Almost 40 years ago, Neil Postman, the renowned media theorist and cultural critic, argued television had fundamentally transformed democracy.
My hope is that this book will resonate with scholars and students committed to preserving civic culture.
Dr. Jason Hannan
Dr. Jason Hannan, Associate Professor in the University of Winnipeg’s Department of Rhetoric, Writing, and Communications, argues in his new book, Trolling Ourselves to Death: Democracy in the Age of Social Media (Oxford University Press), that social media have brought about a second transformation, this time involving internet trolls.
Dr. Hannan will launch his new book this Thursday, January 11 at 6:30 p.m. on Zoom. Attendees are asked to register for the event, which is co-hosted by the Department of Rhetoric, Writing, and Communications and the Centre for Research in Cultural Studies.
Dr. Hannan said trolling has gone mainstream, eroding our public culture and changing the rules of democratic politics. Adding a twist to Postman’s classic thesis, Dr. Hannan argues we are trolling ourselves to death.
The cover of Dr. Hannan’s new book.
“This book was written to help policymakers and journalists better understand the problem of disinformation, conspiracy theory, and online toxicity,” Dr. Hannan said. “As we watch the rise of far-right movements across the globe, and governments and politicians spreading disinformation on social media, my hope is that this book will resonate with scholars and students committed to preserving civic culture.”
Dr. Paul Levinson, Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University in New York City, and author of McLuhan in an Age of Social Media, described Dr. Hannan’s book as “A tour-de-force, essential analysis, and call to action of a book that becomes more relevant by the hour. Hannan’s high-energy, meticulously researched tract is vivid, well-reasoned, morally astute, and rightly outraged, and should be required reading for anyone who wants to get at least a glimpse of the roiling factors and forces that are bending and rending our world to the breaking point.”
About the author
Dr. Jason Hannan is Associate Professor in UWinnipeg’s Department of Rhetoric, Writing, and Communications. His research interests include rhetoric and political theory, the philosophy of communication, animal rights, post-humanism, and bioethics and medical humanities. His courses include the Rhetoric of Medicine, Rhetoric in a Pluralistic Society, the Rhetoric of Animality, Rhetorical Criticism, Rhetorical Theory, and Communication Theory. He is currently working on his next book, Reactionary Speech: The Conservative Denial of Reality.
