We introduce “parasitic publics” as a necessary, generative addition to scholarship on publics and counterpublics. Parasitic publics are reactionary discursive spaces formed residually and institutionalized affectively through the invention, circulation, and uptake of demagogic rhetorics. They feed off of oppressive conditions in the public sphere by (1) articulating with dominant discourses to exploit dominant publics’ centripetal force and (2) safeguarding the assemblage of dominant publics against counterdiscursive challenge. To illustrate and elaborate on this concept, we use articulation theory to analyze a highly organized white nationalist collective that swarms digital forums and comment sections. Founded by a former Republican congressional aid and Ronald Reagan appointee, this collective maintains training podcasts on their politics and debate strategies, two different databases of copy-and-paste rhetorics, two rhetorical style guides, and a subforum through which they direct each other to swarm digital spaces. We conclude with implications for future research on contemporary public spheres.

中文翻译：

---

寄生公众

我们引入“寄生公众”作为对公众和反公众奖学金的必要的、生成性的补充。寄生公众是反动的话语空间，通过煽动性修辞的发明、传播和吸收，在情感上残余地形成和制度化。它们以公共领域的压迫性条件为食，方法是（1）与主导话语联系以利用主导公众的向心力；（2）保护主导公众的集合免受反话语挑战。为了说明和阐述这个概念，我们使用衔接理论来分析一个高度组织的白人民族主义集体，这个集体涌入了数字论坛和评论区。由前共和党国会助理和罗纳德·里根任命的人创立，这个集体维护着关于他们的政治和辩论策略的培训播客，两个不同的复制粘贴修辞数据库，两个修辞风格指南，以及一个他们相互指导进入数字空间的子论坛。我们总结了对当代公共领域未来研究的影响。