Fringe Rhetorics: Conspiracy Theories and the Paranormal identifies the rhetorical similarities of conspiracy theories and paranormal accounts by delving into rhetorical, psychosocial, and political science research. Identifying something as “fringe” indicates its proximal placement within accepted norms of contemporary society. Both conspiracy theories and paranormal accounts dwell on these fringes and use surprisingly similar persuasive techniques. Using elements of the Aristotelian canon as well as Steve Oswald’s strengthening and weakening strategies, this book establishes a pattern for the analysis of fringe rhetorics. It also applies this pattern through rhetorical analyses of several documentaries and provides suggestions for countering fringe arguments.

A study of the French National Front and its implications for the rest of the western world.

In Angry Public Rhetorics, Celeste Condit explores emotions as motivators and organizers of collective action—a theory that treats humans as “symbol-using animals” to understand the patterns of leadership in global affairs—to account for the way in which anger produced similar rhetorics in three ideologically diverse voices surrounding 9/11: Osama bin Laden, President George W. Bush, and Susan Sontag. These voices show that anger is more effective for producing some collective actions, such as rallying supporters, reifying existing worldviews, motivating attack, enforcing shared norms, or threatening from positions of power; and less effective for others, like broadening thought, attracting new allies, adjudicating justice across cultural norms, or threatening from positions of weakness. Because social anger requires shared norms, collectivized anger cannot serve social justice. In order for anger to be a force for global justice, the world’s peoples must develop shared norms to direct discussion of international relations. Angry Public Rhetorics provides guidance for such public forums.

An exploration of exaggerated cases of conspiracy theories which helps to reveal why traditional modes of argument fail against unwarranted, unsound, or untrue evidence.

Provides a comprehensive guide to the history and current shape of conspiracy theories in American life, including the findings of research seeking to understand their origins, type, function, and widespread appeal. This all-in-one resource provides an accessible overview of conspiracy theories past and present in all their many forms. Taking an even-handed, scholarly approach, the book outlines the longer history of conspiracy theories, starting with Ancient Greece and Rome and continuing the story up to the present day, including analysis of 9/11, anti-vaccine, COVID, and QAnon theories. It surveys an array of current books and articles to try to understand why people believe in and act on outlandish and evidence-free conspiracy theories. Notably, this resource also outlines the problems created by untrue conspiracy theories in terms of their negative impact on public debate, trust in others, and efforts to nurture an informed and educated citizenry. Instead, many conspiracy claims have become sources of misinformation, cynicism, and polarization. This book will benefit anyone who seeks a pathway through our current "epistemic crisis" in which the lines between fact and fiction-and between truth and falsehood-have become blurred.

Language, Society and Power provides an accessible introduction to the study of language in a variety of social contexts. This book examines the ways language functions, how it influences the way we view society, and how it varies according to age, ethnicity, class, and gender. Readers are encouraged to consider whether representations of people and their language matter, explore how identity is constructed and performed, and examine the creative potential of language in the media, politics, and everyday talk. With updates and new international examples throughout, the sixth edition of this popular textbook features: Thoroughly revised chapters on politics and media to include topics such as environmentalism, the politics of consumer choice, injustice in legal systems, and the power of social media in political activism Expanded coverage of ongoing debates around fake news, gender fluidity and representation, and multilingualism Discussions of surveillance in relation to linguistic landscapes Examination of linguistic change due to COVID-19 A companion website which includes streamlined exercises, further reading, a 'who's who' of Twitter, and links to blogs and videos to support learning as students make their way through the book. Language, Society and Power assumes no linguistic background among readers and is a must-read for all students of English language and linguistics, media, communication, cultural studies, sociology, and psychology who are studying language and society for the first time.