Crafting the Image in the War on Information

Chapter 3 considers visual aspects of democratic identity. To set the stage, the chapter begins with an anecdote of how one AfD politician reframed how he hired a Chinese spy to become a narrative of democratic commitment. The chapter then provides two examples of how AfD members strove to visually control their own narratives of a democratic image. The first example analyzes an online campaign that the national AfD created to challenge the BfV’s investigation. The second example examines how a regional AfD association leveraged an already contested topic – family, gender, and sexuality politics – to reframe the label of extremism. The chapter concludes with one final example of how members employed an ordinary object – drink coasters – to reshape narratives about themselves.