the manifestation of an already forming social melancholia. It gave form to the ‘open wound’ needing to be spoken about, repeated and displaced each week, yet never finding (or giving) fulfilment. The readership’s expulsion from society may have led to the internalisation and redirection of that violence against their sense of self-worth, suggestive in readers’ comments. In turn, that made them vulnerable to the seductive rhetoric of RLMs. Melancholic communities Chat mobilises a rhetoric of care: the readers are listened to, and potential (economic) sustenance
the manifestation of an already forming social melancholia. It gave form to the ‘open wound’ needing to be spoken about, repeated and displaced each week, yet never finding (or giving) fulfilment. The readership’s expulsion from society may have led to the internalisation and redirection of that violence against their sense of self-worth, suggestive in readers’ comments. In turn, that made them vulnerable to the seductive rhetoric of RLMs. Melancholic communities Chat mobilises a rhetoric of care: the readers are listened to, and potential (economic) sustenance
