The Power of Speech Jindřiška Svobodová Ondřej Bláha Ivana Dobrotová Adam Warzecha The Power of Speech: A Critical Reading of Media and Political Texts Wrocław 2020 Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego Reviewers: Jana Raclavská, Ewa Małachowska-Pasek, Ladislav Matějka On the cover: © 123rf.com, rawpixel This project was financed through The Scientific Research Grant (2016–2020) provided by Palacký University, Faculty of Arts. Acta Universitatis Wratislaviensis No 3979 © Copyright by Jindřiška Svobodová, Ondřej Bláha, Ivana Dobrotová, Adam Warzecha and Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego Sp. z o.o. Wrocław 2020 ISSN 0239-6661 ISBN 978-83-229-3702-0 Publication prepared at Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego Sp. z o.o. 50-137 Wrocław, pl. Uniwersytecki 15 tel. 71 3752885, e-mail: marketing@wuwr.com.pl Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 1. Discourse and Its Critical Reading (Jindřiška Svobodová) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1. Subject of Analysis, Discourse Versus Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2. Approaches in Discourse Analysis and Critical Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.1. Norman Fairclough’s Dialectical-Relational Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.2. Ruth Wodak and Martin Reisigl’s Discursive-Historical Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.3. Teun A. van Dijk’s Socio-Cognitive Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 10 13 17 19 20 2. Communist Newspeak: A Specific Discrimination Discourse (Ondřej Bláha) . . . . . . . . 25 3. “Mopheads” as the Target of Verbal Aggression in Czech Media of the 1960s and 1970s (Ondřej Bláha) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1. Historical and Cultural Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2. “Mopheads” as Wreckers of Traditions and Good Taste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3. Criminalisation of “Mopheads” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 31 39 44 47 4. Reflections on the Church and Religion in Czech Opinion Journalism Texts from the So-Called Normalisation Period (Ondřej Bláha) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1. The Relationship between the Czechoslovak Communist Regime and the Church and Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2. Neutral Versus Negative Associations of Utilised Religion-Related Terms . . . . . . . . . . 4.3. Impressions Induced by the Utilisation of Religion-Related Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 54 57 64 5. Critical Reading of News Reports (Jindřiška Svobodová) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1. The Method for Critical Analysis of Printed News Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2. Applying the Analytical Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 67 69 76 6. Critical Reading of News Reports Concerning Artificial Reproduction (Jindřiška Svobodová) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1. Presentation of the Topic in News Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2. Macro-Propositions and the Topic Structure of News Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3. Actors of News Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4. Local Meanings and the Used Means of Expression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 79 80 85 93 95 7. Dyskurs — ideologia — agresja (Ivana Dobrotová) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.1. Materiał tekstowy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 97 48 6 Contents 7.2. Metody analizy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3. Analiza materiału tekstowego . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3.1. Elementy analizy korpusowej . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3.2. Wulgaryzmy i wyzwiska . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3.3. Główne pola semantyczne dyskursu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3.4. Peryferyjne pola semantyczne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 98 98 101 103 107 8. Harry Potter na stosie. Skandal jako dyskursywny proces społecznego negocjowania znaczeń (Adam Warzecha) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.1. Metodologia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2. Wprowadzenie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.3. Analiza zawartości . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.4. Studium przypadku . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.5. Wnioski . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.5.1. Komunikacja jednokierunkowa i asymetryczna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.5.2. Skandal i mechanizmy skandalizacji . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.5.3. Społeczne kontrowersje jako zmaganie między dyskursami . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.6. Kontekst a negocjowanie znaczeń . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 113 114 115 121 123 123 126 127 128 9. Verbal Aggression as a Communication Strategy (Jindřiška Svobodová) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.1. Politeness as a Pragmalinguistic Phenomenon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2. Impoliteness and Verbal Aggression in Political Discourse Communication . . . . . . . . 9.2.1. Impoliteness as a Communication Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2.1.1. Impoliteness as a Face-Threatening Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2.2. Impoliteness or Verbal Aggression? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2.3. Verbal Aggression in Political Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2.3.1. The Communication Situation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2.3.2. Face Negotiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.3. Verbal Aggressiveness in Communication in the Media and Online . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.3.1. Communicative Acts in Spread! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.3.2. Online Communication of Reality TV Viewers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.4. Impoliteness and Aggressiveness in Reality TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.5. Face-Threatening Acts in Reality TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.6. Verbal Aggressiveness in Online Discussions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.6.1. Exchanges in Online Discussions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 130 133 134 136 137 138 139 143 145 146 146 147 148 149 155 163 165 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 References and Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 Indeks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 Introduction The aim of the present monograph is to document and analyse contemporary trends in public communication which the general public has interpreted intuitively as the “worsening” and “lowering of standards” in recent decades. The book focuses on expressivity in public discourse in Czech and (to a somewhat lesser extent) in Polish, monitored for the period between the end of the Second World War and the present. The extensive corpus of texts, including both written (newspaper and magazine articles, blogs, views, propagandist books) and spoken forms (TV discussions, documentaries, talk shows, speeches) and covering various time periods since 1945, is analysed from a quantitative as well as qualitative perspective. The researchers’ main intention was to characterise the linguistic means of expressivity and to learn which linguistic planes are employed most frequently for these communicative purposes. All occurrences of expressivity were examined with respect to the sociolinguistic context of media communication – i.e. variations in the community of Czech speakers (influenced among others by education and migration), a system of values changing over time, the political situation, ideology, etc. Since the corpus covers a large time span (from 1945 up to the present day), the number of texts for closer examination had to be restricted. Selected texts were classified according to a specific period, genre, and text type (defined in terms of mode and tenor), and each group was illustrated by authentic examples of expressivity. The analysts followed the methods of qualitative research, namely critical discourse analysis (henceforward CDA; see van Dijk 2008, Fairclough 2006, Foucault 2002, Wodak 2005) which, due to its interdisciplinary character, combines the linguistically oriented text analysis with a broad spectrum of studies in history, sociology, political science, psychology, etc. This approach has made it possible to establish communicative intentions (especially persuasion and manipulation) of the speakers, as well as to list typical features of each text type; these criteria were applied to explain the use of expressivity in the light of the historical, political, and cultural context. Furthermore, this method enables us to reflect on the changes of expressivity in time as well as to assess overt and covert communicative potential of the communicative strategies in use. The essential part of the monograph discusses the texts produced after 1989 – i.e. after the fall of Communism and restoration of democracy in Central Europe 8 Introduction – that record political discourse in the media. The analysis involves cases when the media give the floor to non-professional speakers who do not have any contract with them. The following chapters ponder on the conclusions of some recent studies in political discourse (Hoffmannová and Čmejrková 2011; Hirschová and Svobodová 2014; Svobodová 2016) that pointed to quite a strong tendency of the speakers in political debates to avoid relevant arguments (ad rem ideas) and replace them with false statements threatening or damaging the hearer’s face (ad hominem fallacies). Still, such face-threatening strategies are not necessarily related to explicit usage of vulgarisms, coarse words or other means of expressivity; for this reason, the authors of this book hold the opinion that these communicative acts (and their potential modifications in time) can be characterised comprehensively if the register analysis compares the ratio of negative expressivity to other expressions in use. Another typical feature of the political discourse (and public discourse in general) after 1989 is personalising. Politicians utilise social networking sites to create the illusion of intimacy by addressing every elector seemingly “in person”. Their communicative pseudo-strategies include discussing topics which are normally excluded from TV channels’ discourses (ostracisation of ethnic, religious, or sexual minorities, etc.) and typically associated with stylistically marked expressions. A systematic description of these strategies and the register of politicians’ blogs could yield more relevant results in further research. TV channels, especially private ones, have devoted more time in their schedules to reality television. This genre foregrounds the speakers who are not employees in the media (and therefore do not have professional responsibility for their performance) and daily life topics (family relationships, cooking, healthy lifestyle, desire to keep oneself young and attractive, to lose weight, etc.) that used to be employed solely for communicative immediacy in private settings (see Raible 2002). It might be presumed that this type of programme makes up for the lack of face-to-face interaction. In order to motivate viewers to witness quite