COVID Resentment in Social Media: A Repertoire of Motivated Judgments

Abstract

The paper studies the phenomena of COVID-19 denial and resistance to the policy of states associated with this disease. Denial is seen as a motivated judgment charged with emotions and consistent with explanatory ideas, as well as a manifestation of institutional distrust and a form of social resentment that echoes the 1990s. The study is based on a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the discussions in social media (two publics in VKontakte). The aim of the study is to identify the structure of views of COVID deniers who are in opposition to the policies of states to counter the epidemic, and to contextualise these views. The paper describes the phenomenon of COVID dissidence and COVID skepticism based on publications and research by other authors, placed in a relevant theoretical context; then it provides a detailed rationale and description of the research methodology and presents the results of the quantitative and qualitative parts of the data analysis.

The study shows that in a situation of critical uncertainty, COVID dissidents interpret what happened as the result of deliberate actions of the state (or «world state»), forming causal relationships to maintain an internally consistent understanding of the world. From the very beginning of the pandemic, the communities regarded in the study were ready to incorporate new information into their frame of reference. Their members perceive the spread of the coronavirus in a spirit of denial, resistance, and struggle. The conceptual tool of motivated reasoning revealed a repertoire of rationales used by COVID dissidents: threats from malicious forces to weaken or destroy part of the population or to enslave it with vaccines, digitalization, and quarantine measures. The COVID dissidents attribute to themselves a position of superiority based on an understanding of the secret mechanisms of what is happening; to the secret forces they attribute enslaving intentions, and to the main population — passivity leading to degeneration. Rhetorical rationale resources include institutional, moral, religious, human rights, demographic, digitalization, and quasi-medical arguments. Emotional coherence is associated with mobilizing emotions of anxiety, fear, threats, humiliation, distrust, resentment, and restrained aggression. The position of the respondents is associated with a feeling of injustice in the distribution of rights and obligations between the state and citizens due to the breakdown of the social contract.