"You want me to be wrong" Expert ethos, (de-)legitimation, and ethotic straw men as discursive resources for conspiracy theories

ABSTRACT

This chapter discusses features of conspiratorial discourse related to the representation"of social actors through the lens of rhetorical and argumentative"analysis. Specifically, it identifies a previously undocumented variant of the straw"man fallacy (a misrepresentation of an opponent's position meant to refute it"more easily), namely the ethotic straw man, which unscrupulous arguers can"use to legitimate their own credibility and undermine their opponents', thereby"evading scientific discussion of relevant issues. A TV-interview with French virologist"Didier Raoult, who championed hydroxychloroquine-based treatments"in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, is taken as a case in point to"explain why such quasi-populistic discourse, prominently centred on questions"of ethos, fits conspiratorial narratives so well. © 2022 John Benjamins Publishing Company.