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Full-Text Articles in Communication

Alt-Right Of The_Donald And Authoritarian Communists On Reddit: Internet Memes To Build Community, Joshua Hendricks Aug 2022

Alt-Right Of The_Donald And Authoritarian Communists On Reddit: Internet Memes To Build Community, Joshua Hendricks

Master's Theses

This project infuses Lacanian psychoanalysis further into the rhetorical study by exploring authoritarian discourses on Reddit. I analyze the alt-right community that found a home on the subreddit r/The_Donald and chart their discourse as it shaped from the quarantine to the establishment of an independent forum called TheDonald.win. I selected memes and the comments around them to build the analysis. The second aspect of this thesis examines authoritarian communist discourse on Reddit. The leftist community splintered when r/socialism banned a community member because the person made catgirl art. The ban sent shockwaves through the leftist community on Reddit and generated …


The Rhetoric Of Blame: A Rhetorical Framing Analysis Of Othering And Blame In Historical Health Crises, Colin G. Cameron May 2022

The Rhetoric Of Blame: A Rhetorical Framing Analysis Of Othering And Blame In Historical Health Crises, Colin G. Cameron

Master's Theses

The United States’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic was hallmarked by blame rhetoric and fluid social and political expedience. However, the pervasiveness of othering and blame in contemporary pandemic discourse is perhaps consistent with the blame rhetoric of health crises throughout history. Using a rhetorical framing analysis approach, this study aims to explore the various elements of blame rhetoric embedded in newsprint media frames regarding historic infectious disease outbreaks. In doing so, this study investigates three case studies: the San Francisco smallpox outbreak of 1876, the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918, and the AIDS crisis of the 1980s – 1990s. …


Media Frames And Abortion Issue Polarization, Shianne Galuska Oct 2021

Media Frames And Abortion Issue Polarization, Shianne Galuska

Master's Theses

The abortion issue is one of the most polarizing topics within the public and media sphere. How the media chooses to frame the abortion debate may influence public opinion and individual reactions. Specifically, articles that use incongruent abortion frames (pro-life/pro-abortion & anti-abortion/pro-choice) may be contributing to an ingroup versus outgroup mentality by highlighting who is the ingroup and who is the outgroup, thus generating moral disgust and polarization (characterized by anger, bias, and activism) amongst those with opposing views. This study sought to answer whether presenting individuals with an incongruent abortion frame increases anger, bias, and activism (polarization), as well …


Navigating Hate: The Public Deliberation Of Matthew Shepard And Hate Crime Legislation, Abigail Barnes Dec 2020

Navigating Hate: The Public Deliberation Of Matthew Shepard And Hate Crime Legislation, Abigail Barnes

Master's Theses

Since Matthew Shepard’s murder in 1998, his narrative has been recirculated to justify a federal hate crime statute and Shepard has been used as a symbol for the demand for hate crime legislation. This study seeks to evaluate how Shepard is used in public deliberation, the role of private organizations in the public deliberation of hate crime legislation, and the discursive history of the Shepard-Byrd Hate Crime Prevention Act of 2009. Through a rhetorical criticism, this study finds that the nuances of Shepard’s narrative are abandoned in order to construct him as a “permissible” symbol for LGBTQ+ protections. However, if …


The Wakefield Phenomenon: A Rhetorical Examination Of The Resurgence Of The Anti-Vaccination Movement In The 20th & 21st Century, Karen Boger Aug 2020

The Wakefield Phenomenon: A Rhetorical Examination Of The Resurgence Of The Anti-Vaccination Movement In The 20th & 21st Century, Karen Boger

Master's Theses

This thesis explores the phenomenon of the anti-vaccination movement and existing publications documenting significant points in its resurgence in the late 20th and early 21st century following the now redacted publication by the former Dr. Wakefield asserting a correlation between children receiving vaccinations and children exhibiting the onset of developmental disorders, with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) garnering the most public attention. With increasing numbers of parents delaying or forbidding their children from receiving vaccinations, along with the re-emergence of previously eradicated disease outbreaks and casualties, questions about the salience of Wakefield’s anti-vaccination statements arise. Investigation here is key …


The Persuasive Effect Of Youtube Videos On Food Waste Habits, Deeti Gupta Dec 2016

The Persuasive Effect Of Youtube Videos On Food Waste Habits, Deeti Gupta

Master's Theses

In the past decade, food waste has emerged as one of the most important food sustainability issues in developed societies and has received increased attention from academic scholars, policymakers, environmental and other civil society organizations. There have also been a growing number of efforts to mitigate this problem, an important component of which has been education to provide consumers with a clearer understanding of the food waste problem and the methods that they can take to change their food waste behaviors. One of the educational approaches has involved social marketing. Social marketers have recently turned to YouTube and other video …


Systems At Play: The Construction Of International Systems In Social Impact Games, Jorge Albor Dec 2011

Systems At Play: The Construction Of International Systems In Social Impact Games, Jorge Albor

Master's Theses

This thesis explores how game makers conceive of and navigate the intersection between digital systems and real world systems by asking, how can social impact game designers shape procedural rhetoric to effectively address complex real world systems with digital systems? By examining three game case studies, I reach four significant findings regarding player agency, subversive play, design approaches to scale, and game difficulty in regards to systems fluency.