“Don’t Fauci My Florida:” Anti-Fauci Memes as Digital Anti-Intellectualism
Autor(a) principal: | |
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Data de Publicação: | 2022 |
Tipo de documento: | Artigo |
Idioma: | eng |
Título da fonte: | Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
Texto Completo: | https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v10i4.5588 |
Resumo: | In his prescient book Achieving Our Country, Richard Rorty predicts the rise of a Trump-like strongman built on attacking, among other public figures, “postmodern professors” (1998, p. 90). This speaks to the importance of anti-intellectualism to the populist movement in the US today. Always present in populist appeals, like McCarthy’s placement of “educated elites at the center of his communist conspiracy” (Peck, 2019, p. 129), this approach “seeks to undermine public discourse by attacking and devaluing education, expertise, and language” (Stanley, 2020, p. 36). The result of these attacks is a return to tribalism and power, key facets of populist rhetoric and strategies. With the Covid-19 pandemic dominating the US public discourse since 2020, the populist conservative movement has trained their anti-intellectual rhetoric towards a singular figure: Dr. Anthony Fauci. An anti-fandom community was thus born built around attacking and mocking Fauci, taking place within the larger populist movement. While this anti-Fauci rhetoric takes many forms, one of the most dominant is that of memes. Through an analysis of both formal (DeSantis merchandise and political cartoons) and informal (actual grassroots) anti-Fauci memes, I argue online communities have used anti-Fauci memes as a form of anti-fandom community building utilizing and bolstering anti-intellectual, populist rhetoric due to their ease of transmission, mutability, and personification of intellectualism on a singular figure. In this way, being “anti-Fauci” allows the populist argument to seem like a personal grievance rather than a focused attack on academic thought itself. |
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“Don’t Fauci My Florida:” Anti-Fauci Memes as Digital Anti-IntellectualismAnthony Fauci; anti-fandom; anti-intellectualism; memes; online communities; populismIn his prescient book Achieving Our Country, Richard Rorty predicts the rise of a Trump-like strongman built on attacking, among other public figures, “postmodern professors” (1998, p. 90). This speaks to the importance of anti-intellectualism to the populist movement in the US today. Always present in populist appeals, like McCarthy’s placement of “educated elites at the center of his communist conspiracy” (Peck, 2019, p. 129), this approach “seeks to undermine public discourse by attacking and devaluing education, expertise, and language” (Stanley, 2020, p. 36). The result of these attacks is a return to tribalism and power, key facets of populist rhetoric and strategies. With the Covid-19 pandemic dominating the US public discourse since 2020, the populist conservative movement has trained their anti-intellectual rhetoric towards a singular figure: Dr. Anthony Fauci. An anti-fandom community was thus born built around attacking and mocking Fauci, taking place within the larger populist movement. While this anti-Fauci rhetoric takes many forms, one of the most dominant is that of memes. Through an analysis of both formal (DeSantis merchandise and political cartoons) and informal (actual grassroots) anti-Fauci memes, I argue online communities have used anti-Fauci memes as a form of anti-fandom community building utilizing and bolstering anti-intellectual, populist rhetoric due to their ease of transmission, mutability, and personification of intellectualism on a singular figure. In this way, being “anti-Fauci” allows the populist argument to seem like a personal grievance rather than a focused attack on academic thought itself.Cogitatio2022-11-29info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttps://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v10i4.5588oai:ojs.cogitatiopress.com:article/5588Media and Communication; Vol 10, No 4 (2022): Online Communities and Populism; 109-1172183-2439reponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãoinstacron:RCAAPenghttps://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/5588https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v10i4.5588https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/5588/5588Copyright (c) 2022 Andrew Zolidesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessZolides, Andrew2022-12-20T10:57:47Zoai:ojs.cogitatiopress.com:article/5588Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openaireopendoar:71602024-03-19T16:20:30.199027Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãofalse |
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv |
“Don’t Fauci My Florida:” Anti-Fauci Memes as Digital Anti-Intellectualism |
title |
“Don’t Fauci My Florida:” Anti-Fauci Memes as Digital Anti-Intellectualism |
spellingShingle |
“Don’t Fauci My Florida:” Anti-Fauci Memes as Digital Anti-Intellectualism Zolides, Andrew Anthony Fauci; anti-fandom; anti-intellectualism; memes; online communities; populism |
title_short |
“Don’t Fauci My Florida:” Anti-Fauci Memes as Digital Anti-Intellectualism |
title_full |
“Don’t Fauci My Florida:” Anti-Fauci Memes as Digital Anti-Intellectualism |
title_fullStr |
“Don’t Fauci My Florida:” Anti-Fauci Memes as Digital Anti-Intellectualism |
title_full_unstemmed |
“Don’t Fauci My Florida:” Anti-Fauci Memes as Digital Anti-Intellectualism |
title_sort |
“Don’t Fauci My Florida:” Anti-Fauci Memes as Digital Anti-Intellectualism |
author |
Zolides, Andrew |
author_facet |
Zolides, Andrew |
author_role |
author |
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv |
Zolides, Andrew |
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv |
Anthony Fauci; anti-fandom; anti-intellectualism; memes; online communities; populism |
topic |
Anthony Fauci; anti-fandom; anti-intellectualism; memes; online communities; populism |
description |
In his prescient book Achieving Our Country, Richard Rorty predicts the rise of a Trump-like strongman built on attacking, among other public figures, “postmodern professors” (1998, p. 90). This speaks to the importance of anti-intellectualism to the populist movement in the US today. Always present in populist appeals, like McCarthy’s placement of “educated elites at the center of his communist conspiracy” (Peck, 2019, p. 129), this approach “seeks to undermine public discourse by attacking and devaluing education, expertise, and language” (Stanley, 2020, p. 36). The result of these attacks is a return to tribalism and power, key facets of populist rhetoric and strategies. With the Covid-19 pandemic dominating the US public discourse since 2020, the populist conservative movement has trained their anti-intellectual rhetoric towards a singular figure: Dr. Anthony Fauci. An anti-fandom community was thus born built around attacking and mocking Fauci, taking place within the larger populist movement. While this anti-Fauci rhetoric takes many forms, one of the most dominant is that of memes. Through an analysis of both formal (DeSantis merchandise and political cartoons) and informal (actual grassroots) anti-Fauci memes, I argue online communities have used anti-Fauci memes as a form of anti-fandom community building utilizing and bolstering anti-intellectual, populist rhetoric due to their ease of transmission, mutability, and personification of intellectualism on a singular figure. In this way, being “anti-Fauci” allows the populist argument to seem like a personal grievance rather than a focused attack on academic thought itself. |
publishDate |
2022 |
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv |
2022-11-29 |
dc.type.status.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
dc.type.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
format |
article |
status_str |
publishedVersion |
dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv |
https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v10i4.5588 oai:ojs.cogitatiopress.com:article/5588 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v10i4.5588 |
identifier_str_mv |
oai:ojs.cogitatiopress.com:article/5588 |
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv |
eng |
language |
eng |
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv |
https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/5588 https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v10i4.5588 https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/5588/5588 |
dc.rights.driver.fl_str_mv |
Copyright (c) 2022 Andrew Zolides info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
rights_invalid_str_mv |
Copyright (c) 2022 Andrew Zolides |
eu_rights_str_mv |
openAccess |
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv |
application/pdf |
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Cogitatio |
publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Cogitatio |
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv |
Media and Communication; Vol 10, No 4 (2022): Online Communities and Populism; 109-117 2183-2439 reponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação instacron:RCAAP |
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Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação |
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RCAAP |
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RCAAP |
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Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
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Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
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Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação |
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