Play, Pleasure, and Consumption...

[Robb]

This is something of a heavy read, but very, very well done. Particularly salient to our discourse here and elswhere, IMO.

Play, Pleasure and Consumption of ÒPatrioticÓ Resistance and Grieving: Conspiracy Theory and ÒThe Real StoryÓ of United Airlines Flight 93

Abstract

Of all the events surrounding the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack, perhaps no event gave the American public more hope than the heroic actions allegedly performed by the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93.Ê Despite the public framing of the passengers and their actions as Òheroic,Ó conspiracy theorists and alternative journalists have posited their own theories about the crash of Flight 93, largely disseminated via the Internet.Ê These arguments appear in hypertext format, containing links to other mainstream and alternative sites.Ê The effects of hypertext technology have yet to be fully explored by rhetorical scholars, and these Internet conspiracy theory texts offer an excellent starting point.Ê Further, a Post-Structuralist approach that privileges the play and pleasure of the multiple readings enabled by hypertext format promotes a thorough examination of the enthymematic and interpretative relationship between reader and the text that is a hallmark of conspiracy theory.Ê This study, then, is guided by several questions:Ê In the aftermath of one of the greatest tragedies in American history, what is the function of conspiracy theories that question the truth of acts of heroism like those said to have happened on Flight 93?Ê Do conspiracy theories on the Internet offer a more tangible path of resistance to publicly accepted narratives of certain events?Ê What factors of hypertext format enable and constrain such resistance?Ê In addressing these questions, this paper illustrates that hypertext conspiracy theories about the United Flight 93 crash both foster a sense of community and undercut the possibility of a coherent counter-argument by commodifying both conspiracy theory participation and the grieving process.

(much more)

[Robb]

1. Hm.

No comments... too heavy?

[CaptainClark23]

2. Not too heavy

But all the same I quit reading a little more than halfway through.

The author obviously knows a thing or too of the academics of communication media, and social psychology (there's probably a better specific term, but I don't know what it is); but I found his tone to be unbearably disdainful and superior.

I get the impression that this guy relied upon simple internet searches to cull pages to review, and never really delved down into secondary or tertiary link levels. As a result, his conclusions are based on weak samplings.

Bottom line, he may know a thing or two about conspiracy theory-theory, but he doesn't know his subject matter when it comes to Flt. 93. One cannot seperate Flt. 93 conspiracy from the overall 9.11 conspiracy. The author himself remarks how these theories generate a complete back-story and inter-connectedness that is critical to the coherence of the theory. Then he goes on to ignore that factor in focusing on flt. 93 alone.

I was fascinated about something he brought up in regards to the empowering effect of "clicking links", and how that plays into the credibility and popularity of conspiracy theories. I'd like to see more research on that angle.

[Robb]

3. He gets into that later

If I read it right, there towards the end he suggests that the "clicking links" aspect of it, while engaging, actually works against the intended aims of the author.

That was the part I found most interesting as well.

[plaguepuppy]

4. Hugh Downs School of Human Communication

OK, that's enoough for me...

But no, it get's worse:

Laura Miller writes in The New York Times, however, that after the 9/11 attacks, the subsequent pleas of the CIA and FBI for Arabic speakers, and several Congressional hearings into the seeming lack of government intelligence about the attacks, paranoids who claim the government was “in on it” are hard pressed to find a narrative that subsumes such inconsistencies on a large, wide-ranging and tragic scale (“Trope” 110).

This guy is a blot on the English language, plus he doesn't know Jack Shit: " and several Congressional hearings into the seeming lack of government intelligence about the attacks" Yeah, they really investigated that sonofabitch to death, didn't they?

Trope this you lame-ass mofo...

[Robb]

5. Er, he's citing someone.

Named Trope. Who was quoting Miller. His language use is excellent and succinct. This is about the process, not the facts themselves.

AND Miller has a point; it is hard work outlining a narrative that covers all the bases, if I can simplify the statement for you. It gets worked on here and elsewhere every hour of the day. I can't imagine why you disagree?

[plaguepuppy]

6. Ummm, never mind - thought he had a numbered set of tropes

Or memes, or maybe it was mimes (or balms perhaps). Terribly sorry, must have got caught in that Hugh Downs = the-mighty-wurlitzer trope.

OK, I'll try reading it again...

but I do find the quotes around “Patriotic” and “The Real Story” arch and a bit condescending. Is that really what we do here, "Consumption of “Patriotic” Resistance and Grieving"?



"You what! You brought a bomb for a baby?"