Rightwing Agitation from 4chan to MyPillow: 10 Years in the American Fashosphere

Focus Week am Leuphana Institute for Advanced Studies (LIAS): Facing the Far-Right/ Zum Aufstieg der Rechten

Talk by Simon Strick (ZeM Potsdam) in English

Introduction: Alex Demirovi (LIAS senior fellow)

This lecture presents a meme-centric timeline of rightwing online agitation in the past 10 years, from obscure messageboards to Trump's likely 2nd presidency. Paraphrasing Adorno that "fascism is obsolete but up to date", it will trace various rearticulations of old fascist ideology in the new guises of digital culture. Rightwing agitation, a reactionary reworking of political and popular culture, will be shown as the current mainstream of the digital public sphere, a set of cultural conventions and discourses that dominate lifeworlds, attentions, and sensibilities far beyond the limits of what has been called the "alt-right fringe". The talk will draw on traditions of media and critical theory to come up with assessments of what this means for our reactionary present, and explore possible alternative imaginings beyond fascist exploitability.