Cyberbullying against HHR’s Hinduphobia research

January 2022: Demonisation

This symbolic image is part of health education on cancer and tobacco worldwide.

For example the image was added by SciMex to an article about an Australian public health campaign on pancreatic cancer research conducted by Australian universities, Cancer Council and research institutes.

The public awareness article states:

Link to research (DOI): 10.5694/mja2.12108

Organisation/s: The University of New South Wales, Cancer Council Victoria, The University of Melbourne, The University of Sydney, The University of Newcastle, University of Adelaide, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, Westmead Institute for Medical Research, Australian National University.

Funder: Supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council

Facts

1. The account is set up exclusively to bully me.
   • It contains no other content or activity.
2. The account impersonates me:
   • It uses first person. It states ‘I’m raising money for Research and Publications on Hinduphobia’ . https://twitter.com/SarahHates2/status/1486659765077905408
   • It does not abide by Twitter policy on Impersonation
   • It does not state it is not my account and implies otherwise.
   • The account uses my name:
   • The name Sarah Louise Gates is visible in the image and live web link.
   • The handle is my name with one letter, ‘G’ changed to ‘H’
   • The handle has number 2, as if this is a second account of my original numbered ‘1’ – @sarahlgates1 / @SarahHates2
   • The content reproduces my tweets verbatim:
   • I tweeted 27 January 2021: ‘This post has dropped my like three times. It’s not there again since yesterday.’ A screenshot on Oct 2021 Bangladeshi Hindu pogrom was beneath it from The Australia Today.
     • @SarahHates2 tweeted: ‘This post has dropped my like three times. It’s not there again since yesterday.’ [No screenshot]
   • I tweeted 27 January 2021: ‘Anyone noticed every time you go to fact check why Hindus are nasty hateful sexist pigs you end up finding the same hateful sexist bigotry being done to Hindus? Check this out.’ A link to r/librandu was posted.
     • @SarahHates2 tweeted: ‘Anyone noticed every time you go to fact check why Hindus are nasty hateful sexist pigs you end up finding the same hateful sexist bigotry being done to Hindus? Check this out.’ A link to r/librandu was posted.
3. Academic intimidation:
   • The content frames my Hinduphobia research as disinformation.
     • The base post on 27 January 2022 is: “What spreads faster than fire? Lies…so lie.”
       • This refers to disinformation on social media. MIT reported March 2018: ‘Study: On Twitter false news travels faster than true stories.’
     • It draws from Hinduphobia denialist tropes (below) to accuse me of studying something false.
4. The account demonises me and my research:
   • The profile picture avatar is a half dead man, or the ‘undead’.
   • It misuses health promotion material:
     • The images are generic and well known symbolism in cancer warnings
       • It presents my research as diseased, death inducing, dangerous to others, anti-life and inherently evil.
     • Combined with the text ‘Dare to Donate’, it signals and reinforces the horror trope.
   • My online avatar is Kali who wears a garland of skulls representing impermanence, transcendence and the ego:
     • Dharma traditions including Buddhism, Tantra and other traditions of Sanatana Dharma use skulls to signify such things as individual ego, mortality and immortality, transmigration and liberation, overcoming fear of death and fear in general.
     • Kali is often depicted as demonic within anti Hindu tropes.
     • The depiction of myself and my research as demonic, dangerous, diseased and horrifying are the net result of all the above.

Attacks on my scholarly research on Hinduphobia

My definition contradicts the definition (above) from ‘South Asian Scholar Activist Collective’. This anonymous website proclaims itself authoritative. Mass media produces disinformation based on the inaccurate claims of the above which exemplifies the framing of arguments against the term Hinduphobia.

My Research

My definition of Hinduphobia is currently that of Lexico powered by Oxford. This definition is applied across my GoFundMe and my Hinduphobia survey (results and open survey here). The screenshot of Lexico was pinned on my twitter for several months. It is now retweeted below my pinned tweet and it is central to all my research.

There is full accountability within all my work as to my sources. The mid 19th C origins are supported by a literature review I wrote that inspired me to continue researching this topic. It was originally sent to Oxford with the earliest date at 1883.

Lexico origins were initially ‘Late 19th C’. Upon forwarding a request to OED to update it to ‘Mid’ due to findings of use from 1866, an update was made.

Attacks on me & activists spreading disinformation

As per the above, it is evident that Hinduphobia was not recently coined, nor can it be said that ‘Hindutva’ has popularised it, given the historic literature shows ‘Hindutva’ had very little to do with popularisation. The most cited reference to Hinduphobia during the period was from an Australian former Governor of Bengal and it was coined by Sir Edward Sullivan in relation to James Mill’s bigoted perception of Hindus.

There are many other incidents of cyberbullying that I have experienced due to bringing my research on Hinduphobia into social media, especially since 24 August 2021. I use my Hindu name on my accounts, identify as Kashmir Shaivite, am visibly a devotee of two skull wearing deities, Kala Bhairava and Ma Kali. I am an initiate of several sampradaya systems. On the basis of these elements of my character, faith and scholarship, I have experienced considerable anti Hindu sentiment from ‘anti BJP/Hindutva’ academics, activists and some have created profiles with fake names specifically to target me since September like this one. My account will be updated here as a working document.