Cover not available
Article published In:
Australian Review of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 44:1 (2021) ► pp.4–36

Ergoic framing in New Right online groups

Q, the MAGA kid, and the Deep State theory

ORCID logo | Charles University
| Tilburg University

Conspiracy theories are often disqualified as inadequate and deliberate forms of misinformation. In this analysis, we engage with a specific case, the conspiracy theory developed on an online New Right forum called Q about the so-called “MAGA Kid incident” with focus on its circulation and uptake on Facebook. Drawing on ethnomethodological principles, the analysis shows how ergoic argumentation is systematically being deployed as a means of debunking rational-factual discourses about such incidents. While rationality itself is being rejected, conspiracy theorists deploy “reasonable” knowledge tactics. The paper shows how conspiracy theorists skillfully mobilize social media affordances, particularly Internet memes, to promote conspiracism as a form of inclusive political activism as well as a legitimate and “critical” mode of reasoning.

Keywords: New Right, MAGA kid, Deep State, Internet memes, conspiracy theories, online groups
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Q and the MAGA kid incident
  • 3.Ergoic reasoning: The Deep State theory and the MAGA kid incident
  • 4.Data analysis
    • 4.1Nathan Phillips is not a Vietnam veteran
    • 4.2Nathan Phillips is not a true representative of Native Americans
    • 4.3Nathan Phillips is an agent of the Deep State
    • 4.4Nathan Phillips provoked the standoff in a conspiracy against Christianity
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 5 June 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/aral.19033.pro
References
Arnold, G. B.
(2008) Conspiracy theory in film, television and politics. Westport, Connecticut: Praegar.Google Scholar
Bale, J. M.
(2007) Political paranoia v. political realism: On distinguishing between bogus conspiracy theories and genuine conspiratorial politics. Patterns of Prejudice, 41(1), 45–60. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Barkun, M.
(2016, September 25). Conspiracy theories as stigmatized knowledge. Diogenes, 1–7. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Basham, L.
(2011) Conspiracy theory and rationality. In C. Jensen & R. Harré (Eds.), Beyond Rationality (pp. 49–87). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.Google Scholar
Bengal, R.
(2018, April 18). Return to standing rock. Vogue. Retrieved from [URL]
Berinsky, A.
(2015) Rumors and health care reform: Experiments in political misinformation. British Journal of Political Science, 471, 241–262. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Blommaert, J.
(2018) Durkheim and the Internet: On sociolinguistics and the sociological imagination. London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
Blommaert, J., Ying, L., & Kunming, L.
(2019) From the self to the selfie. Tilburg Papers in Culture Studies, Paper 2221, 1–11.Google Scholar
Byford, J.
(2011) Conspiracy theories. A critical introduction. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Clarke, S.
(2007) Conspiracy theories and the Internet – controlled demolition and arrested development. Episteme, 4(2), 167–180. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Coady, D.
(2006) An introduction to the philosophical debates about conspiracy theories. In D. Coady (Ed.), Conspiracy theories: The philosophical debate (pp. 1–11). Aldershot: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Dentith, M.
(2014) The philosophy of conspiracy theories. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Douglas, K. M., & Sutton, R. M.
(2015) Climate change: Why the conspiracy theories are dangerous. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 71(2), 98–106. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fenster, M.
(2008) Conspiracy theories: Secrecy and power in American culture. Revised and updated edition. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Garfinkel, H.
(1952) The perception of the other: A study in social order. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Harvard University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
(1967) Studies in ethnomethodology. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
(2002) Ethnomethodology’s program: Working out Durkheim’s aphorism. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Goffman, E.
(1974) Frame analysis: An essay on the organization of experience. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Heins, V.
(2007) Critical theory and the traps of conspiracy thinking. Philosophy & Social Criticism, 33(7), 787–801. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Herndon, A. W.
(2018, December 6). Elizabeth Warren stands by DNA test. But around her, worries abound. The New York Times. Retrieved from [URL]
Hoffmann, C.
(2018) Crooked Hillary and dumb Trump. Internet Pragmatics, 1(1), 55–87. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hofstadter, R.
(1967) Paranoid style in American politics and other essays. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Kata, A.
(2012) Anti-vaccine activists, web 2.0, and the postmodern paradigm – An overview of tactics and tropes used online by the anti-vaccination movement. Vaccine, 30(25), 3778–3789. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Keeley, B.
(1999) Of conspiracy theories. Journal of Philosophy, 961, 109–26. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Knight, P.
(2000) Conspiracy culture: From the Kennedy assassination to The X-Files. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Lewandowsky, S., Ecker, U. K. H., Seifert, C. M., Schwarz, N., & Cook, J.
(2012) Misinformation and its correction: Continued influence and successful debiasing. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 131, 106–31. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Londberg, M.
(2019) ‘Blatant racism’: Ky. high school apologizes following backlash after video shows students surrounding indigenous marchers. USA Today. Retrieved from [URL]
Maly, I.
(2018) GAB, fake news and metapolitics. Diggit Magazine, 01/11/2018. Retrieved from [URL]
Martinez, G.
(2019) Kentucky teens wearing ‘MAGA’ hats taunt Indigenous Peoples March participants in viral video. Time. Retrieved from [URL]
Marwick, A., & Lewis, R.
(2017) Media manipulation and disinformation online. Data & Society Research Institute. Retrieved from [URL]
McHale, J. P.
(2017) Media coverage of corruption and scandal in the 2016 Presidential Election: Fantasy themes of crooked Hillary and corrupt businessman Trump. In N. S. Lind & C. Rabe-Hemp (Eds.), Corruption, accountability and discretion (public policy and governance) (pp. 107–123). Bingley: Emerald Publishing Limited. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mervosh, S.
(2019, January 19). Viral video shows boys in ‘Make America Great Again’ hats surrounding native elder. The New York Times. Retrieved from [URL]
Mortimer, K.
(2017) Understanding conspiracy online: Social media and the spread of suspicious thinking. Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management, 131, 1–16. DOI logo. Retrieved from [URL]
Murdock, S.
(2019) Native American Veteran speaks out after MAGA hat-wearing teens harass him. HuffPost. Retrieved from [URL]
Nagle, A.
(2017) Kill all normies: Online culture wars from 4chan and Tumblr to Trump and the Alt-Right. London: Zero Books.Google Scholar
Obama, B.
(2014) Statement by the President on the passing of Michael Brown. The White House Office of the Press Secretary, 12/08/2014. Retrieved from [URL]
Pagán, V. E.
(2012) Conspiracy theory in Latin Literature. Austin: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Pigden, C.
(1995) Popper revisited, or what is wrong with conspiracy theories? Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 25(1), 3–34. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pipes, D.
(1997) Conspiracy: How the paranoid style flourishes and where it comes from. New York, NY: Simon & Schusters.Google Scholar
Popper, K. R.
(1972) Conjectures and refutations: The growth of scientific knowledge (4th ed.). London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Shifman, L.
(2014) Memes: In digital culture. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Sidner, S.
(2019, March 12) Native American elder Nathan Phillips, in his own words. CNN. Retrieved from [URL]
Spencer, D.
(2015) Native American claims racial harassment by EMU students dressed as Indians. Fox 2 Detroit, 22/04/2015. Retrieved from [URL]
Sunstein, C. R., & Vermeule, A.
(2009) Conspiracy theories: Causes and cures. Journal of Political Philosophy, 17(2), 202–227. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
The New York Times. [@nytimes]
(2019, January 20) Boys in ‘Make America Great Again’ hats mob native elder at Indigenous Peoples March [Tweet]. Retrieved from [URL]
Thibault, M.
(2016) Trolls, hackers, anons conspiracy theories in the peripheries of the Web. Lexia. Rivista di semiotica, 23–241, 387–408. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Uscinski, J. E.
(2018) The study of conspiracy theories. Argumenta, 3(2), 233–245. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Varis, P.
(2018, May 12). Conspiracy theorizing online. Diggit Magazine. Retrieved from [URL]
vom Lehn, D.
(2016) Harold Garfinkel: The creation and development of ethnomethodology. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Warren, E.
[SenWarren] (2019, January 19). “Omaha elder and Vietnam War veteran Nathan Phillips endured hateful taunts with dignity and strength, then urged us all to do better.“ [Tweet]. Retrieved from [URL]
Winter, A.
(2019) ‘Online hate: From the far-right to the ‘alt-right’, and from the margins to the mainstream’. In K. Lumsden and E. Harmer (Eds.), Online Othering: Exploring violence and discrimination on the web (pp. 36–63). London: Palgrave. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wood, M. J., & Douglas, K. M.
(2013) ‘What about building 7?’A social psychological study of online discussion of 9/11 conspiracy theories. Frontiers in Psychology, 41 (Article ID 409), 1–9. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wootson, C. R., Olivo, A., & Heim, J.
(2019, January 20). ‘It was getting ugly’: Native American drummer speaks on his encounter with MAGA-hat-wearing teens. The Washington Post. Retrieved from [URL]
WWG1WGA
(2019) QAnon: An invitation to the great awakening. Dallas, TX: Relentlessly Creative Books.Google Scholar
Young, T. J.
(1990) Cult violence and the identity movement. Cultic Studies Journal, 7(2), 150–159.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 7 other publications

