Jakob Svensson
In contrast to Andersson ' s( 2013) study of a youth community ‐ who concluded that political discussions were conflictual, yet agonistic and friendly ‐ the discussions on Qruiser were rather antagonistic. The positioning of the Other was to a surprisingly large extent done using the the discourse of left and right and then associating opinions from the extreme versions of these positions to the Other. By associating to the Other extremist characteristics and opinions, the Other could also be treated as someone not worthy of acknowledgement, socalled guilt by association. For example, if positioned as belonging to the left – you could also be accused of defending the regime in North Korea ‐ and someone who defends the North Korean regime clearly cannot be taken seriously and should thus shut up. Similarly participants positioned belonging to the right often had to answer for the behaviour of neo‐Nazi groups and so on.
The question I ask myself is thus what kind of cultural citizenship is thriving on Qruiser? While it is easy to become horrified by the conflictual and antagonistic character of the participation on Qruiser ' s forum for political discussions, preliminary interview results reveal a conception of the forum as a locus for training debate skills, a place where the absence of political correctness is liberating, providing an outlet for political frustration. In interviews participants have revealed that they are rather motivated to debate in general and to impress an imagined audience of lurkers, than to understand or learn from other participants and seek some kind of agreement on how to understand an issue. The interviewed participants seem to have a general political interest and their participation spans from letting off steam on Qruiser to more deliberative style participation in other more recognized political associations. Hence, we can not judge the sophistication of participants civic practices by only attending to their Qruiser forum discussions. And while many participants dismissed Others as not worthy of listening to, there was an imagined audience of lurkers that seemed to be important when participants made their practices meaningful in interviews. A preliminary conclusion then, while antagonistic and rude, the Qruiser forum also provided a training ground for debate skills and an outlet for political frustration, things that are also important for a vital democracy.
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