“The People are the Plague”: Rhetorics of Blame During COVID-19
Abstract
From May through July 2020, we collected several hundred images shared on Facebook depicting blame for U.S. Covid-spread. Across these posts, we identified recurring patterns of blame accomplished through two rhetorical devices: attenuation and augmentation. We found two themes in these patterns of blame: individualizing social unsafety and identifying Americans as outsiders. In this article, we explain the processes of panopticonning, and provide examples of the two discourses of blame that result from panopticonning in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Journal
- Present Tense: A Journal of Rhetoric in Society
- Published
- 2021-06-22
- Topics
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