LIAS Focus Week: Talk: Rightwing Agitation from 4chan to MyPillow: 10 Years in the American Fashosphere
A timeline of a new fascism in the digital public sphere
14. Jan
This event is open to everyone interested!
Tuesday, January 14, 4:00–6:00 pm
Place: Leuphana University Lüneburg, Lecture Hall 3
Language: English
Talk by Simon Strick (ZeM Potsdam) in English, Introduction: Alex Demirović (LIAS Senior Fellow)
This lecture presents a meme-centric timeline of rightwing online agitation in the past 10 years, from obscure messageboards to Trump’s likely 2nd presidency. Paraphrasing Adorno that „fascism is obsolete but up to date“, it will trace various rearticulations of old fascist ideology in the new guises of digital culture. Rightwing agitation, and a reactionary reworking of political and popular culture, will be shown as the current mainstream of the digital public sphere, a set of cultural conventions and discourses that dominate lifeworlds, attentions, and sensibilities far beyond the limits of what has been called the „alt-right fringe“. The talk will draw on traditions of media and critical theory to come up with assessments of what this means for our reactionary present, and explore possible alternative imaginings beyond fascist exploitability.
Simon Strick is a media scientist and author of Rechte Gefühle (2021). Since the book was published, he has been researching right-wing strategies on the internet, in particular the mixing of lifestyle content and right-wing propaganda in everyday digital life.