This is really important for media scholars: the narrative that Trump's supporters were merely unsophisticated victims of a talented demagogue repeats the "media effects" argument, which holds that media audiences internalize all messaging uncritically & have no agency. (1/n) https://twitter.com/tzimmer_history/status/1325548767576199175

Media effects theory has always been used to justify censorship, b/c "the kids" will turn violent if they play violent videogames or listen to rap music lyrics that reference violence (for example). (2/n)

And now media effects is being used to justify the innocence of Trump voters, b/c they fell prey to a smooth-talking snake oil salesman and misinformation online. So media effects theory works to legitimate censorship and to legitimate racism at the same time. (3/n)

Let's note what media effects specifically excludes: the validation of media users' agency. A recognition that, as reception theorists from Iser to Barthes to Hall argued, meaning is made by the reader/viewer/listener. Meaning resides in the receiver. (4/n)

THAT is, apparently, the blind side of a lot of "conventional wisdom" around media: that it's not about the producer. It's a little bit about the distributor, spreading messages. It's a LOT about the receiver. The receiver is NEVER passive. The audience MAKES the meaning. (5/n)

And this is a perspective--I go so far as to call it a fact--that threatens many traditional ideas of how social order should be. B/c the king, or pope, or whoever is the top of the hierarchy, SHOULD be able to determine the meaning of his messages. (6/n)

But that's not how media works. It's always been the PEOPLE who have decided what media means. They complete and fill in the media they receive. If they choose to fanfic Trump into a hero, he's a hero. If they choose to fanfic NWA into a group abt self-worth, so they are. (7/n)

Continuing to buy into media effects supports hierarchical/monarchical/feudal thinking. The dumb peasants just take whatever meanings are foisted upon them. But seeing that reception/fan theory has been true all along mans acknowledging that (8/n)

DEMOCRACY has been active all along. Meaning is more or less democratically made. Yes there is influence & influencers, but each individual human has the power - and responsibility - to decide what any unique media text means. So don't buy into media effects thinking (/9/n)

b/c thinking each media message inherently contains its meaning and injects it into its hearers/watchers/readers ("hypodermic needle theory" is another name for this school of thought) robs ppl of agency AND lets agential media users off the hook! (/end)