Owning the Libs: Symbolic Negation of #mybodymychoice as a Conservative Rhetorical Strategy

ABSTRACT

The anti-vaccine movement’s appropriation of the reproductive rights mantra #MyBodyMyChoice has been remarkably successful despite overwhelming evidence in favor of vaccines and the historical precedent for vaccine requirements. I argue that this appropriation of #MyBodyMyChoice constitutes a symbolic negation which is indicative of a new conservative rhetorical strategy of Owning the Libs. This strategy emphasizes affective resonance over political reason and operates through three rhetorical moves. It first paints liberals as hypocrites while blaming them for conservatives’ own skepticism about the COVID-19 vaccine. It then elicits an affective response which manifests via right-wing arrogance and superiority on Twitter. Finally, it reconstitutes conservatives as the “true” patriots who are uniquely able to see through government corruption. This research speaks to a new form of right-wing advocacy that forefronts emotion and personal experience as the basis for group formation and sidesteps traditional political and deliberative norms.

KEYWORDS:

• Symbolic negation
• affect
• conservative advocacy
• Twitter
• COVID-19

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Robert C. Rowland, the anonymous reviewers, and the editor for their generous feedback on this essay.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Alaina Walberg

Alaina Walberg is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Kansas.