Book: Fabricating Authenticity
Chapter: Symbols and Ownership
Blurb:
Building on Sheedy’s argument, Flodin-Ali outlines how media responses to acts of violence, strategically employ rhetoric of the “individual” to downplay and isolate white men as mentally ill lone-wolves disconnected from the larger group, while people of color are often represented as collective entities that threaten white America. Flodin-Ali demonstrates that from the standpoint of those with power, the creation of more equitable playing fields can feel like a loss of power and argues that the use of victimization narratives works to authorize the group’s socio-political agenda.