trivial communicative acts, the editors highlight unusual, unexpected, and thus attractive communicative strategies of reality TV participants which are usually highly expressive (see Svobodová 2012). Three chapters examine evidence of expressivity and manipulation in recent history: partly in Communist newspeak, partly in media discourse reflecting some high-profile social and political issues in the 1960s and 1970s, e.g. men’s long haircuts or the role of religion and the Church in society. The analysis of newspaper texts and selected TV programmes gives a clear impression of nonverbal and verbal strategies of manipulation and involvement of expressivity (which might be either self-evident, or disguised), and draws some general conclusions regarding the principles of public communication in totalitarian regimes.1 1 Certain chapters in this book contain revised and adapted versions of our arcticles, published originally in Czech. Introduction 9 Two studies on expressivity and verbal aggressiveness in Polish set this phenomenon into an international framework (only texts from 2019 are analysed here – they were chosen because they can serve as significant illustrations of the phenomena mentioned above). The authors test the assumption that internet discourse limits participants’ horizons, and work on the hypothesis that these limits might correlate with verbal aggressiveness, i.e. with the choice of stylistic features. The research focuses on two events: the burning of books by J.K. Rowling and S. Meyer and of other pop-culture items (Hello Kitty masks, paintings, elephant replica, umbrella) organised by Polish priests discussed on Facebook after 31st March 2019, and the anti-government protest in Prague described in the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza on 25th June 2019, that was commented on by over 500 readers on Gazeta.pl. The identification of specific communicative strategies confirmed that the mode of communication (internet) influences the quality of discourse. Moreover, the chosen analytic methods proved that it is completely legitimate to combine discourse analysis with stylistic analysis. As the issue of manipulation, expressivity, verbal aggressiveness and personalising is highly convoluted and sensitive to current trends in public communication, it poses methodological difficulties for researchers who tend to examine it either too briefly, or too comprehensively. The authors of the present book, nevertheless, believe that the case studies and their conclusions might contribute to the understanding of the subject and initiate further complex research in this field. 1. Discourse and Its Critical Reading The history of modern societies is accompanied by a permanent struggle to achieve political goals. One of the tools used, or abused in the struggle, is natural language. A deliberate selection of means of expression and their purposeful combination can have a highly persuasive impact on the recipient. The repetitive employment of argumentation strategies, particularly in media or political texts, creates specific communication models and patterns with a strong manipulative potential. The concept of language as a tool designed to achieve a specific goal is not new in the context of linguistics or the philosophy of language. Studies evaluating verbal expression, primarily in terms of the success of the speech act, appeared as early as the middle of the previous century. These studies consider the use of language as a deliberate and conscious activity, and the implementation of speech acts has the same functions as any other activity concerned. The instrumental nature of language is particularly pronounced in acts with a strong persuasive and acquiring function, namely in media and political texts. As noted by Norman Fairclough (2005b, p. 142 ff.), the analysis of such texts would not be complete if focused only on the linguistic material. The interpretation processes therefore need to include the reflection of the current world order – i.e. of the political and socio-historical conditions under which the communication originated. More attention also needs to be focused on the essential features of the social situation in which the communication takes place. Facts to consider are for example the personality of the communicants and the influence of the social roles they occupy within social groups and institutions, as well as the environment of the interaction, including its cultural and historical context. 1.1. Subject of Analysis, Discourse Versus Text Text is defined in the present study as a specific linguistic expression, a written or spoken utterance, which is complex, internally structured, organised, coherent and cohesive, thematically and functionally unified, closed and confined. While various concepts view a text as a unit of either langue or parole, our conception and further analysis consider it as a separate, isolated unit, as an actually implemented utterance. Subject of Analysis, Discourse Versus Text 11 In other words, a text is perceived as the current demonstration of a sign system (in particular a linguistic one), i.e. as a specific communication. Discourse, in contrast, is conceived more broadly as a structured set of intertextually linked texts with a certain function and situational characteristics influenced in its final form by a complex of linguistic and extra-linguistic functions. The discursive framework also includes the participants and the immediate context. […] is usually defined as an ‘integrated whole of the text and context’, as an integration of ‘the linguistic implementation of an interaction and its context’ (Hoffmannová 1997, p. 8). A discourse is commonly associated with a specific set of users (or a single user in specific cases), and is related to a specific social or communicative situation. A topic or a set of mutually related topics are addressed in the discourse. Broader definitions (e.g. in the conception of Michel Foucault) also see discourse as a tool for structuring social reality (e.g. a specific use of language depending on the social role adopted)2 or for studying society throughout its historical development. The symbols used in the society to capture the outer world are socially conditioned, and form a structure which is realised in discourses. Discourse is thus a product of the current arrangement of society and the way it learns about things: In general, the work of all authors follows the definition of the discourse as a form of text which is delimited in terms of content, topic, and language, is socially institutionalized and situationally defined. In other words, unlike a text (a coherent chain of sentences) as an abstract category within the plane of langue, a discourse is defined as a text with a certain attribute, i.e. a strictly defined relation to a certain environment and function. Based on specifically defined criteria, we may thus distinguish between for instance a political, ideological, theological, conservative and socialist discourse; and based on the author’s occupation we may distinguish between the discourse of politicians, doctors, scientists in humanities or natural sciences, managers, ecologists, etc. The discourse of prominent personalities (politicians, writers, etc.) is usually author-specific. (Kraus 2003, pp. 18–19) Discourse can only be adequately interpreted if the conditions for its implementation and the specifics of a particular discourse type are taken into account. N. Fairclough (2006, p. 4) introduces, for example, the following three levels of discourse analysis: 1) the textual level, where attention is paid mainly to the linguistic construction of the message, 2) the interactive level, focused primarily on the production and interpretation components of communication, and 3) the social level, where research focuses on the relationship between communication and the social institutions within which it is taking place.3 The meaning of the means of expres2 T.A. van Dijk (1997, p. 2) classifies discourse in this sense as part of standardised social events, such as a visit, job interview, the history taking of a patient, etc. 3 T.A. van Dijk (1997, p. 2) also highlights three basic dimensions of discourse. His concept defines the following levels: 1) use of language, 2) communication as transfer and sharing of beliefs and knowledge, and 3) interaction in a particular social situation. Discourse analysis combines all three levels, allowing us to see how the manner of using language may affect the reception of the message, how the circumstances of the interaction affect the manner of linguistic expression, and how the views and attitudes adopted may affect the form of verbal interaction. 12 Discourse and Its Critical Reading sion is modified according to the situation or context in which they are used, and their interpretation depends on the meaning of the entire communicative event. Teun Adrianus van Dijk (1997, p. 9) distinguishes between micro-level and macro-level analyses based on whether the focus is on the meaning of the individual statements, or on the meaning of a discourse as a whole. Put simply, although not absolutely identical to the topic of the individual statements, the discourse topic provides the answer to the question: What was it all about? It is the key information of the entire message defining its overall coherence and being the part of the message we remember. A discourse may be interpreted as a complex of communicated and intended intentions, relating to both what the producer communicates and how the addressee interprets the message. The transmitter expects the recipient to be familiar with the rules for using a particular language, the communication strategies and the socio-cultural context. Since mental processes associated with text reception are constructive, representation and interpretation of a text give rise to complex aggregates consisting of both textual and contextual units and in particular of the convictions the recipient had before undertaking the particular communicative act. The individual understanding of a discourse is a process accompanied by constant reinterpretations and significantly influenced by context. A communication is embedded in a system of functionally and formally similar texts. When interpreting a message, communicants activate their earlier experience complexes and the related assumptions and expectations. The interpretation of a particular message is simultaneously accompanied by the adaptation to the current situation, and the new experience is reflected in the communicants’ mental map. The bottom-up process of understanding words and sentences is combined with the top-down process of activating assumptions and expectations. Mental models of communication situations and patterns are thus remodelled during interpretation. What we remember from a message are not the exact words and sentence structures used within the communication, but rather the schemes of discursive representations and our views of them. An important part during the interpretation of a message is played by the communicant’s ability to adequately understand the role of the communication context and its influence on the overall meaning of the message transferred. Here once again, it is appropriate to distinguish between two levels of context (similarly to the case of micro- and macro-propositions) – local and global (for more information see van Dijk 1997, p. 19). The local aspects include the time and place of the particular communication, its participants, their personality traits and characteristics (including social roles), the intentions, aims and purpose of communication, etc. The global