title: “Thoughts & prayers,” conspiracy theories, and laughing emojis: Facebook comments on the attempted assassination of President Trump

authors: Phillips, Justin B.

subjects: Facebook comments

abstract: This article examines online responses to the 14 July 2024 assassination attempt on Donald Trump. Using large language model embeddings and machine learning algorithms, we analyze 26 thousand Facebook comments in near real-time reacting to “breaking news” stories from six national mainstream media outlets covering the assassination attempt. The themes we identify are consistent with historical studies on political assassination attempts and death, indicating evidence of public dismay, but also other widespread reactions including conspiratorial thinking, mocking, and trolling. Facebook’s laughing emoji features as one notable troll-like response to this traumatic event, with news of the shooting prompting nearly nine thousand ‘haha’ reactions. Within this online language is a political response apportioning blame, where both the political left and right accuse one another of inciting political violence. Our paper further connects these empirical observations with literature on affective publics, digital mourning, and RIP-trolling.

text: “Thoughts & prayers,” conspiracy theories, and laughing emojis: Facebook comments on the attempted assassination of President Trump This article examines online responses to the 14 July 2024 assassination attempt on Donald Trump. Using large language model embeddings and machine learning algorithms, we analyze 26 thousand Facebook comments in near real-time reacting to “breaking news” stories from six national mainstream media outlets covering the assassination attempt. The themes we identify are consistent with historical studies on political assassination attempts and death, indicating evidence of public dismay, but also other widespread reactions including conspiratorial thinking, mocking, and trolling. Facebook’s laughing emoji features as one notable troll-like response to this traumatic event, with news of the shooting prompting nearly nine thousand ‘haha’ reactions. Within this online language is a political response apportioning blame, where both the political left and right accuse one another of inciting political violence. Our paper further connects these empirical observations with literature on affective publics, digital mourning, and RIP-trolling.

year: 2025

title: Review: Never a Dull Moment! Hamilton Stories

authors: Gush, Nadia

subjects: New Zealand

abstract: This article reviews the “Never a Dull Moment! Hamilton Stories”, Waikato Museum Te Whare Taonga o Waikato, 1 Grantham St, Hamilton

text: Review: Never a Dull Moment! Hamilton Stories This article reviews the “Never a Dull Moment! Hamilton Stories”, Waikato Museum Te Whare Taonga o Waikato, 1 Grantham St, Hamilton

year: 2010

title: Maori syllabus and the curriculum documents: A critical analysis. Part 1: Tihe Mauri Ora

authors: Crombie, Winifred

subjects: Te reo Māori

abstract: This paper presents, within the context of ongoing debates on syllabus design, a critical analysis of Tihē Mauri Ora, a syllabus document produced by the New Zealand Ministry of Education to support the teaching and learning of the Māori language in schools in New Zealand. It includes a number of suggestions in relation to any future documents prepared with similar intent.

text: Maori syllabus and the curriculum documents: A critical analysis. Part 1: Tihe Mauri Ora This paper presents, within the context of ongoing debates on syllabus design, a critical analysis of Tihē Mauri Ora, a syllabus document produced by the New Zealand Ministry of Education to support the teaching and learning of the Māori language in schools in New Zealand. It includes a number of suggestions in relation to any future documents prepared with similar intent.

year: 2001