Volume 14, Issue 1
Julie D. Nelson
Public discourse surrounding recently recovered African American cemeteries in Tampa, FL is often inaccurate and misleading. Taking up Zion Cemetery as a case study, I identify three rhetorical tropes commonly employed in discourse about Zion and related Black cemeteries in Tampa—mystery, apathy, and absence. These tropes obscure Zion’s history: it was unjustly seized by the city of Tampa, headstones were removed, and the land was redeveloped for expanding white suburbs. Following analysis of news media reporting, a city press conference, and a state-wide report, I argue for a recontextualization of Zion as a memory place that commemorates Black history and agency. Keywords: African American History, Black Cemeteries, Justice, News Media, Public Memory
Thomas A. Salek
On July 28, 2022, comedian and activist Jon Stewart excoriated obstructionist Republican senators for blocking the passage of the PACT Act, legislation that would have provided healthcare and benefits to nearly 3.5 million veterans who were exposed to toxic substances during their time in the service. As a rhetorical leader, Stewart used his celebrity ethos to help generate publicity for the PACT Act and the partisan gamesmanship that stalled the legislation’s passage. To reach a nonpartisan audience, Stewart’s rhetoric shifted the exigency from the failure of the PACT Act’s passage to the broader threat of cruel partisan politicians who worked against the welfare of selfless veterans. By reframing the exigency, using profanity, and deploying the diatribe, Stewart’s speech blamed lawmakers for creating an obscene political scene that subjugated the interests of the country and welfare of veterans in favor of partisan extremism. I argue that Stewart’s rhetoric used a nonpartisan dissociation argument as a wedge for political transformation by encouraging Americans to abandon obscene and cruel partisan gamesmanship. To ameliorate this political environment, Stewart offered lawmakers and citizens a choice about the future: help vulnerable veterans and fulfill the country’s foundational principles or maintain cruel partisan gamesmanship that worked against members of the military and the will of the American people. Keywords: Diatribe, Dissociation, Mortification, Profanity, Rhetorical Leadership
Everything and Nothing: Myths of White Supremacy and “Irishness” in the Age of Trump
Benjamin P. Sweeney
Myths underpin all group identities. Understanding contemporary American socio-political upheaval requires examining how these myths inform ideology and identity, and how they work to orient communities towards political action. In recent years, white supremacy has formed (or re-formed) as one powerful rhetorical mythology. Examining this formation, I draw upon McGee’s and Charland’s essays regarding political mythmaking and constitutive rhetoric, Crockford’s work in alt-right populism and white supremacy, and Kaufmann’s research on white identity, nationalism, and voting behaviors. I then consider some of the ways Donald Trump’s recent speeches tap into and utilize this mythology. I also critically investigate the “Irish”/ “Celtic” versions of white supremacy and how the rhetoric of white supremacy appropriates popular myths, symbols, and memories of Irish America, at times doing so in service of Trump’s political agenda. Finally, I offer a contribution to the greater rhetorical and social discussion, arguing against merely attempting to counter “regressive” with “progressive” mythmaking, but also arguing for encouraging critical thought and for empathetic engagement with ideological others. Keywords: constitutive rhetoric; Donald Trump; myth; nationalism; white supremacy
Tracing Blue: A Burkean Cluster Analysis of Websites Selling the Thin Blue Line Flag
Bryan Lutz
Carson Babbit
The Thin Blue Line (TBL henceforth) is a phrase often invoked by law enforcement and their supporters. In 2014, the TBL became a contentious image when a college student embedded a blue line within a black and white American flag while, not coincidently, Black Lives Matter activists enacted anti-racist efforts across the United States. The controversy now involves legislature in Florida, which in 2023, legislated similar protections for the TBL flag that exist for the American flag, state flags, and POW/MIA flags. Policymakers uneasy about racial unrest need to hear evidenced arguments and take decisive action. Scholars can make such arguments because they have examined racist discourse and Whiteness using Burkean Methods. This study analyzes twenty-five websites selling the TBL flag and related merchandise. Over 1,000 images collocating with the TBL flag are cataloged, sorted for frequency, and compared to reference sources such as the US government’s catalog of police symbols and the Anti-Defamation League’s database of hate symbols. The analysis shows what meanings are being sold by TBL retailers compared to competing interpretations of the TBL as either a symbol of White Nationalism or a symbol honoring police. Keywords: Kenneth Burke, Cluster Analysis, The Thin Blue Line, White Nationalism, Racism