aspects of context are related to the conception of a discourse as a constitutive part of a particular organisation or institution. Discourse is constituted as an aggregate of mutually intertextually linked messages (both written and spoken) belonging to a specific semiotic type and having a common hyper-topic (for instance unemployment, immigration, gender issues, etc.). The common hyper- or macro-topic involves a range of inter-related micro- Approaches in Discourse Analysis and Critical Reading 13 topics, and the discourse is not a closed system – on the contrary, it is operatively expanded on with other related areas and topics (for more information see Wodak 2001b, p. 66). The communicated topics spread across various discourses, get involved in various other areas and thus interconnect the individual discourses. Based on the definition of discourse, text may be defined as a current implementation of a language code, as the material fulfilment of the language use. Apart from the concepts of discourse and text, it is also important to specify the related concept of genre – a conventionalised and fixed form of utilisation related to a particular social situation or activity, i.e. a generally accepted form of language use connected to a particular activity or situation (Wodak 2001b, p. 66). In practice, there is a certain connection between a particular social activity and a discourse topic, and these determine the selection of a genre and the subsequent implementation of a particular text. All these processes occur on the basis of four types of contextual links: 1) immediate, current linguistic context; 2) inter-textual and inter-discursive relations among the utterance, text, genre, and discourse; 3) extra-linguistic social context (including the relation to institutions, etc.); 4) the wider political, historical and social context. When working with a message, important factors therefore also include the way in which it is embedded in the system of public communication, the way its structure reflects the intertextual linkage to other messages of a similar type, and also the historical context which is always analysed as an integral part of the message, influencing its interpretation (for more information, cf. Wodak 2001b, p. 70). 1.2. Approaches in Discourse Analysis and Critical Reading Deborah Schiffrin (1994, p. 47) notes there are various approaches to the study of discourse, and also emphasises that none of them perceive discourse as the object of analysis in itself. The extension of the area of discourse-related topics and issues also influences the approach chosen for its research – the theory of speech acts focuses on speech activity, its tool being so-called speech acts; sociolinguistics deals with meanings created within a social interaction; ethnolinguistics extends the range of issues with cultural and behavioural aspects of communication; pragmatics observes the meaning of individual utterances in hypothetical contexts; conversation analysis focuses on the way turn-taking in conversations establishes social relationships, so-called variation theory observes the structural elements of the text and analyses how the selection of the means of expression, implemented within smaller textual units (e.g. sentences), is manifested when constituting the meaning of the text as a whole. 14 Discourse and Its Critical Reading When working with texts belonging to the media and political discourse, we will specifically use the methods of critical discourse analysis. This interdisciplinary approach interconnects research in textual and social structures. Messages are investigated within the respective historical and socio-political context, and researchers employing this approach perceive discourse as a relatively stable way of language utilisation, as its conventionalised form facilitating the structuring and organisation of social life. The objects of analysis are in particular the means of expression, communication strategies, and the stable style of discourse models – these reflect the existing social power structures and indicate manifestations of dominance, the pursuit of power abuse and discrimination tendencies. A critical reading of selected texts demonstrates how language reflects customary social prejudice and how power mechanisms are embedded in it. Authors do not only strive to determine and describe the status quo but they also aim to demonstrate a way to discover attempts at influencing or even manipulating the recipient within the text (for more information see Hoffmannová 1997). In British linguistics, critical analysis has been developing since the 1970s (influenced particularly by the work of Michael Alexander Kirkwood Halliday). At present, its conception and methodology draw from various approaches, the most influential ones being Norman Fairclough’s dialectical-relational approach, Teun A. van Dijk’s socio-cognitive approach, and Ruth Wodak’s discursive-historical approach. The roots of this method lie in rhetorics, text linguistics, anthropology, philosophy, social psychology and sociolinguistics, as well as applied linguistics and pragmatics. Although such a wide range must necessarily result in a considerable diversity of methods and research objects, there are seven areas of interest which all the schools and approaches related to critical analysis have in common (for more information see Wodak, Meyer 2009, p. 2): 1) The focus of interest are always authentic texts created by actual communicants, not a purely abstract language system (langue); 2) The centre of research lies in more extensive units of expression (texts, conversations, speech acts or communication events), not isolated lexical units or sentences; 3) The interest of linguistics is expanded beyond the borders of the grammar of sentence structures – it focuses on investigation of action and interaction;4 4) Non-verbal aspects of interaction and communication are investigated (images, films, multimedia and visual messages, the Internet); 5) Interaction processes and strategies are analysed; 6) The focus of interest lies in the functional context (social, cultural, situational, and cognitive) or language utilisation; 4 Focus is drawn especially on the language means used when structuring and organising social institutions or exerting influence. Approaches in Discourse Analysis and Critical Reading 15 7) Attention is paid to a wide range of aspects of text grammar (coherence, thematic composition, macro-structures, speech acts, turn-taking, reasoning, rhetorical figures, etc.). The effort to influence or manipulate the recipient is manifested in discrimination texts both overtly and covertly, and the aim of critical analysis is to determine what communication strategies, structures, or parts of texts and utterances are used to fulfil this effort most frequently. Discourse as a part of the social reality is created as a result of the mutual interaction of a text, a current situation, and a wider socio-historical context. Its critical assessment should be conducted at three levels, labelled by Norman Fairclough (1989, p. 26) as description, interpretation, and explanation. Description is intended to cover the formal aspects of a text. The objects of analysis are linguistic means, such as the lexicon used, grammatical means, syntactic structures, etc. The interpretation investigates the way the discourse connects the particular text with social structures and institutions. This second stage is directly linked to the third stage – the explanation, which is aimed at determining the actual (usually intended) meaning of the particular text. The recipient participates in social and communication interactions and thus acquires the prerequisites needed to interpret even the non-explicit aspects within a text. When interpreting the text, the recipient identifies the discourse type, its correlation to the particular situation, and focuses on “what the communication is actually about”, who the other participants are, and what relationships are established between the individual subjects. In other words, the recipient is able to correctly determine the situation context and assess the adequacy of the discourse model used. Within the process of explanation, discourse should be understood and explained as a part of social processes. It is therefore necessary to identify sociation determinants having the greatest influence on the particular discourse, and assess whether their nature is ideological, whether they are a manifestation of the exercise of power, as well as whether their transmitter strives for the acknowledgement of the accepted social structure or for its change (Fairclough 1989, p. 166). Throughout the course of a speech activity, the transmitter can choose from various options available within the language system. The aim of critical analysis is to evaluate the motivation behind the selection of the particular linguistic means used, and assess to what extent their selection is related to the exercise of social dominance over the communication partners. The attempt to govern, manipulate, or control the communication partner may be expressed either explicitly within the text itself, or may be implicitly present “beyond” the text. From the perspective of the application of power strategies, Fairclough (1989, p. 43) distinguishes between: 1) exercising power in face-to-face communication; 2) exercising power when communicating with members of other cultural or social groups; 3) exercising covert power in mass communication in the media. 16 Discourse and Its Critical Reading What is typical for media communication is the fact that the social power play is frequently not exercised overtly; in contrast, it is often implemented covertly, for instance through metaphors, similes, and other means of figurative expression, as well as through vague and indefinite statements, etc. Communication is conducted more or less unidirectionally; there is no immediate turn-taking in the communication roles between a media institution as a transmitter, and the viewer, reader, or listener as a recipient of the message. Reception of media messages thus becomes a very specific kind of product “consumption”, and although the media discourse is intended for a very indefinite audience whose precise delimitation is hard, the transmitter creates a concept of the ideal recipient to whom the messages are addressed and adjusted. The power and influence of media organisations are manifested for instance in what events they decide to cover in a message, which social groups they favour in their messages and which they exclude entirely, what position and attitude is taken towards the event presented, etc. Distribution of socially relevant information of a political, economic, or cultural nature at various types of news channels is based on a targeted selection, the so-called gatekeeping,5 and the subsequent production of news reports does not involve a simple description of what happened. The basic informative function is accompanied by other functions: by selecting particular phenomena, ordering them, and describing them in a convenient way, news reporting constructs the reality (Trampota 2006, p. 11). The news recipient does not only receive information about the events, but the manner in which the information is presented builds systematically and consistently the recipient’s awareness of what is perceived as socially important, what is commonly accepted as appropriate, what is assessed as a transgression of a norm, what sanctions may be expected for such a transgression, and the recipient also forms a definition of “us” and “them” (for more information see Trampota 2006, p. 12). Gaining a certain detachment from news messages and the ability to assess them critically is part of the communication competence of media proficient recipients. The message recipient should be able to discern the values maintained by the respective media, and identify the motivation governing why a certain message was covered in a news report while another was not, how much space was provided for an event in the news feed, and also why the final news report was elaborated in one particular way and not a different one.6 The method of critical reading is therefore specific in that the investigator’s approach towards the analysed message is significantly committed – the investigator aims not only to determine and describe a particular social issue, but also, if possible, to solve it. 5 In a similar sense, Fairclough (1989, p. 50) emphasises that the final responsibility for the selection of topics covered does not lie with the journalist, but with the editor, or more precisely with the media organisation assuming its position within the relationship network of the entire society. 