Bringing Suffering Closer: A Proximization and Affect Analysis of Vegan Digital Activism
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1606.17Keywords:
Proximization Theory, affect theory, vegan activism, emotional framing, animal rightsAbstract
This study explores how Earthling Ed, a prominent vegan activist, uses language on Instagram to construct emotional urgency and moral responsibility regarding animal rights. Combining Proximization Theory (Cap, 2013a) with Affect Theory (Ahmed, 2004; Wetherell, 2012), the research analyzes how three core emotions — guilt, fear, and compassion — are discursively constructed and proximized in Ed’s posts. Drawing on a sample of Instagram posts published over the past two years, the study applies a qualitative framework to identify linguistic carriers of emotion (e.g., deictics, modality, narrative framing) and their proximization across spatial, temporal, and axiological axes. Findings indicate that Earthling Ed consistently uses second-person address, emotive storytelling, and moral appeals to collapse symbolic distance between the audience and the suffering of animals. Guilt is proximized through ethical contradiction, fear through vivid representations of harm, and compassion through personalization of animals.
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