Abstract
Just before the European election in May 2019 a YouTube video titled <em>The Destruction of the CDU</em> (Rezo, 2019a) caused political controversy in Germany. The video by the popular German YouTuber Rezo attacked the conservative Government party CDU (<em>Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands</em>) mainly for climate inaction. As a reaction to the subsequent attacks on Rezo and his video from the political establishment an alliance of popular German YouTubers formed to release a second video. In this video, the YouTubers asked their followers not to vote for the Government or the far-right parties, because they would ignore the expertise of scientists and the scientific consensus on anthropogenic climate change and therefore be unable to provide sustainable solutions for the future. This debate started as a YouTube phenomenon but quickly evolved into a national public discussion that took place across various social media channels, blogs, newspapers, and TV news, but also e.g., in discussions in schools, churches, as well as arts and cultural events. The focus of this contribution is on the formation of the heterogeneous coalition that emerged to defend and support the YouTubers. It prominently involved scientists and scientific expertise, but other forms of expertise and ‘worlds of relevance’ were also part of this coalition. The conceptual tools of ‘networked expertise’ and ‘ethno-epistemic assemblages’ are employed to explore expertise and credibility as well as the associations and networks of actors involved which illuminate how a single YouTuber was able to contribute to the unleashing of a national debate on climate change policy.
Highlights
Scientific and other forms of expertise are key resources in public health and science controversies
I offer a close reading of a public controversy about climate change policy that was initiated by, and mainly revolved around, a YouTube video released by the popular German YouTuber Rezo in May 2019 (Rezo, 2019a)
Rezo describes some of the scenarios of what is likely to happen, if climate emissions are not curbed very soon based on scientific assessments, such as the ones from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and stresses that, according to the scientists, there is no going back once certain levels of climate change have been reached
Summary
Scientific and other forms of expertise are key resources in public health and science controversies. Expertise is a public process which creates the conditions of credibility of expert performance (Limoges, 1993) This understanding of networked and collective forms of expertise in controversy contexts was further developed by Irwin and Michael (2003). These assemblages are not static, they are dynamic and processual, and different actors with a variety of background knowledge, expertise, and experience can join such groups This concept is proposed for a better understanding of the way in which controversy, debate, and negotiation are played out in public. The concept of ethno-epistemic assemblages, blurs the boundaries between experts and non-experts and between public, government and governance, as well as between science and society In this contribution, I offer a close reading of a public controversy about climate change policy that was initiated by, and mainly revolved around, a YouTube video released by the popular German YouTuber Rezo in May 2019 (Rezo, 2019a). Key documents of the debate were selected and archived for further analysis and a chronological archive of YouTube videos and comments, Tweets, blog entries, and news articles were created, which serve as the basis of my interpretative account
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