6 This is related to the adopted vantage point and the perspective from which the event is presented. Approaches in Discourse Analysis and Critical Reading 17 Before proceeding to the analysis itself, the treatise briefly presents the individual directions within critical discourse analysis whose methods are subsequently employed. 1.2.1. Norman Fairclough’s Dialectical-Relational Approach Fairclough’s concept of critical discourse analysis is based particularly on the premise of interdisciplinarity and the criticalness of the approach chosen. The existence of social structures is connected to social asymmetry and the related discrimination tendencies. Discourse analysis should therefore be targeted at identification of their causes, and on searching for ways to avoid these negative phenomena (Fairclough 2016, p. 88). Critical reading should demonstrate how certain fixed forms of expression work in a particular social institution or within a certain ideology, and how their utilisation contributes to the establishment of unequal relationships and the subsequent exercise of dominance or power. The selection of means of expression is influenced by the requirements of the particular text type or genre and particularly by the transmitter’s intentions. Norman Fairclough (1989, pp. 109–112) designed a methodological concept7 based on which we can observe the experience, relational, and expressive qualities of the units at the lexical, grammar, and textual planes. As to the lexical means used, it is important to pay attention to, for instance, how a particular expression activates the recipient’s existing experiential context (if its utilisation is connected a priori to positive or negative connotations), or if the expression carries an ideological message and serves as a means of classification and integration of its carrier into a certain (usually positively or negatively evaluated) group. It is also important to observe meaning relations within groups of words (for instance chains of synonyms or pairs of antonyms, a combination of hyperonyms and hyponyms, etc.). The persuasive and manipulative potential may also be carried out by a stylised “searching for” the adequate meaning, deliberate corrections and reformulations that serve in the text as a kind of rhetorical figure. Attention also needs to be paid to all kinds of figurative expressions (metaphors, metonymy and synecdoche), euphemisms and hyperboles. In addition, the utilisation of expressivity is also an important element in influencing the recipients and creating their positive or negative attitudes as required. The utilisation of means of grammar also has a strategic importance. These usually involve the means constituting and connecting sentence structures. It is also important, however, to observe whether the message contains modality, what type of modality it is, whether the means of expressing modality also carry other 7 The concept is based on ten questions (extended by sub-questions) such as What experiential value does the utilised lexicon have? What relations are expressed with it? What experiential value do the utilised grammar units have?, etc. (Fairclough 1989, pp. 110–111). 18 Discourse and Its Critical Reading meanings, e.g. expressive meaning, etc. As far as pragmatics is concerned, the verbal voice is a very active aspect of grammar. From the perspective of reader reception, whether the described verbal action is presented as active or passive is an important factor, and whether the construction is formulated in such a way that it is obvious who the agent of the action is (the utilisation of the pronouns we and you is extremely important). Another important aspect is the ratio of nominalised and condensed structures. The utilisation of interrogative and exclamatory constructions or the manner of expressing the negative or negation is an impressive means. When expressing logical and causal relations, an important role is also played by the selection of suitable connectors. Conjunctions may express for instance a contradiction in the message, while creating coordination groups is an effective means of classification and integration of an individual into certain groups, or his/her exclusion from these. Concerning the influencing of the recipient, the construction of extensive coordination groups with gradated chains of synonyms linked with an adequate connector is, for example, an effective means. At the higher level of text linguistics, it is important to describe how the text as a whole is constructed, whether the assumptions related to the text model are fulfilled, whether the individual text passages follow from the previous ones logically (or based on other meaning relations), how they are linked – e.g. based on the topical sequence, whether the meanings conveyed are gradated, and especially whether the structure of the entire message contains any logical confusion or discrepancies. When influencing the recipient, the signalling of intertextual references or allusions is also an important aspect. The meaning of the utilised means of expression is contextually bound, and is completed within social processes that are mutually dialectically interlinked (this is the reason for the label “dialectical-relational approach”; Fairclough 2016, p. 87). The effort to discern the essence of unequal relationships in messages and find the motivation behind their creation results in the need to include the aspects of a wider communication context (see above) in the analysis. The incorporation of these circumstances into the analytical mechanism leads to the expansion of research into the areas of sociology, psychology, and historical and political sciences. The analysis is thus targeted at both the currently implemented communication event, perceived as an implementation of all constitutive planes and plans of the language system, and at the structure of the entire discourse in the sense of its overlaps into other pragmatic, social, historical and other aspects. The ability to read critically involves, among other things, the recipient’s ability to evaluate the motivation of the utilised means of expression, and assess whether these means of expression fulfil other functions as well within the message related e.g. to the exercise of social dominance. The exercise of influence and strong persuasive tendencies appear in media communication very frequently in text types with an overlap into the area of political discourse. Approaches in Discourse Analysis and Critical Reading 19 1.2.2. Ruth Wodak and Martin Reisigl’s Discursive-Historical Method The extension of the methodological framework by other aspects of the historical and socio-cultural context is a typical feature of this approach; the central concepts of this approach are criticism, ideology and power. The criticalness of the approach should focus on discerning the paradoxes, inconsequence, and contradictions within the text structure, but also involves social aspects, since the researcher also focuses on covert attempts at persuading, influencing and manipulation (Reisigl, Wodak 2016, p. 25). The ideology (ibid.) is assessed as a perspective or manner of perception of the world, which creates the beliefs, views, attitudes, and evaluations shared by the members of specific social groups. Ideologies significantly influence the perception of the world (for instance the interpretation of reality from a strictly feminist position), offer a desirable image of its future structure and provide guidelines for achieving such a state. They serve as an important means for creating social identity and the establishment and subsequent legitimisation of unequal social relations. Power is correlated with unequal relations between communicants who assume different social roles within society (Reisigl, Wodak 2016, p. 26). It provides a certain group of communicants with the opportunity to enforce their interests and wishes at the expense of others. When working with authentic texts, there is a need to observe how the verbally manifested meanings are embedded in the narrower language context, but the text must also be confronted with other social and political phenomena. The analysis using this conception is three-dimensional, and is comprised of: 1) determining specific topics significant for the particular discourse, 2) investigating the strategies used, and 3) investigating the meanings of the means of expression and the contextually bound expressions (Reisigl, Wodak 2016, p. 32). The texts used for the analysis are those from the discrimination discourse targeted, e.g. against ethnic, religious, or other social minorities.8 When employing this method, the seeking of answers to the following questions is recommended: 1) How are the persons concerned named or labelled? 2) What qualities, characteristics, and personality traits are attributed to them? 3) What types of arguments and argumentation schemes occur in relation to the effort to advocate the need for exclusion, discrimination, and disadvantageous treatment or abuse of the particular social or ethnic groups? 4) What perspective or vantage point is taken when presenting the issue? 5) Are the discrimination strategies articulated overtly? Are the attitudes of transmitters openly strengthened, or do they instead try to suppress them and hide them “between the lines”? (Wodak 2001b, pp. 72–73; Reisigl, Wodak 2016, p. 32). 8 The beginning of the research involved for instance the discourse of the Austrian presidential campaign of 1986 led from the national-socialist position. A detailed analysis was later conducted of the media discourse reflecting the immigration of Romanian refugees following the fall of the Iron Curtain. Attention was also paid to ways of presenting Austrian identity (for more information, cf. Reisigl, Wodak 2016, p. 31). 