“Truth Is a Feeling in Your Gut”: Ronaldo Fryman, Conspiracy Theories, and Media Satire

Abstract

Ziegler and Richards examine the portrayal of Ronaldo Fryman, a conspiracy theorist and blogger, in Steven Universe and in the paratextual book Keep Beach City Weird and the Tumblr blog of the same name, both attributed to Ronaldo. They argue that through his faulty, damaging, and narcissistic hypothesizing, Ronaldo is used to satirize not only conspiracy theorists but also forms of media including celebrity gossip and online fan-created paratexts, both of which share characteristics with conspiracy theorizing. These similarities involve the (often rhetorical) creation for participants of opportunities for power, privileged status, and cultural capital within economies of supposedly “secret” information. In contrast to Ronaldo, Steven himself provides a positive model for maturation in how he assimilates rather than rejects new, often uncomfortable secret information.