Resistance Through Discourse in Right-wing Online Commentary
Sutherland, S. 2017. Resistance Through Discourse in Right-wing Online Commentary. I-LanD Journal – Identity, Language and Diversity. 2, pp. 146-161. https://doi.org/10.26379/1075
Sutherland, S. 2017. Resistance Through Discourse in Right-wing Online Commentary. I-LanD Journal – Identity, Language and Diversity. 2, pp. 146-161. https://doi.org/10.26379/1075
| Title | Resistance Through Discourse in Right-wing Online Commentary |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sutherland, S. |
| Abstract | This article argues that right-wing online commentary on news articles, despite its reputation for being poorly-written, insulting and ill-considered, is in fact often composed of discursive structures designed to mark its authors as members of a group who use language to resist what they see as the dominant left-wing ideology in media outlets. It is first argued that online commenters at the Daily Mail Online newspaper website are a community of practice who have shared goals and a shared repertoire of linguistic tools. Then the nature of critical discourse analysis, in particular its relation to the study of language as a tool for both social control and resistance to social control, is discussed. Finally, some indicative comments are examined qualitatively, in an effort to provide some insights into how right-wing commenters use language to re-frame arguments presented in online newspaper articles. I argue that commenters use implicature, deliberate misspellings of key words, and straw man arguments about political correctness in order to position themselves as marginalised members of society. Despite there being little or no evidence that online discussion of topics related to race are being censored at the Daily Mail Online, comments that argue that political correctness does prohibit certain types of speech remain popular with readers. |
| Keywords | discourse, CDA, resistance, community of practice, online comments |
| Journal | I-LanD Journal – Identity, Language and Diversity |
| Journal citation | 2, pp. 146-161 |
| ISSN | 2532-6368 |
| Year | 2017 |
| Publisher | Paolo Loffredo Iniziative Editoriali Srl |
| Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.26379/1075 |
| Web address (URL) | https://www.torrossa.com/resources/an/4308904 |