"Want to discuss our latest cover? Let's hear it with the hashtag: #MuslimRage."
Newsweek @Newsweek
"When someone makes a stupid film which looks like an 8 year old made it and idiots violently over react and make us look bad #muslimrage"
-- B i l a l @BilalSpeaks
In July of 2012, a film called Innocence of Muslims was posted on YouTube. It is a low-budget train wreck of a film, that exists only to insult the prophet Muhammad -- or, more exactly, to enrage his followers. And it worked. Riots are reported across the Middle East (and beyond), from the deadly riots in Libya to Egypt putting out warrants for the arrest of people suspected to have connections to the film.
"Um, I don't feel rage... Am I still a member of the tribe?" #muslimrage
-- Laila Lalami @LailaLalami
Newsweek decided to make this the cover story of its September 24, 2012 issue. This was an obvious choice, but the rather unflattering cover picture and the inane caption "How I survived it, how we can end it" caused a ripple of mocking comments to appear on the internet. These have crystallized on Twitter in a series of increasingly silly/serious tweets with the hashtag #muslimrage.
"Get angry when the self proclaimed MSN Messenger pops up. There can be no other Messenger!" #MuslimRage
--Amro Ali
The hashtag was suggested by Newsweek itself (see the first tweet above), but most of the discussion has been either outright scorn directed at Newsweek, or irrelevant take-offs on examples of what makes Muslims mad -- the great majority posted by what appear to be Real Live Muslims.
"You lose your nephew at the airport but you can't yell his name because it's JIHAD." #muslimrage
-- Hijabi Girl @HijabiGrlPrblms
There are hundreds of #muslimrage tweets, but Twitter is not currently listing it in its top ten trending tags, nor is #muslimrage likely to be an enduring meme. However, it has been a very popular meme in the news media. Perhaps the liberal media in particular, who appear to be quite enamored of the idea that there are so many non-violent Muslims in the world. Which is, admittedly, a good message to spread.
"I'm having such a good hair day. No one even knows." #MuslimRage
-- Hend @LibyaLiberty: currently the most popular #MuslimRage, retweeted 5,100 times.