Global rhetorics of disaster: media constructions of Bataclan and the “Colectiv Revolution” in the wake of 9/11

• Main Author: Maria-Sabina DRAGA ALEXANDRU
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Etudes Scientifiques Spécialisées Appliquées aux Communications Humaines, Economiques, Sociales et Symboliques 2017-07-01
• Series: Essachess
• Subjects: Bataclan; Colectiv; 9/11; rhetoric of disaster; mourning
• Online Access: http://www.essachess.com/index.php/jcs/article/view/373/410

This article examines the recent global emergence of a rhetoric of disaster that connects violent events such as terrorist attacks and destructive accidents under an assumption of similarity based on their equally resulting in tragedy and mourning. I will compare discursive constructions of the terrorist attacks on 9/11, often considered the archetypal terrorist act of the new millennium, the Club Colectiv fire in Bucharest (October 30, 2015), followed by the “Colectiv Revolution” that led to a change of government in Romania, and the Bataclan terrorist attack in Paris (November 13, 2016). In a dialogue with Noemi Marin's concept of rhetorical space, I argue that, within the horizon of expectation created by 9/11, Bataclan and Colectiv have given rise to a specific rhetoric of mourning and revolt in reaction to disaster, which has an important public dimension, but, through a strong emotional appeal, is directed at every member of the audience in a personal way.