20 Discourse and Its Critical Reading Based on these questions, one may observe what discursive strategies are applied in the text and how they facilitate the construction of a positive self-presentation of the “us” group and a negative presentation of others (the construction of the groups “us” and “them” is the basis of constituting discursive identity and difference). Within this approach, the communication strategy is perceived (Reisigl, Wodak 2016, p. 33) as a more or less intentional plan used to adjust (verbal) action in order to achieve social, political, psychological or other aims. Manipulation strategies are applied at various levels when constructing language messages. They involve: 1) nomination – the way the image of social actors, objects, phenomena, events, or processes is created; 2) predication – the way these animate or inanimate objects are assessed; 3) argumentation – the way in which our proclamations, our concepts of truth and normative requirements are justified; 4) perspectivisation – the manner of embedding the transmitter’s views or vantage points and the explanation of the transmitter’s opinions and attitudes; 5) intensification or mitigation (or other modification) of the illocutionary force of the message, emphasising or mitigating the meaning within the utterance (Reisigl, Wodak 2016, p. 33). In addition, R. Wodak (2001b, p. 73 ff.) identified the so-called topoi or loci occurring in discrimination texts – i.e. usual, regularly repeated elements that are utilised in order to legitimise disadvantageous treatment of social or ethnic minorities, i.e. of the “them” groups. The most important ones include pointing out the advantages and disadvantages for the majority society when living with a minority, making reference to the danger the minority poses for the majority society, emphasising the need to respect equal rights for everyone (which in fact means not providing any advantage to minorities) and the need to respect legislation and the established social order, emphasising national history, culture, traditions and habits. Finally, additional frequently occurring topics are the financial demands, the issue of abusing the good-heartedness and kindness of the majority society, and the need to consider the current conditions (if a boat is overloaded, we cannot afford to accept any more refugees; if we do not have enough money for retirees, we cannot support minorities who avoid working, etc.). 1.2.3. Teun A. van Dijk’s Socio-Cognitive Approach The importance of the pragmatic circumstances of communication is also emphasised by Teun A. van Dijk (e.g. 1997, p. 2), who draws attention particularly to the following: who uses a language, why, and in what temporal-spatial framework. In his conception of discourse, van Dijk points out its process nature (van Dijk 2016, pp. 67–68) and illustrates that discourse is both produced and interpreted based Approaches in Discourse Analysis and Critical Reading 21 on the employment of cognitive structures and mental models. Participants in communication interactions assess the situation in which discourses are created and interpreted while using their long-term memory. The current processes are embedded in the context of their previous experience and the acquired findings are applied to them. In this way, over the course of the communicant’s life within society, the context models gradually become stable. Although influenced by the individual’s own experience and interpretation of reality, they help participants in communication cope with situations (in the sense of both production and interpretation). This enables them, among other things, to extend the interpretation framework beyond the borders of what was currently said or written. From this perspective, the criticalness of the approach is based particularly on ethical grounds (van Dijk 2016, p. 63). The analysis should uncover the discrimination practices used to legitimise the infringement of human rights (such as the communication strategies of racist or sexist discourse). Van Dijk’s model of the communication situation is illustrated with a triangle whose edges represent society, knowledge (in his concept referred to as cognition) and discourse,9 where there is a dialectical relationship between society and the discourse (van Dijk 2001). Social relations and structures influence the form of texts and utterances only through conscious cognitive interpretation of the social context (this also applies vice versa – the discourse retroactively influences social relations and structures by employing mental models, attitudes and ideologies). Utilisation of a language and production of a message is conducted as a conscious process, and this fact may be documented by an analysis of discrimination discourses, where we can clearly see the selection of identical or similar topics connected to a negative presentation of a minority, a common way of argumentation, mentioning qualities and attributes stereotypically attributed to minorities, utilisation of marked lexicon or metaphors, as well as a deliberate choice of grammatical categories and sentence structures, etc. If the texts of a discrimination discourse are read and interpreted from the perspective of accepted and shared ideologies, they influence the thinking and language of other communicants, and are consequently effective when creating a feeling of superiority or dominance in the relationship of “us” to “them”. Attitudes and ideologies are also important concepts in van Dijk’s concept of discourse. Most people establish their attitudes and views of issues such as utilising nuclear energy, immigration policy, etc. based on the adopted ideology which is perceived by van Dijk as a shared societal value adopted and used by members of a particular society – the communicant assesses the issue as right or wrong, acceptable or unacceptable, etc. The attitude adopted, e.g. to the issue of migration subsequently influences our perception of migrants and our attitudes towards their 9 The relationship between the discourse and the social reality is pointed out by all the approaches within the critical analysis; the socio-cognitive approach also emphasises that their mutual relationship is cognitively mediated (van Dijk 2016, p. 64). 22 Discourse and Its Critical Reading aims, behaviour, and qualities, and especially their attitude to “us” as the majority group. Attitudes constitute ideologies, which subsequently fulfil the social function in that they coordinate and adjust the behaviour and social practices of members of the respective groups, and legitimise the enforcement of their aims and interests (van Dijk 2005, p. 24; 2016, p. 69). The social function of an ideology is to unify members of a particular group when fulfilling their own aims and protecting their interests. By adopting an ideology, the established social relations are legitimised, this also being the reason for the prejudice of discourse participants, or for the a priori biased interpretation of social reality. Ideologies are connected with cognitive structures, and what the members of a particular group think influences how they act. Members of particular social groups are expected to create certain evaluations and judgements; communicants work with the categories of membership (they reflect on who belongs, or does not belong, to the group of “us”), conscious activities (what they do as members of the respective group, and how it makes them different from the others), aims, the position within society, access to resources, etc. (van Dijk 2005, p. 22; 2016, p. 68). The links between the personal and social perception of values are created by the so-called mental models, these being the result of the influence of views and attitudes of social groups. In extreme cases, group views and attitudes may develop into significantly discriminating and biased slogans. More frequently, however, the communicant derives his/her “personal” views of certain social groups and the experience with certain people, events, or situations from the views and attitudes shared within the group (and in addition, he/she also assesses them from this perspective). These mental models are unique and individual, on the one hand, but come about from the influence of experience shared within a group and experience with certain particular types of discourse, on the other. The personal views presented in the written texts as well as the utterances are, however, only the tip of the iceberg arising from the vast background of significantly more extensive mental models. This issue may also be regarded from the opposite vantage point, since the text recipient usually derives much more from a text than what is explicitly or directly expressed in it.10 The way in which ideologies are manifested becomes established in the text types – or de facto in the discourses – commonly associated with them, and the context models subsequently influence the way communication and information transfer are conducted. 10 In this sense, E. Goffman (1974) introduces the concept of framework, and works with it as an interpretation scheme or a way of organising reality. The reason is that when interpreting a multi-layered and complex reality, it is impossible to concern all its aspects, so when working with certain topics or macrostructures, some of the attributes are deliberately either accentuated, suppressed or even omitted. This creates auxiliary shortcuts or schemes, which facilitate perception and interpretation of reality, but which also lead to establishing undesirable stereotypes and prejudice (for more information cf. e.g. Trampota 2006, p. 122; Svobodová 2016, p. 45). Approaches in Discourse Analysis and Critical Reading 23 The events presented in the media discourse reflect certain opinions that are not entirely personal, but rather institutional in nature, or more widely shared. The implicitly present evaluative attitude reflects the stereotypical image of the hierarchical structure of a society where both the majority group of “us” and the (usually) minority group of “them” have their own positions. The attitudes and beliefs related to the assessment of “us” and “them” do not need to be (and frequently are not) coherent or consistent, but they tend to be firm, especially if related to the enforcement of group interests. Membership within a group is conscious at least in that the members reflect the differences between themselves and the people outside the group; members of majority groups ask who “they” actually are, what they want, and what they may do to achieve it. The application of the socio-cognitive approach is aimed at determining how the daily activities of representatives of social groups influence the form of socially shared ideologies, and conversely, how the members of groups are influenced and restricted in their activities by ideologies. Consequently, even opinions presented in the media cannot be interpreted as an expression of the producer’s personal view, but rather as a result of social, institutional, or more general political values. T.A. van Dijk (2005, p. 31 ff.) emphasises the necessity of conducting critical assessment of the means of expression used at all levels of language. The means, with a significant persuasive potential, usually involve usage of the lexicon. Suitably chosen lexical units imply attitudes and evaluation and their effect is boosted for instance by combining substantives with attributes. In addition, the manner of structuring lexical units into sentence structures is also important, especially when expressing or omitting the agent of an activity in active or deagent structures. Van Dijk (2005, p. 33) confirmed the tendency to explicitly express the agents of positively evaluated actions, if they belong to the social group “us” and, in contrast, to anonymise them if they are members of the group “them”. This also applies vice versa – i.e. omitting the agents of negatively evaluated actions belonging to “us” and expressing them if they belong to “them”. The most common means of discrimination discourse as listed by van Dijk (2016, pp. 73–74) are the following: 1) polarisation – the adopted ideology leads to continuous polarisation between the positively presented group of “us” and the negatively presented group of “them”; 2) utilisation of pronouns – the producer usually intensifies the polarisation process by using the pronoun we/us together with the inclusive plural (to