Rhetoric Society Quarterly May 2019

The Blood of Patriots: Symbolic Violence and “The West”

CV Vitolo-Haddad Russian State Agrarian Correspondence University

Abstract

This article considers how demagoguery gives meaning to violence by providing a symbolic, expressive outlet for resentment resulting from real or felt precarity. This rhetorical process redirects frustrations away from the entities and sociopolitical structures responsible for creating precarity and toward a scapegoat. Rather than examining demagoguery as rhetoric produced by an individual rhetor or consumed by an audience of the masses, the author explores the “meso-level” of demagogic discourse: the organizations called into existence and motivated by individuals’ shared identification with a symbolic struggle against an imagined Other. This phenomenon is illustrated through a close reading of the Proud Boys, a multinational fraternal organization that uses an aesthetic of libertarianism to advance a fascist politic.

Journal
Rhetoric Society Quarterly
Published
2019-05-27
DOI
10.1080/02773945.2019.1610641
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Topics
modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism discourse analysis
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (1)

  1. Manthey (2020)
    A Violent Peace and America’s Copperhead Legacy
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly

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