Introduction

Abstract

Identifying the fact that conservative political media often produces confusion or bewilderment for viewers who encounter it but do not share its ideological assumptions—How could anyone believe this nonsense? is a likely refrain—the Introduction makes clear that incoherence is a constitutive feature of hysterical political discourse. This manner of political discourse seeks to perpetuate a feeling of affective turmoil for its intended audience as a means to deflect attention from more concrete or productive forms of democratic disagreement or exchange. The Introduction likewise argues that hysterical discourse can be understood as an extension of several key terms and concepts taken up in the work of such prominent political theorists as Ernesto Laclau, Chantal Mouffe, Jodi Dean, and Jacques Rancière.