I am a new member of this community, though I've been lurking for a few years now. Throughout, I was concurrently conducting research for my sociology MA thesis on the Tea Party and the rise of the 'Hysterical Right.' My experience here so far has been very enjoyable, and many of your discussions and debates, particularly during the 2012 election, informed my own critical analyses.
I thought that to introduce myself to this great and grand community, I might post a few diaries with material culled from my thesis. I won't post the whole thing, of course! I have come across many like-minded people here whose angle and flavor of critical analysis of certain political actors, groups, issues, and topics meshes well with my own. I'm here more for relaxed, informed, well-considered, and collegial discussions than for heated debates.
We always talk of the Tea Partiers and the GOP Crazy as existing in an alternate reality, or a reality bubble, or some such term. That never really worked for me. While those conceptualizations do serve the purpose of establishing the otherness of their reality, they do nothing to qualify this reality, let alone decipher its sociological and psychosocial mechanics. Moreover, those terms imply operational systems that are removed from 'real' reality. But these people are nevertheless operating in 'real' reality. This suggests an extraordinary collective phenomenological system, a psychosocial phenomenon I call 'realishness.'
I should point out that I have come across the term 'realishness' elsewhere, but never to describe a phenomenological system. And I realize that Colbert didn't necessarily coin 'truthiness,' but he is clearly the one who popularized the term and concept.
(Realishness is a component of my conceptual model of 'sociopolitical spacetime' that suggests a particular and unique social mechanics driving the Hysterical Right. I have redacted two brief passages that relate to this overall concept to avoid confusion.)
An excerpt from my thesis in which I introduce and discuss realishness follows below the orange swirly thing for which I really don't feel like thinking up a witty name. Obviously, this is a concept that would benefit from further analysis along with an extended consideration of existing theoretical literature. As such, this concept and how I unpack it are by no means definitive; it's more of an exploration of a phenomenological concept. I will include bibliographic entries of all of the references cited at the end of the excerpt.
I look forward to your comments, but remember, even though I've been lurking forever, this is my first diary, so go easy on me.
UPDATE
Fri Aug 30, 2013 at 6:23 AM PT: First, thanks to whoever rescued this diary; it's now featured in Community Spotlight.
Second, some of the comments here—great ones, if critical, which I can certainly handle as an academic—indicate to me that although I felt this was a stand-alone piece, there is still a substantial amount of context missing. If read within that context (this was one section of the first chapter in which I estabished my terms and concepts, and demonstrated how they work in my conceptual model) many of the questions and criticisms would be addressed, at least to some extent. But obviously I won't post the chapter here. Instead, I might continue with a section or sections from later chapters in which I apply the realishness concept to actual political events with which we are undoubtedly all familiar.
Third, I am not claiming this is a new phenomenon, and I am well aware of similar groups and phenomena in the past—I researched this for four years, after all—but my focus was squarely on the Obama-era right wing. There are, however, new forces and new variables, such as a black president, the news media's turn to truthiness, and social media. Consider this more of a case study using the Hysterical Right to explain a phenomenological conceptual model of sociopolitical mechanics that isn't necessarily new, but definitely more evident and on a massive scale in the years since Obama's election, and therefore easier to analyze.
Thank you again for the warm welcome. I know this can be a tough crowd!
UPDATE 2
Fri Aug 30, 2013 at 12:51 PM PT: From rescued to Community Spotlight to the rec list—not bad for a first diary. Many thanks to all. I blew off "committing sociology" (as Stephen Harper would say) today to hang out here on DKos. A nice way to spend the Friday before a long weekend.
Read More
