Slow Circulation: The Ethics of Speed and Rhetorical Persistence

Networked masterplots

“…Analysing propagandist messages and their memetic spin-offs in conjunction with user comments, we position associated acts of digital amplification as sites of ethical and rhetorical decision-making (Phillips, 2018;Bradshaw, 2020). Toxic injections of pro-Russian war propaganda embedded in the networks of the three studied masterplots -for simplicity, we will refer to these templates as 'attacked', 'subscribed', and 'ashamed' -call attention to the questions of positionality, literacy, and "slow circulation" (Bradshaw, 2018). The latter, as we suggest elsewhere, also requires 'taking the oxygen out of the meme' (Pilipets & Geboers, 2024 forthcoming) through methods that both visually and rhetorically counteract the sensationalist language of 'debunking' inherent in online environments.…”

Proceedings of the Computers & Writing Annual Conference, 2022

“…Jonathan Bradshaw (2018) noted that "rhetoricians in the field of circulation studies have likewise been arguing that rhetors have to account for the delivery and circulation of their material" (p. 480). With Clery, rhetoricians are held accountable for compliance and little else.…”

�Pandemic Pedagogy� as a Framework for DIY Professional Development

“…Even if they don't believe the stereotype, an audience's recomposition of an institutional text can still be impactful. Bradshaw (2018) argued that both slow and viral circulations in strategizing text require attention to ethics, noting that "an ethical approach to speed and reach helps us understand these elements as composed of cultural and attitudinal elements that are not easily submitted to metrics'' (p. 496). Cultural and attitudinal elements are not easily measured; however, they are detected when voices speak out.…”

“…Cultural and attitudinal elements are not easily measured; however, they are detected when voices speak out. Bradshaw's (2018) call for an ethic using slow circulation challenges the ethic of expediency. The aim of slow circulation is "to transform long-standing institutions and material conditions but to do so through a theory of persuasion that foregrounds community, persistence, and continuance over the strength of individualized arguments or momentary persuasion" (Bradshaw, 2018, pp.…”