talk about the members of the group “us”), and the pronoun they/them (to talk about “non-members”); 3) identification – members of the group feel the need to identify with it, using expressions such as we, the advocates of traditions, concerning it as a liberal, etc.; 4) activities – members of the group also frequently identify with it by what they do, what activities are typical for them; often we encounter not only statements about the members doing something, but also having to do something; 24 Discourse and Its Critical Reading 5) norms and values – when enforcing dominance, discrimination attitudes are often legitimised by connecting one’s own actions with values such as freedom, equality, justice, independence, or autonomy; 6) interests – the ideological battle usually involves enforcing one’s interests; discrimination discourses very frequently include references to our interests, whether in the sense of basic human needs (such as the right to health, right to housing, etc.), or symbolic values (such as the right to education, claimed social status, or access to the media). The strategy for expressing views shared within the group, regarding the positive characteristics of “us” and the negative characteristics of “them”, is described by van Dijk (2005, p. 33; 2016, p. 74) as the ideology square. This universal strategy is manifested particularly in the selection of lexical units and syntactic structures, and may be briefly transformed into the following imperatives: 1. Emphasise our positives 2. Emphasise their negatives 3. Mitigate our negatives 4. Mitigate their positives The view of a certain event may be modified under the influence of a specific context or individual attitude, but the impact of the ideology square is obvious every time. It is manifested in the selection of topics,11 enabling the positive self-presentation of “us” and legitimising the negative evaluation of “them”, as well as the extent of the details provided.12 The application of the socio-cognitive approach means that the discourse, society, and their conscious reflections are analysed as mutually interconnected. Discourse analysis may be focused on certain significant aspects of text construction, but there is also a need to take into account its functions in the public socio-political establishment and its reflection in mental models. 11 Text models are organised as hierarchical structures, where the top level is occupied by a macro-proposition, while the basic level includes very specific propositions. This hierarchy enables presentation of certain pieces of information as more important than others. The macrostructural structure of text and mental models ensures the general coherence of the discourse and confirms the awareness of what is evaluated as important within the discourse. The structure and hierarchical organisation of topics are also used as a tool for positive presentation of the group of “us” and the negative presentation of “them”. 12 We return once again to the rule that in order to present an event, there is no need to say everything we know, and one can even rely on general awareness and shared experience. Employing the strategy of the ideology square subsequently leads the communicants to the need to provide more detailed information about our positives and their negatives. 2. Communist Newspeak: A Specific Discrimination Discourse The danger of manipulation of people through language occurs every time when public texts (opinion journalism, political speeches, as well as e.g. TV advertisements) begin to lack the element of understanding and informativity – i.e. when there is a lack of depiction of reality or representation of ideas that allow the receiver to reflect on the texts, create an opinion, and choose. In manipulative texts, the vanishing understanding and missing information are often compensated for by the quantity of words, sentences, statements and phrases, constructed intentionally so as to omit the subject of the speaker or author – the particular person responsible for the text. A manipulative text is thus primarily a sea of words constantly repeated like waves; certain sentences and words come to us, preventing us from recognising the subject who set them into motion (for more information on the nature of manipulation of people and even of entire nations e.g. Arendt 2013; Brzezinski 1989; Bussemer 2008; Faye 1972; Fidelius 2016; de Saussure, Schulz 2005; Texler 1996; or Váňa 2013). It is not seemingly an exaggeration to compare the functioning of language in manipulative texts to its functioning during religious ceremonies – the parallel between religious and ideological thinking was, after all, pointed out early on by the Polish philosopher L. Kołakowski (1981) in his remarkable treatise on the nature of Marxism.13 There is also a similarity in the mechanism of language functioning in religious and ideological texts: repetition of language structures that have been previously created and recorded somewhere, a specific type of depersonalisation, the disappearance of the subject of the text author, as well as rhythmising of words and para-verbal and non-verbal elements of communication (songs, gestures, attire, objects, etc.) thus serving both in the manipulative language of totality and the liturgical language as a means to make something current, close, more clearly specified, and also to make it real. What the extremist totalitarian political suite causes with its texts is that the people perceiving them find themselves in a world where e.g. the traditional social structure is not an order, but a non-order. Religious ceremonies take their participants into a world that is one step closer to God each 13 For more information e.g. Maier (1999) or the article by Tischner (1996). 26 Communist Newspeak: A Specific Discrimination Discourse time – they create a world where people honestly participating in a liturgy renew and strengthen the mutual spiritual links with others, and together also re-establish the connection to God through the texts. Another typical feature is how frequently the authors of politically manipulative texts grasp, not only the ideas, but even words or the entire passages appearing in religious texts, typically in the Bible: a popular Communist slogan Who does not work shall not eat! can be compared to 2 Thessalonians (3:10) For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat (used both by the German Minister of State for Bohemia and Moravia K.H. Frank and the first Czechoslovak proletariat president K. Gottwald), which is a shortened version of Jesus’ statement He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters (Luke 11:23). What is also typical is the frequently mentioned self-stylisation of the author and simultaneously main character of Reportáž psaná na oprátce [Notes From the Gallows], the Communist journalist J. Fučík, into remarkably “Jesus-like” contours. In contrast, a comparison of the language of political or otherwise manipulative language with the language of the liturgy certainly requires a relativising complement. It is obvious that modern manipulators simply “touch” the strings of the human soul echoing even a significantly older and deeper liturgical text such as a text type. Compared to the liturgy, “secular” manipulative texts, such as Nazi or Communist ones, are extremely flat; they represent the vulgarisation of a liturgical text, and from the perspective of ideology contradict all its functions.14 This may be illustrated with another typical feature of present-day manipulative texts or ones from recent history – their power function. The world created by a “secular” manipulative text is substantially black-and-white: good and evil are strictly distinguished in it (while e.g. for a Christian or a Jew, in a world that may be recognised with the senses it is only possible to estimate what is probably bad or good). In manipulative texts, employed e.g. in politics, there is a high frequency of certain key words expressing conformity with the (only) good – with a certain ideology. A person can thus partake of power through certain key words. Conformity with a certain regime is usually signalled by particular individuals and groups even more significantly with the language (the acquisition of the basic lexicon containing key words and phrases, and their “exhibitionist” integration into public communication), rather than with particular actions and thinking. It is specifically language (which is, unlike reality, susceptible to “distortion” and deformation and is thus open to manipulation more than anything else) which is the only real space where frequently absurd, contradictory and hard-to-apply ideologies (Nazism and Communism) may be employed. 14 Atheism, the rejection of any kind of spiritual interpretation of history is, after all, the basis of both Nazism and Communism (for more information regarding the systematic fight against Christianity in the Czech environment e.g. the study by Nešpor 2008). Communist Newspeak: A Specific Discrimination Discourse 27 The power function of manipulative language is manifested, in contrast, in constant references to a definite evil – the presence of evil, literally physical, personified in a particular enemy that needs to be found and destroyed. This is a vital pre-requisite for the existence of a manipulative text. Manipulators live from fear – and if there is no evil, frightening and threatening their recipients, the manipulators have to produce it. They use the above-mentioned creative, “magical” function of language to create the particular “monster” (e.g. the so-called Jewish Threat, the efforts by Americans to starve Europe with the potato beetle, or the “exorbitant” price of energy that “torments” us). The evil is clearly signalised in the texts, especially through established epithets. In radical, actually totalitarian, types of manipulative texts, similar established and constantly repeated expressions also include threats to the enemy: the cause, carrier, and personification of evil. The image of “the enemy” within the Czech environment may be illustrated with the well-known hate campaign against the “conspiracy centres” around M. Horáková (see the documentary edition: Kourová, Koura 2008) or R. Slánský (Steiner 2005), or the contemporary reflections on the Americans during the socalled Cuban Crisis of 1962 (Kotrman 2015). In contrast, the “hero” type – within the Soviet, and indirectly even in the Czech environment – was Pavlik Morozov (cf. Petrusek 2010), or for instance the type of frontiersman: the border defender guarding the “world of good” against “the world of evil” (Palivodová 2012). A suitable tool for further classification of the characteristic features of manipulative language, whose classic “prototype” is G. Orwell’s newspeak,15 is for instance the classification created by the Polish linguist J. Bralczyk (1987). Having lived under socialist reality, which was similar to the Czechoslovak reality regarding both the political aspects and the “work with language”, Bralczyk distinguishes between seven semantic features regularly included in manipulative totalitarian texts. The first feature is the importance, expressed in manipulative texts mostly with adjectives such as unprecedented, leading, important, fundamental, giant, historical, main, key, strong, big, profuse, exceptional, basic, and significant. Authors of manipulative texts express in this way the vital importance, the ground-breaking, historic nature of almost anything, e.g. in statements such as The periodical points out the historic success of Soviet science achieved by constructing this magnificent structure (on the Volga-Donn Canal finished in 1952, canalised especially by prisoners from gulag camps, with about 15,000 of them dying during the construction work) or This key issue of social progress has been solved by the elimination of private ownership and its replacement by collective ownership.16 15 In the novel 1984, G. Orwell presented – undoubtedly based on his rich experience with observing language manifestations of Communism and Nazism (see Young 1991) – the newspeak language based on English (oldspeak), from which it differed in terms of simplified grammar and the exceptional neo-semantisation of the lexicon (cf. also Šimečka 1991). 