Rationalizing Ignorance and the No New Normal Community: Mythology, Sense of Community, and Conspiracy Theories

Eschbach, Alex

Rationalizing Ignorance and the No New Normal Community: Mythology, Sense of Community, and Conspiracy Theories

dc.contributor.advisor	Jones, Julie
dc.contributor.author	Eschbach, Alex
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Beliveau, Ralph
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Craig, David
dc.date.accessioned	2021-08-17T14:45:40Z
dc.date.available	2021-08-17T14:45:40Z
dc.date.issued	2021-08-05
dc.date.manuscript	2021-07-28
dc.description.abstract	This study researched the themes of Campbell’s (1988) third (sociological) and fourth (pedagogical) functions of mythology and sense of community theory on the anti-mask subreddit: No New Normal. Users of the No New Normal subreddit, posited that they lived in a different reality from those that chose to wear masks and follow social distancing guidelines during the 2020/2021 COVID-19 pandemic. A digital ethnography, over an eleven-month period, analyzed and catalogued 838 user comments and posts revealing that mythological functions underpinned their arguments and strengthened a belief that they were quickly approaching a dystopian future with those that chose to wear a mask as the enemy. Furthermore, posts from the group revealed a community, as defined by the sense of community, that was especially pronounced as elements of membership.	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/11244/330726
dc.language	en_US	en_US
dc.rights	Attribution 4.0 International	*
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/	*
dc.subject	Mythology	en_US
dc.subject	Sense of Community	en_US
dc.subject	Conspiracy Theories	en_US
dc.subject	COVID	en_US
dc.thesis.degree	Master of Arts	en_US
dc.title	Rationalizing Ignorance and the No New Normal Community: Mythology, Sense of Community, and Conspiracy Theories	en_US
ou.group	Other	en_US