“Weaponizing” Humor in Bulgarian Political Rhetoric: Limits of Political Speech in National and Transnational Perspectives

Abstract

In the wake of internet spoiling global audiences with memes and political satire, humor established itself as an intrinsic part of contemporary political rhetoric. A universal notion of humor and free speech, however, yet remain an abstract concept as the national context and the meta-narrative allow partisan interpretation, thus drawing the line between laughter and unlaughter. Nonetheless, the clichéd view of the satirist as a rebel, “speaking truth to power” is struggling to fit the image of the right-wing populists, using humor as a tool to aid marketing political ideas both nationally and globally. In respect to political speech, while humor is an eligible means for singling out political allies globally, it is the national state that is the agora on which standards and limits of free speech, ergo what is humor, are negotiated. This article tackles how humor in Bulgarian election campaign in 2021-2022 is used to serve the populist right-wing agenda in pursuit of political advantages over opponents and how the usage of global context fits in the local framework. In a field of political distrust and competing polar ideologies, the problem resides in how the national nuances of defining humor affect political meanings, identity, and the local discourse on culture wars. The article also takes a transnational comparative approach to political humor in the context of its partisan exploit for populist political purposes in European democracies.