16 The examples are taken from the corpus Totalita [Totality] – an annex to the dictionary by Čermák et al. (2010). 28 Communist Newspeak: A Specific Discrimination Discourse The second feature of manipulative texts is universality; it is expressed especially with lexemes such as the whole, every, masses, millions, many, full, a range of, wide, and everyone. This can be seen for instance in the statements: This programme showed wide masses of people the way to freedom, happier living, and the assurance of peace or Participants in the manifestation were committed to help fulfil the resolution of the second Conference through increased wakefulness and extensive development of socialist competition. The readers and listeners are influenced here by an image similar to the feature of “importance” – the legitimacy of a certain act and process is illustrated with its extent. The third feature of manipulative texts, according to the classification of J. Bralczyk, is the feature of closeness – the effort to identify the text’s addressee with the author. Using the grammatical categories of person and number and suitably chosen personal and possessive pronouns (we, our), the authors of the texts try to involve the readers or listeners in an extra-personal group, depersonalise them, and lead them to a common effort, action, or fight where the group acts “together as one”. An example would be the following: The year 1968 opened the way even for those people and forces that intended to discredit our common work, who corrupted the twenty-year effort of our people and the Communist Party or our enemies would like to deprive the people of their power, but we know that we have allies in the Soviet Union and other socialist countries. The fourth feature of manipulative texts, as defined by J. Bralczyk, is necessity – all modern ideologies (from the Great French Revolution of 1789–99 up until present-day Euro-Communism)17 put themselves into the position of systems of thought that are based on history and represent its rightful continuation. This is manifested in the language of such ideologies by overusing adjectives such as the only, necessary, right (e.g. In order to ensure the successful economic and cultural development of under-developed nationalities, it was necessary in particular to develop the Soviet national statehood) and in negative adjectives such as inviolable, irrevocable, inevitable, undeniable, and indestructible (for instance Nothing can save the capitalist system, which is approaching its inevitable extinction). The fifth feature is the veracity of everything postulated by an ideologically exposed text, or more widely the entire ideological system. This semantic feature is frequently carried by words such as justification, truth, correctness, or evidence, appearing in accordance with the tendency of a manipulative text to use scientifically multiverbalised expressions as part of adjectival collocations with historic and historical, such as a historical truth, historical justification, historical correctness 17 For an early description of the language of revolutionary France at the end of the 1700s as a faithful prototype of all the following totalitarian languages, see Lafargue (1956). Communist Newspeak: A Specific Discrimination Discourse 29 or historical evidence (e.g. the unprecedented growth of the anti-imperialist struggle proves the historical correctness of Leninism, which requires the basic requirements of the present era). In order to also make the important, universal, close-to-people, necessary and true system presented in ideological texts fully trusted, and in order to stylise it as “scientific” (e.g. in the sense of the Nazi teaching of races or the Communist teaching of class struggle), it has to seem coherent – hence the sixth feature in Bralczyk’s classification. Coherence is manifested in a striking frequency of words such as identity, unity, unification, connection, structure, bond, and system as well as the derived words; for instance: The struggle for peace and socialism against the warmongers connects up the nations of the Soviet Union, the People’s Republic of China, the People’s Republic of Bulgaria, and other socialist countries in the brotherly unity and friendship or Comrade Husák briefly mentioned the economic policy of the Party, which is systematically observed by the top-level Party organs at every meeting. The seventh feature is progressiveness, proclaimed at every opportunity both in the positive sense, i.e. when talking about the incumbents (using words such as progress, progressivity, and development, e.g. We are moving ahead towards our Czechoslovak progressive, enthusiastically constructivist and socialist school for the good of the entire nation and to the credit of our school system), and the sense of contradiction of progressiveness if talking about political opponents. In such cases, the words typically used include backwardness, underdevelopment, conservativism, and stagnation, for instance it would be not only backward, but even quixotic to attempt to stop this objective process of world development, whose intensity and extent are becoming more and more successful, and which will be strengthened even more under conditions of peace.18 18 Apart from the cited P. Fidelius (2016), valuable materials documenting the manifestations of totalitarianism in Czech texts after 1948 (accompanied by interpretative comments) have also been published for instance by J. Anděl (1999), V. Macura (2008), A. Röhrich (2008), E. Lotko (2008a; 2008b), D. Šlosar (2010), and O. Bláha (2013). See also valuable resources regarding the situation in Slovakia – e.g. anthologies edited by V. Bystrický and J. Roguľová (2005), and J. Wachtarczyková, L. Satinská and S. Ondrejovič (2015). 3. “Mopheads” as the Target of Verbal Aggression in Czech Media of the 1960s and 1970s A good illustration of how the above-listed features of totalitarian texts were manifested in the Czech media during the era of Communist rule may be the way in which periodicals and TV depicted medium- or long-haired men in the 1960s and 1970s. Long hair on men – a seemingly private and socially harmless detail of every individual’s personal image – acquired political and criminal connotations within the paranoid environment of the totalitarian state with the significant contribution of language. The basis of the targeted media pressure against long-haired men was the typically totalitarian polarisation of the world: all its elements, including individual people, were clearly classified either as positive, good ones (it is “us” and our world), or negative and bad ones (it is “them” and their world). There was in fact nothing in between these two opposites – and it was therefore impossible for anyone to be different from the majority of people, i.e. from the common male population, from “us”, not to be automatically considered a bad one based on his “otherness”. Additionally, long hair on men was correctly understood as a manifestation of rebellion and violation of a tradition – and the paranoia of the totalitarian regime led to the fear that such an element of defiance could gradually spread even into other areas of behaviour and particularly the thinking of the respective people who might subsequently become generally non-conformist. There is a certain paradox: Communism emphasised non-conformity – at least verbally and in a strictly defined historical context, especially using terms such as avant-garde (noun and adjective), for instance in contemporary binding dogmatic theorems regarding the fact that the socialist countries were unified, aside from the same political system and the dominance of the working class as the “determinative power”, also by the leading part played by its avant-garde – the Communist Party (Rudé právo [The Red Justice],19 the supplement Stranické vzdělávání [Party Education], November 1972, p. 16b). It is certainly not a coincidence that for instance in the frequency list created based on opinion-journalism texts from 1977, both expressions, avant-garde as a noun and an adjective, are ranked considerably 19 Hereinafter: RP. Historical and Cultural Context 31 higher compared to texts thirty years earlier.20 In addition, both expressions ranked among the inventory of words used by the authors of texts intended for the public to present themselves as conforming, conscientious, and knowledgeable; see other expressions such as effective, movement, initiative, unity, campaign, group, indissoluble, organisation, plenum, attitude, presidency, accomplish, social, leading role, conscientious, efficiency, central, scientific, interested, etc. The non-conformity, or “avant-garde nature” of people with an appearance different from the majority of the population was also undesirable with regard to the fact that, as viewed by representatives of totalitarian power, history had already been completed – with the “victory of the working class” in February 1948. Social development in Czechoslovakia was perceived as “finished”, so any other correction to contemporary norms, including cultural ones, meant a step backwards and a manifestation of decadence. Although the Communist Party considered itself avant-garde, even the thinking of its representatives was – at least with regard to their basic life values, and especially if the “otherness” of something or someone was under consideration – very narrow-minded, or even petite-bourgeoisie. Among the incumbents, a very frequent type of personality was the one perfectly represented by President A. Novotný, the type of suchar [literally “a biscuit”] (a Russianism, which was used by the Communists themselves in 1950s to refer to “a person who is unimaginative, dull, lacking a sense of humour and fun”). Novotný characterised himself in the following way: I was too serious even for the game of mariasch; at eighteen I was already the head of proletarian education in the Prague region. And at twenty-four, I was the Secretary for the Eastern Prague region. This required responsibility, avoiding trouble, and not letting anyone near. That was the only way to take politics seriously and avoid trouble resulting from friendly consideration for others (Černý 2008, p. 229). It is a well-known fact about President Novotný that he was even personally involved in dealings with various cultural vices (this was also a favourite term of Communist opinion journalism), and the impact of his authority is obvious in the first stage of sanctions against long-haired men. 3.1. Historical and Cultural Context The totalitarian regime regularly tested its ability to regulate life within the society by organising campaigns against the enemy – in practice almost anyone who was 20 The corpus TOTALITA (Čermák et al. 2010), texts from 1977: avantgarda [avant-garde] (n) – 3,485th place, avantgardní [avant-garde] (adj) – 5,700th place; the corpus SYN2009PUB: avantgarda [avant-garde] (n) – 7,938th place, avantgardní [avant-garde] (adj) – 8,108th place. Notwithstanding the different size of both compared corpora, which were the basis for the frequency lists, the difference is significant. 