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Anthony Kelly

@anthonypkelly.bsky.social
222 followers 165 following 59 posts

teaching fellow, ucd ics | phd, lse media & comms | reactionary political influencers and their social media audiences | views my own

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Reposted by Anthony Kelly
Scott Bryan @scottygb.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Dolly Parton on trans rights. God I loved her.
When looking at the issue of anti-trans legislation, Parton said that “I try to get into the human element of it.” Pointing out that she has people in her life who identify as queer and trans, the 77-year-old star said it was important to hear what they’re saying.

“I know and love them all, and I do not judge. And I just see how broken-hearted they get over certain things and I know how real they are,” she said. “I know how important this is to them. That’s who they are. They cannot help that any more than I can help being Dolly Parton, you know, the way people know me. If there’s something to be judged, that is God’s business. But we are all God’s children and how we are is who we are.”
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Stefan Müller @stefanmueller.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Comprehensive update to the Irish Polling Indicator: all graphs are now fully interactive and work better on mobile devices. There’s also a new page on media coverage of the project. You can still download and reuse the data. ➡️ pollingindicator.com @irishpollingind.bsky.social
Interactive graph showing the most recent estimatesPlot comparing individual polls and Irish Polling Indicator estimatesInteractive graphs showing and explaining “house effects”New section on media coverage
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Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Behind the bewildering transformation of British universities, are management consultants being paid millions Really proud to have this vital piece on our unis are being gutted from the inside by @jheathershaw.bsky.social on Democracy for Sale. Do read democracyforsale.substack.com/p/inside-bri...
democracyforsale.substack.com
Inside Britain's university crisis
As teaching staff face job loss, their bosses have netted pay rises and bought advice from a “vampiric” management consultancy, writes Prof. John Heathershaw of the University of Exeter
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Donncha O’Connell @donnchalaw.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Noel Grealish attended ‘anti-woke’ conference addressed by Nigel Farage. Department of Agriculture confirms his attendance at the event but says the Minister of State for Agriculture was present in personal capacity. www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...
irishtimes.com
Minister Noel Grealish attended ‘anti-woke’ conference addressed by Nigel Farage
Department confirms attendance but says Minister of State for Agriculture present in personal capacity
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Mel Stanfill @melstanfill.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
hey #fanstudies folks, come work with me at @journal.transformativeworks.org! journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/tw...
journal.transformativeworks.org
TWC Hiring Assistant Editor and Outreach/Comms Editor | Transformative Works and Cultures
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👻Notorischer User dieser Plattform🎃 @bildoperationen.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Ideologically, generative AI is a 19th century technology: the flawed dream that once you have assembled a supposedly total archive of culture via technical media, you can use it to statistically derive new meaning from patterns of the past
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Simon McGarr @tupped.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
If Trump made a speech where he rejected the legitimacy of judicial action restraining the State we’d all know what we were hearing. Just because the ideas are delivered by a character consistently speaking in a tone of watered down milk doesn’t change what it means.
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Petter Törnberg @pettertornberg.com · 07/07/2026
‘Polarization’ has become the master concept for diagnosing our current democratic crisis. But this is not polarization. It is the radicalization of the political right. By misdiagnosing it, we risk becoming complicit in the crisis. 🧵 Just out in Perspectives on Politics doi.org/10.1017/S153...
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Maura Conway @galwaygrrl.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
"Appeals Centre Europe, an Ireland-certified dispute settlement body operating under the EU's Digital Services Act, says it overturned platforms' decisions not to remove reported hate speech 70 percent of the time between April 2025 and March 2026..." www.theregister.com/personal-tec...
theregister.com
EU moderation watchdog says social media giants hate taking down hate speech
Also somehow censoring too much while refusing to hand over account ban evidence for review
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Helene von Bismarck @helenebismarck.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Meanwhile @ciaranm.bsky.social has written a brilliant column why the British government (let me take this opportunity to make the same case for the German government) to stop using X. Just leave. There is life after Twitter. I should know. www.thetimes.com/article/e895...
thetimes.com
If ministers fear X fuels disorder, they should stop using it
The government voices concern about the social media platform spreading hate but has hundreds of accounts that help make it a success
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Reactionary Politics Research Network @reacpolrn.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
📣New working paper📣 Ana Țăranu continues our working paper series by reflecting on the neoliberal convergences of the technocratic centre and far right in the Romanian context. Check it out below! reacpol.net/workingpaper...
reacpol.net
Working paper: Austerity Redux: Sovereigntism and Technocratic Centrism as Neoliberal Bedfellows - Reactionary Politics Research Network
Austerity Redux: Sovereigntism and Technocratic Centrism as Neoliberal Bedfellows (Ana Țăranu)
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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
Desperately hoping we can settle on a better term for the various forms of AI backlash than "AI populism." The Yudkowsky stan throwing a molotov cocktail and the Sierra Club member at a community meeting aren't parts of the same movement at all. davekarpf.beehiiv.com/p/ai-populis...
davekarpf.beehiiv.com
"AI Populism" is a term that obscures more than it reveals.
Can we just not?
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Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
