Galpin, C., & Vernon, P. (2024). Post-truth politics as discursive violence: Online abuse, the public sphere and the figure of ‘the expert.’ The British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 26(2), 423–443.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1177/13691481231202641
Open access: Yes
Notes: As long argued by activists and journalists, an essential result of online abuse concerns its epistemic implications—that is, violence on digital platforms often results in silencing targets by inhibiting their ability to freely participate in the public sphere. However, the epistemic consequences of online abuse don’t affect everybody equally. In this article, Galpin and Vernon argue that gendered, sexualized, and/or racialized bodies are often the targets of online abuse in ways that seek to destroy their standing as ‘experts.’ Examining discussions on Facebook and online newspapers concerning Brexit, Galpin and Vernon examine how online abuse affects public conversations. In short, their findings “demonstrate that abusive online comments directed at people framed as experts should not just be considered as ‘uncivil’ or ‘insulting’ language but as discursive violence that attempts to remove gendered, racialised and sexualised bodies from the position of ‘expert’” (p. 433). Overall, this important article emphasizes how online abuse is operationalized within larger structures of power as mechanisms for establishing moral boundaries concerning who is allowed (and not allowed) to inhabit and speak in the public sphere.
Abstract: ‘Post-truth politics’ indicates a contemporary state of public distrust around the legitimacy of knowledge, shaped by the hybrid media landscape. In the present moment, women, LGBTQ+ and racialised individuals also receive unprecedented levels of online abuse. Scholars have attributed responsibility for disinformation to social media and linked post-truth discourse to angry accusations of lying and dishonesty. Yet, online abuse of experts/academics has not been conceptually or empirically connected to post-truth. We analyse Facebook comments on right-wing news articles that question the expertise of academics during Brexit. Using queer theory, we argue that online abuse of experts staged by newspapers is a form of post-truth communication involving a process of bordering through which gendered, sexualised or racialised bodies are considered incompatible with academic expertise. This process legitimises extraordinary abuse including threats of sexual violence. Only by asking intentional questions about gender, sexuality and race can we fully understand the post-truth condition.
