamil Tiger terrorists through journalistic language, public sentiment, andspeech making. This episode also revealed xenophobic sentiment from both public officialsand members o f the public, including a distrust o f Tamils as an immigrant population. Inmany instances, the images o f Tamil activists were extended to all Tamils in Canada throughexpert testimony, a multitude o f stories about the story, and the use o f generalized language.These images and stereotypes carried over and crystallized in the MV Sun Sea coverage morethan a year later.W hen 492 Tamil migrants appeared off the coast o f British Columbia, it wasimmediately framed as a security issue by national newspapers, experts, and public officials.In fact, the m ost vocal member o f the Canadian government was Minister o f Public Safety4

Vic Toews and not the Minister o f Immigration. The speech making by Toews and themultitude o f references to him as a source ostensibly framed the landing o f the MV Sun Seaas a matter o f national security. At the onset, one o f the primary concerns was that Canadawould become a target for international human smuggling rings and fraudulent asylumseekers. As such, the overwhelming reaction was to thwart terrorist networks from abusingCanada, not providing shelter to fleeing people.The images and stereotypes o f Tamils as rule breakers and terrorists returned andwere firmly crystallized as lasting images. Moreover, these stereotypes were exclusive topassengers o f the MV Sun Sea. Experts appearing in several newspapers framed the entiretyo f the Tamil diaspora in Canada as hardcore LTTE supporters. O ne expert claimed thatbecause o f such strong ties to the terrorist group as a source o f identity and meaning,Canada’s Tamil youth were a “poisoned generation” (Libin, 15 August 2010, p. A l). Whendubious reports emerged that Tamil refugees were returning home for vacation, the TorontoSun all but incited a witch hunt and called for every Tamil in Canada to have their refugeefile reviewed (Levant, 22 August 2010).The perception was that Tamils were cheating the system and taking advantage ofCanada’s goodwill. This sentiment combined with fears o f national security and theresurgence o f a terrorist organization o n Canadian soil. In response to this mixture, manynewspapers, experts, public officials, and a large contingent o f letter-writing members o f thepublic demanded an overhaul to a refugee system that was perceived as broken and porous.In October 2010, the Conservative government introduced Bill C-4, their official proposal tooverhaul the refugee system, with particular provisions to punish refugees suspected o f usinghuman smugglers to enter Canada, among many other changes. Meeting the criteria o f5

establishing a legacy, the proposal o f the bill institutionalized the moral panic and the Tamildiaspora as deviant transgressors.During my discussions and interviews with Tamil youth, it was clear that theseevents have resonated with them, often in very negative ways. Mainstream news media weredescribed by many o f the participants as responsible parties in spreading these negativestereotypes, including suspicions o f fraud, one o f the primary concerns raised in the MV SunSea coverage. Participants also pointed to the simplified conflation o f all Tamils with TamilTigers as particularly frustrating, feeling that most Canadians can only relate to Tamil peoplethrough a perceived relationship with the Tamil Tigers or the Sri Lankan civil war.The most important aspect o f these discussions were the ways in which some ofthese Tamil youth seemed to compensate for these negative perceptions. Several discussiongroup participants revealed that they shorten or Anglicize their names in the workplace,deliberately obscure their Tamil identity at work or other public places, and show signs thatthey may profile other Tamils, particularly youth, based on stereotypes depicted in media.Many o f the participants referenced the ways in which Tamils were depicted during the May2009 protests and the constancy o f those images in their lives. It was evident that many o fthese participants judged themselves and others through the views o f contem pt exhibited inseveral mainstream newspapers. At other times, some o f these participants felt pulledbetween two identities, in which being Tamil was something they did at home, b u t no t somuch in public. These participants revealed the damaging legacy o f this episodic moralpanic.1.4M otivationsPrior to university, I grew up in a working class neighbourhood in Scarborough,Ontario (a district o f Toronto). My neighbourhood had a sizeable immigrant population,6