As Hungary votes, would recommend this piece about how Viktor Orban has used public money to bankroll an international ultraconservative network - including Roger Scruton cafes and €10k a month for failed Reform candidate Matt Goodwin democracyforsale.substack.com/p/orbans-brits
democracyforsale.substack.com
What happens to Britain's radical right if Orbán loses?
Inside the money, power and patronage connecting Hungary and the British right
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Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
This is Apartheid. It's morally disgusting - and comes at the same time as Israel is committing an ongoing genocide. To see the Labour Government defend Israel repeatedly will horrify the British public - it cannot go on like this.
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Paintings of London @paintingsoflondon.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
'The Quiet River: The Thames at Chiswick' (1943–4) by Victor Pasmore (Tate)
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Michael Waldron @michaelwaldron.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
Really looking forward to presenting on William Blake and James Barry at Cork Public Museum tomorrow as part of the Friends of @crawfordartgallery.bsky.social’s spring lecture series. 12:30pm Friday 6 March Tickets €10, students go free with ID crawfordartgallery.ie/friends-lect...
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Shiv Ramdas Mens Rice Activist @nameshiv.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
"The Islamists oppose women getting an education," I mutter, as I aim my missile at the girls school
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Reactionary Politics Research Network @reacpolrn.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
📣New article📣 'There can be no compromising in the fight against the far right, reaction or fascism.' @aurelmondon.com introduces our new Red Lines series: a space for critical dialogue on how to resist the rise of reactionary and fascist politics. reacpol.net/why-red-lines/
reacpol.net
Red Lines: Why we need Red Lines (Aurelien Mondon) - Reactionary Politics Research Network
This article by Aurelien Mondon discusses the need for red lines in the struggle against reactionary politics.
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Reactionary Politics Research Network @reacpolrn.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
The RPRN's two new publications are open for submissions! Red Lines is a space for political interventions on resisting reaction. The Reactionary Politics Working Paper series aims to publish cutting-edge scholarship on reactionary politics. Submit your work below! reacpol.net/publications/
reacpol.net
Publications - Reactionary Politics Research Network
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nitasha tiku @nitasha.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
My story on Elon Musk cutting safeguards at xAI is on the front page of today's @washingtonpost.com. I’m also among 100’s of reporters laid off. I absolutely loved my job my brilliant coworkers & the thrill of reporting @ the center of forces upending the world: AI & Silicon Valley’s political power
cover of The Washington Post on Wednesday Feb 4, 2026. Headline on bottom, right: Musk wanted to hook users; his chatbot got more sexual
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kevin @beirne.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
Micheál Martin has been a TD for 37 years. He’s been in government for 25 of those years and in cabinet for 20 of those years. He’s been either Tánaiste or Taoiseach since June 2020. And every time he’s asked to anything other than build a data centre, he acts like he’s just been handed the job
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Anthony Kelly @anthonypkelly.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
A very large thank you to @briony.bsky.social for taking the time to engage with my research and to the folks at @reacpolrn.bsky.social for facilitating this interview!
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Aurelien Mondon @aurelmondon.com · 23/01/2026
Imagine if the hype was around the Greens' rise rather than Reform Imagine if instead of putting far-right issues on the agenda, mainstream parties talked about hope, justice, redistribution, public services etc That would put real change on the table and that's why Reform is a safer bet for them
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Richard Chambers @newschambers.bsky.social · 10/01/2026
The idea that journalists, politicians, groups or - you know, women, people of colour, LGBTQ+ people - should "stay on the pitch" doesn't really hold up. Foreign Minister's account has 60k followers - 40 likes, 13k views? Blue ticks straight to the top of the queue with misogyny, bile.
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Simon McGarr @tupped.bsky.social · 10/01/2026
New Gist: The Abuse Factory It shouldn't be difficult to act swiftly and without hesitation when the question posed is "Is it OK to work with the child sexual abuse material factory?" But our state failed this most straightforward of tests this week. www.thegist.ie/the-gist-the...
thegist.ie
The Gist: The Abuse Factory
X, the child abuse imagery app, revealed our state has no red lines. This is the Gist.
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C-REX @crexuio.bsky.social · 10/01/2026
New blog post! Joshua Farrell-Molloy explains how Irish #far-right groups use #masculinity and republican symbols to frame themselves as defenders of #Ireland. www.sv.uio.no/c-rex/englis...
sv.uio.no
Masculinity and Militant Traditions: The Shaping of a Home-Grown Irish Far-Right - C-REX – Center for Research on Extremism
Joshua Farrell-Molloy elucidates how masculinity helps explain performances of militant republican aesthetics by Irish far-right actors, who bind a revolutionary past to contemporary opposition to imm...
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Curd Knüpfer @curdknupfer.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
🚨NEW PAPER The Logic of Connective Faction: How Digitally Networked Elites and Hyper-Partisan Media Radicalize Politics w/ @yunkangyang.bsky.social & @mikecowburn.bsky.social Online radicalization doesn't just affect the public. It also reshapes how elites & parties behave. doi.org/10.1080/1058...
doi.org
The Logic of Connective Faction: How Digitally Networked Elites and Hyper-Partisan Media Radicalize Politics
Across democratic systems, ideological cleavages increasingly emerge not only between but also within political parties. At the same time, hyperpartisan and digitally networked media ecosystems amp...
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 03/01/2026
1. Headlines everywhere today read "Grok apologizes." This is bullshit. A chatbot is not something that can apologize. Pretending otherwise is simple laundering these companies' bullshit about what AI is, while diffusing blame away from the human beings that developed and released this system.
