Covid's Muzzle
Construction of the Anti-Mask Speech on YouTube
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22478/ufpb.2763-9398.2023v18n.63884Keywords:
Covid-19, Conspiracy Theories, MaskAbstract
During the Covid-19 pandemic, masks were soon identified as simple and effective solutions to reduce the infection of the virus. Even so, health authorities, in addition to the disease, faced another enemy: denialism. Anti-mask movements have spread across the digital space, with conspiracy theories that they would not only be ineffective, but potentially do harm, circulating in a great stream of disinformation. This article seeks to analyze the anti-mask rhetoric built on the conspiracy YouTube channel MetafisicaMente. Here we find a denialism whose construction is complex, contesting scientific institutions without completely renouncing science. In this speech, conspiracy theories, pop culture and religious literalism live side by side, seeking to make sense of a worldview where everything is interconnected, in favor of an evil plan of occult forces.
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