I am collecting data about the hashtag #ThisIsNotNormal to explore reactions to actions being taken by the new Trump administration. I chose this hashtag because many of the people I follow on Twitter have been using it. Most of the accounts I follow are related to social justice, human rights, or activism, and there are certain Twitter users whose pages I check to see what the most important issues of the day are to them, since the new administration is taking so many actions so quickly. Often, a more controversial action such as the Muslim Ban overshadows smaller actions in the media, and I find that Twitter is a good way to stay informed on other actions that may fly under the radar. Here is one tweet from this morning that captures how I feel:
Trying to keep tabs on all the alarming things being done by the new administration is almost a second full-time job. #thisisnotnormal
— ocean gazer (@cheerfulocean) February 1, 2017
Many people are using this hashtag to criticize the most extreme or discriminatory actions that have been taken so far. The use of this hashtag varies slightly based on the events of each day. For example, in light of the nomination of a new Supreme Court justice this morning and the confirmation hearings of many cabinet members, many people are currently tweeting about the nominees and their records on different issues. The hashtag #ThisIsNotNormal is also being used frequently with other hashtags such as #NoBanNoWall, #MuslimBan and #AlternativeFacts. I hope to be able to track what people think is the most outrageous action being taken by the administration on a given day and examine the way certain topics might fade or become more prominent.
When I searched the news on Google for results related to this hashtag, I found very similar sources between the actual hashtag and just searching “this is not normal” as a phrase. My expectation was that when I searched for #ThisIsNotNormal, I would find sources addressing the use of the hashtag, an when I searched for my hashtag topic, I would find sources using the popular new phrase “this is not normal” as part of the article to and grab the attention of readers. Overall, there was no real distinction between the articles I found searching for the hashtag an the ones I found searching for the hashtag topic; articles just appeared in a slightly different order and all seemed to use this phrase in a different way. One article from the Washington Post criticizes the phrase “this is not normal” as a representation of the widespread “despair, grief, and disillusionment” protesters are feeling which may lead them to overlook the opportunity to understand how Trump came to power. Hanging on too tightly to this phrase and others and just chanting them over and over and failing to reach out to Trump supporters and understand the ideologies Trump represents will cause “the resistance” to be unproductive, this article argues. An article in the Boston Globe took a different approach, claiming that because the new administration and direction of the country is not normal, the response should not be normal either. “There can be no accommodation with this and no acceptance that any of this is normal,” author Michael Cohen writes. It is worth noting that on Twitter, the hashtag #ThisIsNotNormal seems to be used more by people in this camp of thinking rather than the camp that wants to reach out to Trump supporters. Two more articles I found took the side of the “this is not normal” crew very clearly, one in the Guardian and one on Black Lives Matter’s statement on the Muslim ban. Not only are individuals crying that this administration is not normal, but organizations, publications, and other countries are making their concerns heard as well, according to the articles I have read. It will be interesting to follow the tension between these two ways of thinking as time goes on, and I hope to see an even greater variety of voices speaking out.
When I searched for results between January and March of 2006, most of the results I found had to do with health issues, and it was clear that the “this is not normal” phenomenon regarding Trump had not yet begun. This makes sense, since at that time it still would have been regarded as unbelievable if he had been running for or elected to the presidency, just as it was regarded as recently as a few months ago. I think the “this is not normal” stage set in once Trump actually took office and started taking action. I like that this can be specifically tracked using Twitter, Google and other data sources and hope to look at exactly when the saying took off in future research.
Works Cited:
- Cohen, Michael. 2017. “The New Not-Normal- and a Necessary Response.” Boston Globe, February 1. https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2017/02/01/the-new-not-normal-and-necessary-response/pfm3aMMQMwVxR8ekkjz3mK/story.html
- Freedland, Jonathan. 2017. “Don’t Treat Donald Trump As If He’s A Normal President. He’s not.” The Guardian, January. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/14/donald-trump-not-normal-president-congress-theresa-may
- Lozado, Carlos. 2017. “The Crucial Fight That the Anti-Trump Resistance Is Forgetting.” Washington Post, February 2. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/book-party/wp/2017/02/02/the-crucial-fight-that-the-anti-trump-resistance-is-forgetting/?utm_term=.8511eb15716a
- Morrison, Aaron. 2017. “Black Lives Matter Releases Statement On Trump’s Muslim Ban.” Mic, January 31. https://mic.com/articles/167242/exclusive-black-lives-matter-releases-statement-on-trump-s-muslim-ban#.riB4Kr2Fr
Simply put, this hashtag is resourceful for those particular groups who feel they have been violated against through the actions of the current president. I say this because some feel as if they’re voices are not being heard and that has been a theme in their lives, yet when a whole community or even hashtag is trending with their same centerpiece of thought, it provides comfort as well as a sounding board for further qualms with the current ideals of the cabinet in place. Not only does it provide comfort for those groups but also shows that people do not agree, and the country has been in a good place before without the current abnormal policies being set into place, therefore there are alternative solutions to the issues at hand and this hashtag is a great way to voice that. I think you did a great job using anecdotal evidence to show your interest in this and I look forward to hearing more as Trump continues to rule under his current methodology.
Interesting. Although those using this hashtag are saying “this is not normal” implies that they felt they were heard previously. The question here is what is “normal”–something I write and think a lot about as a feminist and queer theorist. This hashtag, in many ways, is at the heart of defining what is the very basis or framework for being American. Defining the normalcy (a word which the not so clever President Harding accidentally created in 1920) of policies, culture, politics, society, and economy is the US defines the US. It’s powerful and important to see where these breaking points and connections lie.