LA Times: Elon Musk company bot apologizesNewsweek: Elon Musk's Grok ApologizesInternational Business Times: Grok Issues ApologiesThe Hill: Musk's AI chatbot Grok apologizes
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Anthony Kelly @anthonypkelly.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
📃 NEW PUBLICATION 📃 I’m very happy to see this article published in the latest issue of @meejatheory.bsky.social. The article conceptualises the generative role of audience antagonism in the mediation of reactionary politics and is available to read open access here: lnkd.in/ew5jr-Yh 🧵
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Tuğçe Bidav @tugcebidav.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
Join us for the book launch of Global South Creator Cultures on Tuesday, 20 January, 17:30–19:00, at King’s College London. Further information and registration details: www.tickettailor.com/events/digit... @kingsdh.bsky.social @digitalculturekcl.bsky.social @mediaindustries.bsky.social
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Jacob Ware @jacobware.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
My latest in @lawfaremedia.org: Nihilistic Violent Extremists (NVE) closely resemble two other forms of mass violence that have evaded simple characterization: incels and school shooters. Ambitious efforts to better classify such violence should be applauded. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/a-te...
lawfaremedia.org
A Terrorism of Vengeance
Understanding incels, school shooters, and the new category of terrorism, “nihilistic violent extremism.”
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Kylie Jarrett @kylzjarrett.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
I am looking for a Senior Researcher (at least 2 years postdoctoral exp.) for the LivePlatforms project into how people make livelihoods in the platform economy; a 5-year FT post based in the School of Info and Communication Studies at UCD. Do share widely! universityvacancies.com/university-c...
universityvacancies.com
Senior Researcher, UCD Information&Comms Studies,Temp 56 months | University Vacancies Ireland
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Teresa Völker @tevoelker.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
New paper out with @dasalgon.bsky.social: “Far-Right Agenda Setting: How the Far Right influences the Political Mainstream” doi.org/10.1017/S1475676525100066 #openaccess in @ejprjournal.bsky.social🧵
Abstract
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Kathryn Tewson @kathryntewson.bsky.social · 13/09/2025
Anyone who perceives Kirk as “civil” or as “doing politics the right way” is betraying their comfort with the ablative world Kirk worked so hard to create, secure in their belief that the grinding wheel will never touch *their* skin. One wonders where that belief arises from.
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Anthony Kelly @anthonypkelly.bsky.social · 13/09/2025
This feels like a *very* strange time to be revising an article that looks at how Kirk’s fans and followers engaged with his coverage of the 2024 US presidential election. Certainly some major updates required 😬
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Dublin City University @dublincityuni.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
New special tribunal for Ukraine will pave the way for holding Russian leaders to account for the invasion. Piece by DCU's Dr Andrew Forde @drandrewforde.bsky.social for @uk.theconversation.com. Read more here: launch.dcu.ie/4lyWwSn
Dr Andrew Forde
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Jonathan Collins @joncollins.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
🚨 One day left to apply for the @vox-pol.bsky.social next gen conference happening in Prague on the 25-26th of September. We are bringing together ECRs to build a proper community researching (violent) online extremism. Submit your proposal: lnkd.in/esikzmnK Full CfP and details: shorturl.at/3YIKk
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Craig Haslop, Masculinities and Screen Studies @craighaslop.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
New publication 📢 📢 lnkd.in/eDkiZejm Very pleased to share our new publication (with Fiona O'Rourke) in Men and Masculinities journal, which focuses on how our research about misogynistic and homophobic banter in digital spaces fed into an educational toolkit (download for free men4change.co.uk ).
lnkd.in
LinkedIn
This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn
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UCD Centre for Digital Policy @ucddigitalpolicy.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
We were delighted to have supported @anthonypkelly.bsky.social 's recent symposium "Reaction(ary) Media)" on situating influencers, audiences, and antagonisms. Read more on the event and its findings at the blog link below 👇 digitalpolicy.ie/reactionary-...
digitalpolicy.ie
Reaction(ary) Media: International Symposium Convened by Centre Member Anthony Kelly - UCD Centre for Digital Policy
05.06.2025. Reaction(ary) Media: International Symposium Convened by Centre Member Anthony Kelly On May 29th, the UCD Centre for Digital Policy supported
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Kylie Jarrett @kylzjarrett.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
Now it's all official, I can let people know that I have been awarded an #ERCAdG ERC Advanced Grant for my LivePlatforms project to critically examine the actors involved in determining how - or whether - people make livelihoods in the platform economy. #PlatformWork #DigitalLabour
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Anthony Kelly @anthonypkelly.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
I wanted to take a moment to say THANK YOU to everyone who was involved in making last week’s symposium—Reaction(ary) Media: Situating Influencers, Audiences, and Antagonisms—a huge success. What a fabulous gathering of speakers, chairs, and audience participants. Here are some of the highlights! 🧵
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Anthony Kelly @anthonypkelly.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
Hi folks! I’m very excited to announce details of a one-day international symposium I’m hosting on Thursday 29 May 2025 (09:00–17:30) at @ucddublin.bsky.social. You can find more information on @ucdischool.bsky.social’s website: www.ucd.ie/ics/events/r... 🧵
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Brooks DeCillia @bdecillia.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
Graffiti beneath Calgary’ Centre Street bridge. #yyc
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Aurelien Mondon @aurelmondon.com · 27/01/2025
"As with the resurgence of the far-right, the rise of tech oligarchs is the result of a long series of mainstream failures" A few thoughts on reactionary tech oligarchy by @jfarkas.bsky.social and I for @bylinetimes.bsky.social bylinetimes.com/2025/01/26/t...
Reactionary Tech is Reactionary Politics

