Open Access"Don't Be a Knucklehead": Moralizing Disability in New Jersey's Pandemic Response and Rhetoric
Author(s) -
Emily M. Brooks
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
disability studies quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2159-8371
pISSN - 1041-5718
DOI - 10.18061/dsq.v41i3.8398
Subject(s) - rhetoric , stupidity , moral responsibility , state (computer science) , political science , government (linguistics) , pandemic , sociology , criminology , law , covid-19 , psychology , medicine , philosophy , developmental psychology , linguistics , disease , algorithm , pathology , computer science , infectious disease (medical specialty)
Policy failures impacted, sickened, and killed disabled New Jerseyans from the beginning of New Jersey's reign as an epicenter in the COVID-19 pandemic. Through a qualitative content analysis of Governor Phil Murphy's coronavirus press briefings, I argue that New Jersey's public health messaging relies on ableist and eugenicist conceptions of intelligence through both an insistence on individual "smartness" to combat the pandemic and a shaming of individual actions which are rhetorically connected to "stupidity." The official state government messages reflect a moralizing, individualizing focus on behavior and shaming of "unintelligent" actions, which shifts attention from leadership and statewide policies to personal responsibility for safety during a public health crisis. In this way, the State of New Jersey abdicates responsibility for illness and death, no matter the personal cost to marginalized populations.