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Chapter 17. Anti-Sorosism

Reviving the “Jewish world conspiracy”
  • John Richardson and Ruth Wodak
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Conspiracy Theory Discourses
This chapter is in the book Conspiracy Theory Discourses

Abstract

This chapter presents a Discourse-Historical Analysis (DHA) of the antisemitic conspiracy theory at the heart of ‘anti-Sorosism’. Anti-Sorosism is a term used to label the global campaign against George Soros, a Jewish American philanthropist of Hungarian origin, launched by extreme-right activists (see Wodak 2020). We argue that anti-Sorosism is a modern synecdoche of the antisemitic ‘Jewish world conspiracy’. In addition to extreme-right individuals and organizations, several mainstream right-wing politicians have blamed George Soros for many complex global and local phenomena such as migration, the political decisions of the EU, the COVID pandemic, and so forth. Indeed, the Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán has instrumentalized Soros time and again as a Feindbild [enemy image] when campaigning against the rules and regulations of the European Union as well as when justifying and legitimizing his restrictive immigration policies. In this chapter, we will first briefly trace the origins of this archetypical conspiracy theory throughout the 19th and 20th centuries up to the present. The chapter then turns to a case study examining posters produced by Hungary’s governing party Fidesz. Following a summary of the DHA and contextualization of the politics of Fidesz, and its leader Viktor Orbán, we then proceed to the multimodal discourse analysis of a series of posters produced and displayed in Hungary. We conclude by arguing that conspiracy theories help to simplify complex issues and to provide clearly separated Manichean divisions of the ‘innocent’ and of those ‘to blame’. In doing so, they help achieve a strategic political function for the Orbán government.

Abstract

This chapter presents a Discourse-Historical Analysis (DHA) of the antisemitic conspiracy theory at the heart of ‘anti-Sorosism’. Anti-Sorosism is a term used to label the global campaign against George Soros, a Jewish American philanthropist of Hungarian origin, launched by extreme-right activists (see Wodak 2020). We argue that anti-Sorosism is a modern synecdoche of the antisemitic ‘Jewish world conspiracy’. In addition to extreme-right individuals and organizations, several mainstream right-wing politicians have blamed George Soros for many complex global and local phenomena such as migration, the political decisions of the EU, the COVID pandemic, and so forth. Indeed, the Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán has instrumentalized Soros time and again as a Feindbild [enemy image] when campaigning against the rules and regulations of the European Union as well as when justifying and legitimizing his restrictive immigration policies. In this chapter, we will first briefly trace the origins of this archetypical conspiracy theory throughout the 19th and 20th centuries up to the present. The chapter then turns to a case study examining posters produced by Hungary’s governing party Fidesz. Following a summary of the DHA and contextualization of the politics of Fidesz, and its leader Viktor Orbán, we then proceed to the multimodal discourse analysis of a series of posters produced and displayed in Hungary. We conclude by arguing that conspiracy theories help to simplify complex issues and to provide clearly separated Manichean divisions of the ‘innocent’ and of those ‘to blame’. In doing so, they help achieve a strategic political function for the Orbán government.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements ix
  4. Chapter 1. Conspiracy theory discourses 1
  5. Part I. Conspiracy theories
  6. Chapter 2. A corpus-driven exploration of conspiracy theorising as a discourse type 25
  7. Chapter 3. Is my mobile phone listening to me? 49
  8. Chapter 4. “Go ahead and ‘debunk’ truth by calling it a conspiracy theory” 71
  9. Chapter 5. “You want me to be wrong” 99
  10. Chapter 6. Fake conspiracy 121
  11. Part II. Conspiracy theory-related communicative phenomena
  12. Chapter 7. Exploring the echo chamber concept 143
  13. Chapter 8. “If you can’t see the pattern here, there’s something wrong” 169
  14. Chapter 9. Complementary concepts of disinformation 193
  15. Chapter 10. COVID-19 conspiracy theories as affective discourse 215
  16. Part III. Social media and conspiracy theories
  17. Chapter 11. The ID2020 conspiracy theory in YouTube video comments during COVID-19 241
  18. Chapter 12. #conspiracymemes 267
  19. Chapter 13. The New World Order on Twitter 295
  20. Part IV. Stancetaking and (de-)legitimation within conspiracy and anti-conspiracy discourses
  21. Chapter 14. Expressing stance towards COVID-19 conspiracy theories in Macedonian online forum discussions 319
  22. Chapter 15. Ideologies and the representation of identities in anti-vaccination conspiracy theories 343
  23. Chapter 16. Collective identities in the online self-representation of conspiracy theorists 365
  24. Part V. Political and international dimensions of conspiracy theories
  25. Chapter 17. Anti-Sorosism 395
  26. Chapter 18. “These cameras won’t show the crowds” 421
  27. Chapter 19. From strategic depiction of conspiracies to conspiracy theories 443
  28. Chapter 20. “Gender ideology” and the discursive infrastructure of a transnational conspiracy theory 465
  29. Epilogue. Beyond discourse theory in the conspiratorial mode? 489
  30. Notes on contributors 495
  31. Index 505
https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.98.17ric

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements ix
  4. Chapter 1. Conspiracy theory discourses 1
  5. Part I. Conspiracy theories
  6. Chapter 2. A corpus-driven exploration of conspiracy theorising as a discourse type 25
  7. Chapter 3. Is my mobile phone listening to me? 49
  8. Chapter 4. “Go ahead and ‘debunk’ truth by calling it a conspiracy theory” 71
  9. Chapter 5. “You want me to be wrong” 99
  10. Chapter 6. Fake conspiracy 121
  11. Part II. Conspiracy theory-related communicative phenomena
  12. Chapter 7. Exploring the echo chamber concept 143
  13. Chapter 8. “If you can’t see the pattern here, there’s something wrong” 169
  14. Chapter 9. Complementary concepts of disinformation 193
  15. Chapter 10. COVID-19 conspiracy theories as affective discourse 215
  16. Part III. Social media and conspiracy theories
  17. Chapter 11. The ID2020 conspiracy theory in YouTube video comments during COVID-19 241
  18. Chapter 12. #conspiracymemes 267
  19. Chapter 13. The New World Order on Twitter 295
  20. Part IV. Stancetaking and (de-)legitimation within conspiracy and anti-conspiracy discourses
  21. Chapter 14. Expressing stance towards COVID-19 conspiracy theories in Macedonian online forum discussions 319
  22. Chapter 15. Ideologies and the representation of identities in anti-vaccination conspiracy theories 343
  23. Chapter 16. Collective identities in the online self-representation of conspiracy theorists 365
  24. Part V. Political and international dimensions of conspiracy theories
  25. Chapter 17. Anti-Sorosism 395
  26. Chapter 18. “These cameras won’t show the crowds” 421
  27. Chapter 19. From strategic depiction of conspiracies to conspiracy theories 443
  28. Chapter 20. “Gender ideology” and the discursive infrastructure of a transnational conspiracy theory 465
  29. Epilogue. Beyond discourse theory in the conspiratorial mode? 489
  30. Notes on contributors 495
  31. Index 505
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