THE PERSISTENCE OF BELIEF

DISCURSIVE STRATEGIES IN THE BOLSONARIST MEDIASPHERE

Abstract

In this article, we sought to answer the following question: why do Bolsonarist groups not cool down, even if their prophecies are not fulfilled? The objective was to find ethnomethods used by members of Bolsonarist networks to give new meaning to parts of the narrative frustrated by adverse political results. To achieve this, the research team chose key terms that refer to the statements of the Bolsonarist narrative. He then proceeded to search on Google for images that contained statements that illustrated the ethnomethods and disruptive events disseminated in the Bolsonarista mediasphere between 2018 and 2023. The findings suggest that politically radicalized audiences are guided by their own cognitive rationality, aimed at reaffirming shared convictions, often in spite of the underlying facts. The members of those groups supporting Bolsonaro perceive internally shared ideas, beliefs and values and become competent members to “make their particular reality” happen, with relative independence from the facts of the world outside the Bolsonaro media sphere. Technology, in this sense, works as a means of amplifying these rituals, but is not their main cause, as they are inherent to group dynamics.