Birds Aren’t Real: Vigilante Civic Literacies for Classroom Counterpublics

Research in the Teaching of English Nov 2025

Birds Aren’t Real: Vigilante Civic Literacies for Classroom Counterpublics

William J. Fassbender Montana State University ; Bradley Robinson Texas State University

Abstract

As recent history has shown, an information ecology polluted with fake news, mis/disinformation, and conspiracy theories can breed division, anxiety, and hatred—forces that pose profound challenges to nurturing a civically engaged, democratic citizenry. But is that always the case? The satirical conspiracy movement Birds Aren’t Real offers a curious example of how a faux conspiracy theory—that birds were replaced by avian drones to spy on Americans starting in the 1960s—can counterintuitively create counterpublics that engage in democratic civic action across digital platforms and real life but do so by actively increasing the noise in the system. Guided by Moncada’s theoretical work on vigilantism, this critical content analysis of Birds Aren’t Real describes how Bird Truthers enact vigilante civic literacies, authentic forms of youth-led activism in which literacy practices are deployed outside of and/or against institutional constraints in the service of collective, democratic good. Through this study, the authors suggest that beyond merely integrating Birds Aren’t Real into classroom media literacy lessons, ELA classrooms can become civic-minded counterpublics in their own right—spaces where students’ literacies are mobilized to interrogate institutional power, imagine alternative futures, and engage in novel forms of civic participation.

Journal: Research in the Teaching of English
Published: 2025-11-01
DOI: 10.58680/rte2025602189
Open Access: Closed
Topics: public rhetoric

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