many o f whom were Tamils that had fled Sri Lanka after the onset o f the civil war. Since Iwas bom in the mid-1980s, I grew up with initial offspring o f Canada’s Tamil diaspora. Mosto f my best friends are Tamil and the stereotypical images o f Tamils in the May 2009 protestsand MV Sun Sea coverage resonated with me on a personal level. I am passionate about thisproject, but at the same time my training as a social scientist allowed me to maintain a criticaldistance. Rather than hindering my project, my experiences enriched it through my ability toconnect with and speak to Tamil youth, an understanding o f life for many members o f theTamil diaspora, and my passion to conduct a critical study assessing some o f the challengesthis community faces.However, my motivations extended beyond a personal level. This research was alsoan initiative to put forth theoretical, methodological, and political contributions to the fieldso f youth culture and deviance. Theoretically, I have proposed a contribution to m oral panictheory that takes into account a changing mediascape. W ith a specific focus on the long-termimpact o f a moral panic, my contribution links moral panic’s folk devil and “U s” versus“Them” processes as conditions capable o f producing double consciousness. While doubleconsciousness can certainly exist w ithout moral panic, the polarizing climate produced by thepanic offers the conditions from which double consciousness can galvanize, especially whenthe folk devils’ identities are tied to race o r ethnicity.Methodologically, I presented a unique contribution by supplementing a criticaldiscourse analysis with the voices o f a stigmatized group that was n o t afforded the samebenefit in the sample analyzed. In this case the sample was newspaper coverage.Politically, I intended to trace the changes to rules and services in refugee policy inBill-C49 (passed in 2012 as Bill-C4) as originating in 2010 in response to the MV Sun Seaand crystallized stereotypes o f Tamils in Canada. By doing so this project is able help other7

researchers trace the path of the bill by emphasizing its point of origin, something thancould be lost due to its lengthy legislative process.1.5P roject m apChapter 2 presents the theoretical framework o f this project, including an in-depthanalysis o f moral panic theory by Cohen and G oode and Ben-Yehuda. This chapter alsointroduces and explains my contribution o f legacy to these theoretical models. W ith theemphasis on the legacy o f moral panic, the chapter reviews ways in which immigrant groupsthat are policed at the border become policed within. The chapter also features a review o fdouble consciousness by some o f the concepts’ forebearers and innovators, including ananalysis o f how it applies to the Tamil diaspora in Canada.Chapter 3 is a review o f the methodology used in this project. Using a socialconstructionist approach, I have applied methods o f critical discourse analysis to my study ofnewspapers. Using a phenomenological approach, I counducted and analyzed data indiscussion groups and interviews. T he chapter features the core principles o f criticaldiscourse analysis I employed, including methods for conducting impactful social science. Itis in this chapter that I explain the importance o f talking with Tamil youth to illuminate theirexperiences as a way to supplement the newspaper coverage.Chapter 4 is the critical discourse analysis o f the May 2009 protests. This chapteroutlines some context for the demonstrations, the principle themes in which Tamils werereferenced in the newspaper coverage, and an explanation o f why this event did no t m eet thenew criteria for moral panic I have established.Chapter 5 is the critical discourse analysis o f the arrival o f the MV Sun Sea in August2010 and the subsequent fallout This chapter outlines reasons for why Tamils might leaveSri Lanka within the context o f the civil war and geopolitics; the principle themes revealed in8

the coverage; ways in which stereotypes from the May 2009 episode were carried over andcrystallized; and a review o f Bill C-4’s core proposed amendments to refugee policy as theinstitutionalization o f the moral panic.Chapter 6 is the phenomenological analysis o f the discussion groups and interviewsheld with Tamil youth. T he rich data collected from these talks with young Tamil peoplerevealed a connection with their lived experiences to the moral panic found in Chapters 4and 5, worrying signs o f double consciousness, and strategies for changing negativeperceptions o f the Tamil diaspora.Chapter 7 is the conclusion o f this project. It will review the answers to my researchquestions and how they were arrived at. This chapter also proposes future research related tothis project, such as a review o f further episodes o f this moral panic and expanded analysiso f Tamil youth experiences.9

