Vaccine Hesitancy Online: A Rhetorical Analysis Through Postmodern Narratives

Abstract

Vaccine hesitancy is a growing social phenomenon that is threatening the public health of many developed countries (World Health Organization, 2019). The primary objective of this study is to analyze the anti-vaccine discursive tactics, tropes, and rhetorical strategies mobilized by anti-vaccination individuals and groups. Also, the research aims to uncover how the concept of authority is mobilized, negotiated, and redefined by anti-vaccine individuals and groups to advance the anti-vaccine agenda. The research examined the issues through the postmodern medical paradigm and rhetorical lens. This was accomplished by conducting a rhetorical analysis of a well-known anti-vaccine documentary on YouTube Movies, as well as the comments on two anti-vaccine YouTube videos. The findings showed that anti-vaxxers mobilize similar rhetorical strategies across the two communication pieces with the key themes and strategies including 1) emotional/fear appeals, 2) shifting authority from doctors to patients and parents, and 3) conspiracy theories that create an Us vs. Them divide. Anti-vaxxers deconstruct and reconstruct authority by creating an ambiguous dialogical space where “alternative” authorities can emerge.