Al-Rawi, Ahmed & Devan Prithipaul
2023. The public’s appropriation of multimodal discourses of fake news on social media. The Communication Review 26:4 ► pp. 327 ff. DOI logo
Demata, Massimiliano, Virginia Zorzi & Angela Zottola
2022. Chapter 1. Conspiracy theory discourses. In Conspiracy Theory Discourses [Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture, 98], ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Izadi, Dariush
2022. Doing penance as a nexus of practice. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics 45:2 ► pp. 154 ff. DOI logo
Mason, Jessica
2022. Chapter 8. “If you can’t see the pattern here, there’s something wrong”. In Conspiracy Theory Discourses [Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture, 98], ► pp. 169 ff. DOI logo
Seargeant, Philip
2022. Chapter 9. Complementary concepts of disinformation. In Conspiracy Theory Discourses [Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture, 98], ► pp. 193 ff. DOI logo
Terracciano, Bianca
2023. Accessing to a “Truer Truth”: Conspiracy and Figurative Reasoning From Covid-19 to the Russia–Ukraine War. Media and Communication 11:2 ► pp. 64 ff. DOI logo
Zottola, Angela & Rodrigo Borba
2022. Chapter 20. “Gender ideology” and the discursive infrastructure of a transnational conspiracy theory. In Conspiracy Theory Discourses [Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture, 98], ► pp. 465 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 28 march 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.