C hapter 2 - T heory and L iteratu re R eview“Tamil Trouble,” “Taking Tolerance T oo Far,” and “W hat Next A SuicideBomber?” are some o f the tides from the newspaper coverage of Tamil protests in T orontoduring May 2009. More than one year later, “O n The Lookout For Tigers,” “A T est ForCanada,” and “Canadian Compassion Can Be Deadly” are some o f the tides from thenewspaper coverage o f the MV Sun Sea during Summer and Fall 2010.In her research, Anuppriya Sriskandarajah (2010) examined how media and thepublic viewed the 2009 Tamil protestors as “not real Canadians”. My research furthersupports Sriskandarajah’s research, while building on this database by covering the MV SunSea’s arrival as well. My research also operationalizes this distinction in terms o f moral panictheory (the subject of this chapter) and analyzes how this distinction was made to m ore thanjust Tamil protestors (the subject o f Chapters 4 and 5).This chapter begins with an in-depth review o f moral panic literature, including itsorigins, theoretical shifts, varying perspectives, and a model for measuring the presence ofmoral panic. Following this section will be a discussion o f ‘Islamophobia’, a m odem moralpanic that exists in many Western states following 9/11. Describing Islamophobia willprovide a basis for understanding anti-Tamil sentiment in Canada, including many shareddescriptors in each respective moral panic. Concluding this chapter will be an examination ofdocumented consequences o f “Othered” diasporas and possible outcomes resulting fromanti-Tamil sentiment. This includes an elaborate discussion o f double consciousness, thevariations and elaborations to its meaning, and its contemporary application to make senseo f the experiences of the Tamil diaspora in Canada.10

2.1M oral Panic, definitely not a C oben-cidenceI will begin with Stanley Cohen’s concept o f moral panic to frame my analysis o fmedia, political, and public constructions o f the Tamil diaspora and Tamil refugees. In hisseminal work Folk Devils and Moral Panics, Cohen (1972) defined ‘moral panic’ as:A condition, episode, person or group o f persons emerges to becom e defined asa threat to societal values and interests; its nature is presented in a stylized andstereotypical fashion by the mass media; the moral barricades are manned byeditors, bishops, politicians and other right-thinking people; socially accreditedexperts pronounce their diagnoses and solutions; ways o f coping are evolved or(more often) resorted to; the condition then disappears, submerges ordeteriorates and becomes more visible. Sometimes the subject o f the panic isquite novel and at other times it is something which has been in existence longenough, but suddenly appears in the limelight. Sometimes the panic passes overand is forgotten, except in folklore and collective memory; at other times it hasmore serious and long-lasting repercussions and might produce such changes asthose in legal and social policy or even in the way society conceives itself (p. 9).Cohen’s research focused on media, political, and public responses regarding twoteenage subcultures, the Mods and the Rockers, after disturbances in the seaside town o fClacton, UK on Easter weekend 1964. D uring that weekend fights broke out, authoritieswere called in, and there were 97 arrests and an estimated 513 in damages (Cohen, 2002, p.25). Cohen analyzed newspaper stories on youth violence and vandalism from 1964 to 1967,including other holiday weekend disturbances in other towns. What he found was that thesetypes of skirmishes or disturbances were not uncommon in the 1950s and 60s. However,there was a shift in the reporting and attitudes towards these instances. Cohen did n o t askwhy these disturbances occurred; he was concerned with why the reaction occurred and on thescale it did (Goode & Ben-Yehuda, 2009, p. 23).Cohen's (2002) research on the Mod subculture in 1960s Britain found that Modsand Rockers “stood for everything resented about the affluent teenager” (p. 162). Thesechildren did not live through the war, they did not know economic hardship, and they wereliving in a period o f affluence without having fought or worked to earn it. The views o f11

