Communicating Covid-19: Everyday Life, Digital Capitalism, and Conspiracy Theories in Pandemic Times

Description

The COVID-19 pandemic crisis has changed the way we live and communicate. The phases of lockdown brought about by the pandemic fundamentally changed the way we work, lead our everyday lives, and how we communicate, resulting in Internet platforms becoming more important than ever before. Communicating COVID-19 explores the impact of these changes on society and the way we communicate, and the effect this has had on the spread of misinformation. Critical communication and Internet scholar Christian Fuchs analyses the changes of everyday communication in the COVID-19 crisis and how misinformation has spread online throughout the pandemic. He explores the foundations and rapid spread of conspiracy theories and anti-vaccination discourse on the Internet, paying particular attention to the vast amount of COVID-19 conspiracy theories about Bill Gates. He also interrogates Internet users' reactions to these COVID-19 conspiracy theories as well as how Donald Trump communicated about COVID-19 on Twitter during the final year of his Presidency. Communicating COVID-19 is an essential work for anyone seeking to understand the role of digital technologies, changes in communication and the Internet, and the spread of conspiracy theories in the context of COVID-19. Cover COMMUNICATING COVID-19 COMMUNICATING COVID-19: Everyday Life, Digital Capitalism, and Conspiracy Theories in Pandemic Times Copyright CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES LIST OF FIGURES ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 1. Introduction: Pandemic Times 1.1 Communicating COVID-19 1.2 SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 1.3 Health Crisis, Economic Crisis, Political Crisis, Cultural Crisis, Moral Crisis 1.4 COVID-19 and Capitalism 1.4.1 Agricultural Capitalism 1.4.2 The Global Spread of SARS-COV-2 1.4.3 Points of Change 1.4.4 Governance 1.4.5 Ideology 1.4.6 Globalisation and De-globalisation 1.4.7 Class Relations in Pandemic Times 1.4.8 Vaccine Capitalism and Vaccine Nationalism 1.5 Communication in Pandemic Times 2. Everyday Life and Everyday Communication in Coronavirus Capitalism 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Social Space, Everyday Life and Everyday Communication in the Coronavirus Crisis 2.2.1 The Coronavirus Crisis as Deceleration of Everyday Life? 2.3 Boris Johnson's Social Darwinism 2.4 Social Distancing 2.5 The Radical Transformation of the Space-Time of Everyday Life in the Coronavirus Crisis 2.6 The Overburdening of the Individual 2.7 Socialism or Barbarism 2.8 Cornavirus Society = Risk Society as Class Society 2.8.1 The Most Vulnerable 2.8.2 The Working Class in the Coronavirus Crisis 2.8.3 Critical Infrastructures 2.8.4 The Social Murder of Workers in the Coronavirus Crisis 2.8.5 The Social Distancing of Old, Weak and Ill Individuals 2.8.6 Children, Youth and (E-)Learning in the Coronavirus Crisis 2.9 Global Cities and Rural Areas in the Coronavirus Crisis 2.10 Conclusion 2.10.1 Socialism or Barbarism 3. Conspiracy Theories as Ideology 3.1 Introduction 3.1.1 Ideology 3.2 What Is a Conspiracy Theory? 3.2.1 Definitions 3.2.2 Elements of Conspiracy Theories 3.2.2.1 Secret Domination and Concealment 3.2.2.2 Personalisation 3.2.2.3 The Friend/Enemy Scheme 3.2.2.4 Violence 3.2.2.5 Rational Irrationality 3.2.2.6 Determinism 3.2.2.7 The Communication of Conspiracy Theories 3.3 The Communication of Coronavirus Conspiracy Stories and False News 3.3.1 False News 3.3.2 Types of False COVID-19 News 3.3.3 Breitbart, Rush Limbaugh and False COVID-19 News 3.3.4 Nationalism, Fascism, War 3.4 Conclusion 4. Bill Gates Conspiracy Theories as Ideology in the Context of the COVID-19 Crisis 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Methodology 4.3 Findings 4.3.1 Secret Domination and Concealment 4.3.1.1 Jordan Sather 4.3.1.2 Rashid A. Buttar 4.3.2 Personalisation 4.3.2.1 Plandemic 4.3.3 The Friend/Enemy Scheme and Violence 4.3.3.1 Ken Jebsen 4.3.3.2 Rashid A. Buttar 4.3.4 Rational Irrationality 4.3.4.1 Plandemic Part 2: Indoctrination 4.3.4.2 Patrick Bet-David's Interview with Rashid Buttar 4.3.5 Determinism 4.3.5.1 Jordan Sather 4.3.5.2 Plandemic 2: Indoctrination 4.3.5.3 Rashid A. Buttar 4.3.5.4 InfoWars 4.3.5.5 Ken Jebsen 4.4 Conclusion 4.4.1 Findings 4.4.2 COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories as Ideology 4.4.3 The Critique of Philanthrocapitalism and the Critique of Conspiracy Ideology 5. Users' Reactions to COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories on Social Media 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Methodology 5.2.1 Data Analysis 5.3 Findings 5.3.1 Content Analysis 5.3.2 The Friend/Enemy Scheme 5.3.3 Personalisation and Secret World Domination 5.3.4 Determinism and Rational Irrationality 5.3.5 Verbal Attacks and Calls for Violence 5.3.6 Calls to Political Action 5.3.7 Criticism 5.3.7.1 Satire and humour 5.3.7.2 References to Empirical Data and Reality 5.3.7.3 Demonstration of the Moral–Political Problems and Negative Consequences 5.3.7.4 Immanent Critique of the Logic of Argumentation 5.3.7.5 Questioning of the Underlying Ideological Motivation 5.4 Conclusion 6. Donald Trump and COVID-19 on Twitter 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Donald Trump's Legacy 6.2.1 Who Voted for Trump? 6.2.2 Trump's Policies 6.3 Methodology 6.4 Findings 6.4.1 Vaccines and Autism 6.4.2 The ‘China Virus’ 6.4.3 China and Joe Biden 6.4.4 COVID-19 Is Not So Bad, the Media Exaggerate as Part of an Anti-Trump Conspiracy 6.4.5 COVID-19 Is Not so Dangerous 6.4.6 Hydroxychloroquine 6.4.7 Mail-In Votes 6.4.8 The Media and Trump Rallies 6.4.9 Trump's Opposition to Lockdowns 6.4.10 COVID-19 Testing 6.4.11 Trump's Reaction to and Management of the COVID-19 Pandemic 6.4.12 The World Health Organization 6.5 Conclusion 7. Conclusion: Digital Communication in Pandemic Times and Commontopia as the Potential Future of Communication and Society 7.1 Everyday Life and Everyday Communication in Pandemic Times 7.2 Commontopia: the (Potential) Future of Communication, the Media, the Internet and Society BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX