Joseph D Straubhaar
MA, 1974, PhD International Relations 1981, International Communication. Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts U. US Foreign Service 1975-83, Brazil, Washington. Asst, Assoc., Full Professor, Dept. of Telecommunication, Michigan State U., 1983-94. Full Prof. BYU, 1994-98. Full Prof. 1998-2000, Amon G. Carter, Sr. Centennial Prof. 2000-23, University of Texas, Radio-TV-Film Dept./School of Journalism and Media.
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This book was born of a ten-year longitudinal study of the digital divide in Austin—a study that gradually evolved into a broader inquiry into Austin’s history as a segregated city, its turn toward becoming a technopolis, what the city and various groups did to address the digital divide, and how the most disadvantaged groups and individuals were affected by those programs.
The editors examine the impact of national and statewide digital inclusion programs created in the 1990s, as well as what happened when those programs were gradually cut back by conservative administrations after 2000. They also examine how the city of Austin persisted in its own efforts for digital inclusion by working with its public libraries and a number of local nonprofits, and the positive impact those programs had.
his political career with a degree of celebrity or notoriety as a former army captain who celebrated the Brazilian military dictatorship (1964–1985) by vocally approving of military accomplishments under their rule and even its practice of torturing and killing dissidents. He gained further national pres- tige by celebrating the ruthlessness of that military regime, going on a variety of television programs in the years before he rose to greater prominence with his 2018 presidential candidacy to praise the regime’s actions against the Left in Brazil and in its determination to exploit the Amazon rainforest for Bra- zilian economic development.1 Bolsonaro’s reliance on military prestige and authority was particularly dramatized after his election loss to Labor Party leader Lula da Silva in 2022, when many of the former president’s supporters camped out in front of military bases in the hopes that military personnel would intervene to give the presidency back to Bolsonaro.
However, to build a broader movement to get elected in 2018, Bolsonaro had to move beyond this initial base of strong military supporters to cultivate prestige and a larger following in several parts of an increasingly segmented Brazilian political culture. This essay explores the idea of a segmented celeb- rity that is created by both mass and social media among very specific parts of the political audience, such as evangelical Christians, nationalists, the far right of the political spectrum, big agriculture, gun supporters, and those averse to control measures against COVID-19—rather than aiming at larger parts of the population. As a strategy, it is associated with authoritarian populism, which has always selected certain parts of the population, such as the working class under Vargas, to mobilize in support of its regimes. Ernesto Laclau notes that one of the main ways that populism works is through a leader who segments off parts of a society in order to mobilize those parts
as a support base for their movement or regime.2 Bolsonaro expanded his national populist movement through very direct outreach to a new right-wing coalition of three major rising forces in Brazil, what are often referred to in the press as the politics of bulls (big agriculture), bibles (evangelical Chris- tians), and bullets (a gun ownership movement).
1999), where cable and satellite television grew explosively in the 1990s (Balio 1998). Latin America was already covered by well-resourced commercial television stations, which provided a great deal of entertainment, which was closely attuned to national interests, gaining a great deal of advantage from cultural proximity (Straubhaar 1991). If Latin Americans are now turning to cable or pay television, what has changed?