Duperation: deliberate lying in postdigital , postmodern political rhetoric

In this chapter I will begin with some definitions of keywords such as ‘dupery’, postdigital, post-truth, and postmodern. I will then proceed to consider how political ‘duperation’ manifests itself, considering, for example, how dupery has borrowed the techniques of advertising; how dupers, gravitating towards a medium which suits their purposes – social media, have reduced and degraded language; and, consequently, the very process of democracy. I will consider also the paradoxes and duplicities of the various tropes deployed by dupers including the authentic, anti-elite avatar, the resenting and revengeful avatar, and the surveilling avatar. I will examine how the emotional and the visceral have become the rhetorical levers in duperation. The chapter will conclude with some recommendations about how we might begin to resist duperation.