TRANSPHOBIC MEMES IN THE QUEBEC ALTERNATIVE NEWS INDUSTRY

Abstract

In this paper, we explore transnational discursive campaigns that use online popular culture to consolidate a “countercultural” vision of hard to extreme right politics. Hyperpartisan sites form a “mirror universe” or alternate news industry, counterposing their passionate partisanship against what they deem the fraudulent objectivity of mainstream media. In our preliminary study, we noted that “anti-woke” hashtags and memes were heavily freighted with transphobic images and messages and co-occurred with a range of other far-right content (with strong currents of anti-immigration, misogynist, “anti-system,” and conspiracy themes). Presented in mocking tones and mobilized by hyperpartisan sites, transphobic memes participate in consolidating far-right hegemony via online countercultural forms. In mapping the distribution patterns of this content, we observed 1) the extent to which a range of seemingly “independent” sites distribute the same content within a short period of times; 2) how “anti-woke” hashtags and memes served to consolidate a far-right worldview and package it as countercultural; 3) and finally, how transphobic content came to constitute something of a “federating” theme – an ideological entry point into or representative of a larger ensemble of sociopolitical arguments. In this sense, transphobia works as a federating meme, creating information cascades that promote alt-right ideologies. Information cascades describe patterns of online conformity (Lemieux 2003) on social media platforms like Twitter. By tracking a range of Quebecois right-wing influenceurs, we aim to ascertain the opportunistic mobilisation and reach of transphobic content in this Quebecois alternative influence network.