Abstract
Understanding how issues are framed and how politicians are invading our private life is important for the Millennial generation to be cognizant of. With the Internet most often seen as a tool of democracy, allowing for alternative views to exist and its attempt of inclusivity, as well as a place of an abundant amount of information, it is imperative that we understand how politicians, both domestically and internationally, are trying to control the information and conversation occurring in Cyberspace. Targeted audiences, website construction, specific messengers and messages, guised by 'democratic' websites and its twenty/four seven presence - the Internet is the new battle for international hegemony and politics. Thus, this paper is a study Queen Rania's YouTube Channel Project because I want to display how linguistic framing and website construction shape political discourse on the Internet in order to best understand how the Internet is becoming the new forum for hegemony. As the recent events in Iran's presidential elections have shown us, digital political activism can and do affect politics "on the ground". It is therefore integral for not only academics, but students of politics and people of the world, to recognize how the digital sphere can impact the physical, political sphere. My research methods include viewing YouTube clips, dissecting the Queen's project slogans and looking at the responses, both in terms of videos and comments that were not selected by the Queen to be highlighted on her Channel. In the end, I have found that through her main project slogan, "Send Me Your Stereotypes", the Queen shaped her conversation on YouTube to fit her political needs and her perspective. Through cultural references and language, along with appealing toward values of democracy, inclusion, multiculturalism and information through the Internet, Queen Rania's project is a plea to American Millennials to change their views regarding a specific demographic of Arabs within the Arab world.
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