The Rhetoric of Outrage

An accessible and important look at what is truly behind our digital outrage
On any given day, at any given hour, across the various platforms constituting what we call social media, someone is angry. Facebook. Instagram. Twitter. Reddit. 4Chan. In The Rhetoric of Outrage: Why Social Media is Making Us Angry Professor Jeff Rice addresses the increasingly critical question of why anger has become the dominant digital response on social media. He examines the theoretical and rhetorical explanations for the intense rage that prevails across social media platforms, and sheds new light on how our anger isn't merely a reaction against singular events, but generated out of subversive, aggregated beliefs and ideas. Captivating, accessible, and exceedingly important, The Rhetoric of Outrage: Why Social Media Is Making Us Angry encourages readers to have the difficult conversations about what is truly behind their anger.

Jeff Rice is professor and Martha B. Reynolds Chair in Writing, Rhetoric & Digital Studies at University of Kentucky.