Analyzing Conservative and Liberal Blogs Related to the Construction of the ‘Ground Zero Mosque’

Analyzing Conservative and Liberal Blogs Related to the Construction of the ‘Ground Zero Mosque’ Morteza Dehghani 1 (morteza@ict.usc.edu), Jonathan Gratch 1 (gratch@ict.usc.edu), Sonya Sachdeva 2 (sachdeva@northwestern.edu), Kenji Sagae 1 (sagae@ict.usc.edu) Institute for Creative Technologies, University of Southern California, 1205 Waterfront Dr., Playa Vista, CA 90094-2536, USA Department of Psychology, Northwestern University 2029 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208-2710, USA Abstract The issue of the „Ground Zero Mosque‟ has been one of the most controversial political issues in US politics in the last several years. Using two different statistical text-analysis techniques, we analyze conservative and liberal blog posts, related to the construction of this Muslim community center and the debates surrounding the issue. In the first experiment, we use a machine learning technique to automatically classify the blogs according to which group wrote them. We also examine the distinctive features that make these blogs liberal or conservative. In the second experiment, by examining posts in consecutive time blocks, we show that there was a significant increase over time in affective processing, and in anger, especially for conservatives. Overall, our results show that there are significant differences in the use of various linguistic features between liberals and conservatives, highlighting the differences between the ideologies and the moral frameworks of the two groups. Keywords: blog analysis; text classification; sacred rhetoric; LIWC; machine learning; SVM; Ground Zero mosque Introduction There is evidence that striking differences in the very definitions of morality are at the root of many social- ideological differences within a country. Haidt and Graham (2007) propose that liberals and conservatives in the US have very different ways of seeing the social environment around them, and rely on distinct moral structures and ideologies. Consequently, several important differences have been noted in the political rhetoric employed by these groups (Lakoff 2002, 2008; Marietta 2008, 2009). Lakoff (2008) argues that the type of language used in political discussions is of utmost importance because it “is far more than a means of expression and communication… It organizes and provides access to the system of concepts used in thinking” (p. 231). In other words, the language in these discussions often conveys the value systems adhered to by liberal and conservative groups. A linguistic study of presidential debates from 1976-2007 (Marietta, 2009) reveals that Republicans employed sacred rhetoric, which is grounded in “transcendent authority and moral outrage”, more frequently and on a broader range of issues, while Democrats relied more on quantitative facts such as plans and projected numbers. The issue of the Cordoba Muslim Community Center, known as Park51 or „the Ground Zero Mosque‟ as it came to be called, has been one of the most contentious political issues in the United States in the past five years or so. It served to highlight the ideological differences between liberal and conservative moral frameworks and to a certain extent, exposed the deep prejudices that still remain toward the Muslim community. This paper focuses on the differences in the use of linguistic features in over 3000 conservative and liberal blog posts related to the construction of Park51. We first explore whether the differences in the choice of words used by conservative and liberal bloggers with regard to this issue is significant enough that classifiers can be trained to automatically categorize posts as conservative or liberal. If such classifiers can be trained, we can use feature analysis to explore the most indicative features of the groups, exploring what makes the posts liberal or conservative, and gaining insight into the ideologies of the groups. Examining further differences in language use, we use the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count tool (Tausczik & Pennebaker, 2010) to track linguistic changes associated with affect, religiosity and sociality in the two groups over a period of seven months. Our hypothesis is that if there is a greater use of sacred rhetoric by conservatives, it should be accompanied by an increase in the use of religious and affective words, especially words related to anger. We begin by discussing the timeline of events that took place in response to the construction of Park51. Next, we describe our data collection method. Then, we discuss experiments, and close with conclusions and implications. Timeline of Events On December 8, 2009, the New York Times published an article on plans to build an Islamic cultural center at a building two blocks from Ground Zero (Blumenthal & Mowjood, 2009). In response to this article, a conservative blogger criticized the project dubbing it as the “Ground Zero mosque” (Geller, 2009) and started a national controversy about the issue that lasted about six months (Elliott, 2010). The story did not receive much media attention until May 6, 2010, when the building of the mosque was approved by a