teenagers’ fashion and behavior shifted, leading to new images of young people. This is notunlike the shifting associations with immigrants arriving on a boat, something very typical inearly Canadian history, which has become wholly unacceptable and even criminal.Cohen’s (2002) model for understanding moral panics is derived from a sequentialmodel used to describe the phases of a typical physical disaster (pp. 11-12). This modelfocuses on the social and psychological impact of these conditions. T he disaster m odel hasseven phases: warning, threat, impact, inventory, rescue, remedy, and recovey (Cohen, 2002, pp. 1213). After carefully merging, reconfiguring, and renaming some o f these phases, Cohen(2002) arrived at a condensed version o f the sequence: warning, impact, inventory, and reaction (p.13). However, unlike the linear, sequential disaster model, Cohen posits a circular model.This model suggests that there is a waming-impact-reaction feedback loop, where eachphase may be revisited and its significance amplified. In Cohen’s analysis, this modelrepresented how society responds to a perceived widespread social threat or deviance.2.1.1W arningThe warning phase represents the period leading up to an incident, where anxiety risesbased on predicted danger and the public communication o f that threat (Cohen 2002: 12).This phase sets the stage for moral panic.2.1.2Im pactThe impact phase is the initial deviation followed by the immediate unorganizedresponse to the threat (Cohen, 2002, pp. 12-18). This phase occurs primarily at the local leveland considers the involvement and actions o f the perceived deviant group(s), the localpopulation, and the police.Before continuing through the rest o f Cohen’s model, I will now draw from KaiErikson’s (1966) Wayward Puritans to define deviance. While studying Puritans in the12

Massachusetts Bay o f mid- to late-17lh century United States, Erikson developed a generalsociological theory o f deviance. Deviance “refers to conduct which the people o f a groupconsider so dangerous or embarrassing o r irritating that they bring special sanctions to bearagainst the persons who exhibit it” (Erikson, 1966, p. 6). Erikson (1996) makes thedistinction that no behavior is inherendy deviant; behavior is characterized as deviant basedon the standards o f its audience (p. 6).2.1.3InventoryThe inventory phase is an assessment o f the conditions interpreted and presented bymass media (Cohen, 2002, p. 18). The stories and images o f deviance are received primarilythrough mass media. Under these conditions, news stories and images: are highly processedand coded; transition beyond the local area to regional and national coverage; and arereported through numerous narrative schemes (i.e. editorials, letters to the editor).Cohen (2002) outlines three ways that media take inventory o f an emerging moralpanic: (i) Exaggeration and Distortion; (ii) Prediction; and (iii) Symbolization (p. 19). Each ofthese inventory-taking methods can lead to ‘over-reporting’, a phenomenon o f which Cohenis particularly critical.Distortion is the gross exaggeration o f the seriousness of the events that take place,including the exaggeration of: the num ber o f people taking part in an event; the num ber o fpeople involved in violence; and the cost and effects o f any damage o r violence (Cohen,2002, pp. 19-20). Distortion takes many different forms. First, events can be distortedthrough sensational a n d /o r misleading headlines. Beyond their headlines, stories may bedistorted through the use o f melodramatic vocabulary, generic plurals, and the intentionalamplification o f elements o f the story considered to be newsworthy (Cohen, 2002, pp. 2021).13

Prediction, occurring after the initial assessment o f an event, is the anticipation ofwhat should be done ‘next time’, including the expeditious measures already taken followingthe event (Cohen, 2002, p. 26). Predictions are solicited from official sources such as localpoliticians and police spokespeople, as well as local residents and members o f the group(s)involved in the event (Cohen, 2002, p. 26). While prediction is important in the inventoryphase, it reappears in the reaction phase as a way to consider what measurable actions m ust betaken to counteract forecasted deviance.Symbolization is the process o f meaning making that occurs in producing the news.Symbolization is the transmission o f stereotypes, the attachment o f symbolic meaning towords and images, and the process by which neutral words begin to convey complex ideasand emotions (Cohen, 2002, p. 27). Cohen (2002) outlines three processes o f symbolization:“a word (Mod) becomes symbolic o f a certain status (delinquent o r deviant); objects

texts on moral panic theory: Stanley Cohen's (2002) Folk Devils and Moral Panic and Erich Goode and Nachman Ben-Yehuda's (2009) Moral Panics. These two texts offer comprehensive models to operationalize the actors and occurrences throughout a given moral panic. Cohen organizes moral panic in four phases: warning, impact, inventory, and