Hating Theory: “Cultural Marxism,” “CRT,” and the Power of Media Affects

Abstract

Conservative media outlets have recently turned a great deal of attention to an improbable topic: critical race theory (CRT). This article draws on historical sources and content analyses to show that recent attacks on CRT build on well-established narratives about “cultural Marxism.” It further argues that, to attach the antipathy that familiar enemies inspire to new subjects, conservative CRT experts perform hate-reading, a mode of communication that defines messengers and their audiences in contradistinction to the content they reject. Rather than an aberration, I propose that hate-reading is a longstanding communicative practice and urge disinformation scholars to attend to how specific discourses and technologies afford such media affects.