Post-Weird
-
Calum Lister Matheson
About this book
An ambitious look at rhetoric and psychosis that explores how communities form when society collapses
American society seems to have fractured. Common touchpoints of authority have receded in recent decades and beliefs that were once taboo are now openly shared, from neo-Nazism to occultism to conspiracy thinking. In this book, Calum Lister Matheson goes beyond the fraying of contemporary American culture to ask how splinter communities form in our current media environment, what keeps them together, and what they build from the ruins of shared language.
In his stirring exploration of how people communicate when old forms of authority and meaning collapse, Matheson examines far-flung groups that have departed the mainstream—Sandy Hook deniers, Appalachian serpent handlers, pro-anorexia bloggers, incels, transvestigators, pseudoscientific reactionaries, and more—and finds unexpected similarities among their many differences. Key among their parallels is the insistence that the symbols shared by each community represent a hidden truth that cannot be questioned or interpreted but is revealed through signs—words, images, videos, and texts. By documenting American fringe cultures, extremism, and the social functions of language, this book rethinks concepts like irony, psychosis, propriety, and what it means to be normal in weird times.
Author / Editor information
Reviews
Topics
-
Download PDFPublicly Available
Frontmatter
i -
Download PDFPublicly Available
Contents
vii -
Requires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Introduction: The Spolia of Babel
1 -
Requires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
1 Sandy Hook: Guns and Anti-Rhetoric
21 -
Requires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
2 Serpent Handlers: Snakebites and Sadists
47 -
Requires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
3 Pro-Ana: Wanting Nothing
70 -
Requires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
4 Reactionary Science: Agents and Alibis
93 -
Requires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Conclusion: The Ends of Rhetoric
115 -
Requires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Acknowledgments
127 -
Requires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Notes
129 -
Requires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Bibliography
161 -
Requires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Index
179 -
Requires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
About the Author
183