The alliance between tech billionaires and far-right authoritarians should be a cause for grave democratic concern. Crucially, it being on full display since Trump’s inauguration should be a wakeup call for journalists, politicians, and scholars who have gone along with the portrayal of tech CEOs as mere ‘innovators’ and ‘entrepreneurs’ whose aims and actions are beyond or outside politics.

As with the resurgence of the far-right, the rise of tech oligarchs is the result of a long series of mainstream failures: from sycophantic media coverage of the endless stream of unfulfilled promises to tax policies (or a lack thereof) that have allowed tech CEOs to become so rich they can literally spend hundreds of millions influencing politics domestically and abroad. From antitrust policies (or a lack thereof) that have allowed tech giants to obtain near-monopoly status to media policies that for too long have ignored the internet and failed to fund public service alternatives to the tech giants that now threaten democracy. 

The liberal rhetoric of saving democracy through fact-checking and media literacy was always a pipe dream. No amount of literacy training can counter the resurgence of oligarchic and authoritarian rule.
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Lilie Chouliaraki @liliechouliaraki.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
Hi friends! Now that the inauguration and its theatre of power, privilege and white supremacy is over, @kat-hig.bsky.social and I wrote something on Trump’s victimhood politics in his era of absolute power. @lseblogs.bsky.social and @lsemedia.bsky.social
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Kevin Coleman @gobb.ie · 30/11/2024
great thread here, and nicely illustrates how far into the margins this type of people are - despite what Twitter amplifies #GE24
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Michael Chesnut @michaelchesnut.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
This looks fascinating! Looking forward to checking our Fandom Cultures Research, and following fandom studies more broadly a bit more closely on BlueSky!
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Anthony Kelly @anthonypkelly.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
Quite bereft to learn that this little angel has passed away. It would be too hard to put into words how magical Roxy’s blessings were when we met him at Dzogchen Beara on New Year’s Eve in 2022. An angel, an icon, a legend. And just so incredibly sweet. Truly blessed
Roxy inexplicably snoozes on Mike’s shoulders as we look out onto Bantry BayAnthony and Mike and Roxy, all delightedRoxy transfers to my shoulders when we try to cajole him away from Mike
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Jonathan G. Heaney @jonathangheaney.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
One way to analyze the 'Harris Flop' from the perspective of the political sociology of emotions might be through the concept of 'emotional capital', the lack of which is having a negative effect on his political capital. See my paper on this if interested: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... #GE24
tandfonline.com
Emotion as power: capital and strategy in the field of politics
Recent work across the social sciences have converged on the issue of emotion. In the vanguard of these advances has been the sociology of emotions, broadly defined, which, in various guises – stru...
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