Episode 85 - Rob Topinka & digital rhetoric

Lexis

May 06, 2026•42 min

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Episode description

Show notes for Episode 85

⚠️⚠️⚠️We talk about some topics and forms of language - the language of incels and the manosphere, for example - that might be considered unpleasant and upsetting for some listeners⚠️⚠️⚠️

Welcome to episode 85 of Lexis in which Dan talks to Dr Rob Topinka, Reader in Digital Media and Rhetoric at Birkbeck, University of London.

We talk about:

Why language is important to politics
What rhetoric is, its characteristics and what it’s designed to do
How rhetoric works in online spaces
The kind of rhetoric used to promote extremist views online
Incels, red pills, maxxing and NPCs
What happened to ‘woke’
The pitfalls of ‘free speech’ and language policing
Avoiding reactionary narratives and promoting progressive alternatives
Why being ‘unbiased’ is not really an option

Rob’s Birkbeck page: https://www.bbk.ac.uk/our-staff/9151496/robert-topinka

Rob’s ResearchGate profile: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Robert-Topinka

The Guardian articles Rob has written: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/mar/22/racist-meme-nigel-farage-cameos-online-far-right

https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2025/oct/20/boriswave-fighting-age-men-cultural-marxism-how-the-far-right-is-changing-how-we-speak

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/ng-interactive/2026/jan/31/digital-politics-the-right-internet-digital-politics-extreme-political-ideas

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/ng-interactive/2026/feb/01/digital-politics-progressives-internet-the-left-online-world