KB Journal: The Journal of the Kenneth Burke Society Jan 2023 web Open Access

A Technological Psychosis: The Problem with “Overfishing” in the Magnuson-Stevens Act

Karen GulbrandsenUniversity of Massachusetts Dartmouth

Abstract

A group of scientists publicly advocated to remove the word “overfishing” from the Magnuson Stevens Act, calling its use metaphorical. I draw on Burke’s terministic screens and technological psychosis to trace the implications embedded in the term and show how a terminological screen can become entrenched in dialectics that substantiate technology and innovation. This case raises questions about how to counter-balance a technological rationality that continues to dominate our perspective on many public issues.

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KB Journal: The Journal of the Kenneth Burke Society
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2023-01
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