32 “Mopheads” as the Target of Verbal Aggression in Czech Media of the 1960s and 1970s defined as such. In this way, the incumbents proved to themselves as well to the society they governed that they were on guard, as illustrated by common opinion journalism statements such as there is a need to be constantly on guard against the activity of those to whom our success is a thorn in their side, although they have a smile on their faces and many lofty words in their mouths (RP, 20th January 1977; in reaction to the presentation of Charta 77 [Charter 77]). The maintenance of the status quo within the totalitarian regime was in fact conditioned by the ongoing emphasis on the existence and activity of the enemy. An ideal enemy was a “visible” one; one that may be defined particularly e.g. based on an easily visible external sign. The predecessor of the campaign against long-haired men21 was the campaign against páskové [hooligans], defined by the Slovník spisovného jazyka českého [Dictionary of Standard Czech] (with a note that the expression is pejorative) as “youngsters with extravagant clothes and behaviour”. Páskové (or potápky, also grebes) wearing a haircut called havel22 (longer hair above the shaved neck, sometimes made curly) were persecuted already at the time of the Nazi occupation in 1939–1945, which among other things provided precise models for the later campaigns oriented against various enemies of the Communist regime. Repetitive campaigns against páskové, including their overall criminalisation, were also common in the 1950s and 1960s, as is apparent for instance from the description of the culprits in a post office robbery in Prague – Hloubětín: Having grown up on pulp fiction and cowboy “romanticism” in summer cottages in Posázaví, wearing gaudy shirts and sombreros, in the town they changed the cowboy attire for the extravagant clothes of potápky and páskové looking like they were taken straight out of the American movies this type of people miss so much (RP, 1953, issue 25, p. 2c). Cf. also the somewhat milder expression of 1960s opinion journalism where the core of the denouncement lies in the distance of páskové from the majority society and their different interests: The so-called páskové have received a specific label in various world languages, used in less serious cases to refer to youth with unusual clothes, ostentatiously different interests and flamboyant behaviour who demonstrate their distance from common society (RP, 1964, issue 259, p. 3c). The first example provided above shows the clear close relationship between the characteristics of a pásek as an undesirable non-conforming element, and a tramp. A tramp, defined by Příruční slovník jazyka českého [The Manual Dictionary of 21 The history of persecution of medium-length and long hair in men from the cultural-historical and anthropological perspective is summarised in the monograph of F. Pospíšil and P. Blažek (2010). Authentic materials including accounts, documents, photographs, and contemporary cartoon jokes related to vlasatci are presented by Laube et al. (2010). 22 The name havel probably refers to K. Havlíček Borovský, who wore a similar haircut. Historical and Cultural Context 33 Czech] in its volume from the year 1954 as one who behaves too freely and extravagantly when spending time outdoors, and draws attention to his appearance, was one of the prototypes of the vlasatec [mophead], criticised in the 1960s and 1970s. See also the example from Měsíc [The Moon] by J. Mahen from the time after the First World War, when the tramping movement spread significantly in Czechoslovakia, and was “officially” repressed within the contemporary acceptable boundaries: He was quite stubbly, quite a tramp to be thrown stones at (Mahen 1920). A certain “prequel” to the significant expansion of long hair in men in the 1960s was the trend of a haircut called eman (hair in a forelock on the top of the head and combed back on both sides)23; this trend was already apparent by the mid-1950s, and was repressed based on incentive from the top ranks in a campaign of 1957: Boys themselves (i.e. attendees of the apprenticeship school under ČKD Sokolovo, an important factory) helped us repress the extravagance of páskové: on the noticeboard they hung caricatures of those classmates with a tendency to wear those trubky [tubes] (i.e. trousers with tight pantlegs) and have their hair decorated with an eman (Tvorba [Creation], 22, 1957, issue 51, p. 18b). The increasing tendency to wear extravagant clothes, which is apparent from the mid-1950s (certainly also in relation to the spread of rock’n’roll to the Czechoslovak music environment),24 was the expression of a value crisis that developed among youth who were already lacking the “revolutionary enthusiasm” of their parents and grandparents. They did not remember the class struggle of the 1920s and 1930s, nor the Nazi occupation, and they were frequently bored in the middle of a permanent crisis which the Communist regime was failing to cover any longer. A typical feature of the totalitarian state environment, whose representatives were constantly seeking an enemy, is the “politicisation ability” of even the most common human activities including natural conflicts between generations. Over the course of its hegemony in the Czech media environment (especially in the 1960s and 1970s), the main periodical of that time, Rudé právo, continued to publish articles addressing specifically the generation conflicts on a political plane; cf. e.g. the following: A great part of ordinary youth identifies with a certain label of non-conformity in order to differentiate themselves from the generation of their fathers; their aim is to humiliate this generation and prove them to be old-fashioned at all costs (RP, 1964, issue 259, p. 3e); 23 The name eman is apparently derived from the familiar form of the first name of a popular Prague hairdresser Emanuel Kodym. 24 See e.g. the connection of the culture of Prague páskové (potápky, bedly) of the Protectorate period to swing music, which was also rejected by the governing pro-Nazi regime as an import from the decadent West. A direct parallel may be drawn between vlasatci of the 1960s and 1970s and the rock music of the Western provenance. There was also a link to the culture of the underground, which began to develop in this country thanks to M. Knížák and his group Aktual, as well as others, already in the 1960s (for the beginnings of the Czech underground, also with references to the long hair of its representatives, see Kudrna, Stárek 2017). 34 “Mopheads” as the Target of Verbal Aggression in Czech Media of the 1960s and 1970s (a citation of an opinion “from the public”) the young generation are difficult to get along with these days – they are cheeky, dear me, loutish, defiant, they think only about jeans, guitars and the rock music racket. School is a waste of time for them, they only grow wild there (RP, 1965, issue 8, p. 3e). It is not a coincidence that, particularly in the above-mentioned year of the “battle against the eman haircut”, i.e. the year 1957, the amended version of section 188a of the Act No. 86/1950 Coll. on parasitism came into force, punishing persons avoiding “honest work” or those allowing someone to “subsidise” them or earn their living in a generally “improper way”. This act, repealed as late as mid1990, was significant with a great interpretation and implementation of freedom, and typically served for simple and willful persecution of people whose cultural interests were different from the majority, and where it was impossible to “criminalise” them in another way. As documented for instance by M. Hlavsa, the inspiration for the gradual lengthening of male haircuts was the very popular movies revolving around American Indians, especially the trilogy about Winnetou (Winnetou released in 1963, Winnetou II released in 1964, and Winnetou III released in 1965), directed by H. Reinl in a co-production of West Germany, Italy, and Yugoslavia. The Communist regime also campaigned against “junk” literature25 and films about Indians whose poetics naturally covered even the poetics of tramping – in this case the campaign was rather unsystematic and inefficient. The campaign against another factor inspiring the 1960s trend of long-haired (as well as bearded) men, the Cuban revolutionists, especially against Che Guevara (see the account of M. Chadima), was by definition precluded. The final breakthrough regarding the tendency of fashion-based long haircuts was the Prague Majáles [The May Festival] of 1965, where the American poet and one of the leaders of the beatnik generation, the long-haired A. Ginsberg, was proclaimed King of the Majáles. He was immediately accused of corrupting Czechoslovak youth, arrested, and deported to the airport. Although the Majáles was officially approved, its unexpected consequences (riots and political provocations of an unprecedented extent) resulted in the organisation of a national conference of university students which was aimed at deciding what lessons could be learned from the situation. In addition, the events were discussed at the meeting of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia on 29th September 1965. Following this experience, the regime initiated systematic repressions against vlasatci as a threat to society. The following year, an extensive police investigation of “mopheadedness” in the Czech male population (and the related parasitism and 25 See the note above on having grown up on pulp fiction in relation to a report on the robbery of a post office in Prague – Hloubětín. Historical and Cultural Context 35 criminality) was conducted, and a directive was introduced stating that by merely being present in a public place, a long-haired man was committing the crime of polluting the area. As a result, almost four thousand young people were persecuted because of their appearance. In response, vlasatci organised a demonstration which took place in St. Wenceslas Square in Prague on 20th September 1966, where slogans such as Give us back our hair! were shouted. The media coverage of “the vlasatci issue” was relatively extensive, for instance: So far, there have been no statistics as to how many máničky [mopheads], i.e. youngsters and men with shoulder-length hair there are in the country. Mopheadedness has, nevertheless, become the subject of public conflict (RP, 1966, issue 28, p. 2a); or Actually, much has changed: while the previous era had a powerful inner frenzied rhythm, these days the frantic rhythm appears only as a rash on the skin of society – in the movements of dancing mopheads (RP, 1966, issue 109, p. 3e). The media coverage of the Prague Majáles of 1965 already made it apparent that the regime frequently emphasised via journalists that vlasatci are a negatively perceived, anti-social phenomenon even in capitalist countries, for instance in Italy: On Friday evening, a group of such páskové – máničky – was attacked (in Rome) by a group of students armed with long scissors and razors, whose intention was to remove their typical adornments (Zemědělské noviny [Agricultural Newspaper], 1965, issue 267, p. 2c). There were also news stories implying that the rumours regarding the popularity of long hair in the West occurring in our country are in fact significantly overestimated: The situation of máničky in Frankfurt am Main is worse than that of our mopheads, since in the city centre where they meet – at the Hauptwache – there are excavations for the construction work on the underground. So I only met a few of them. Anyway, they are scarce. Our mopheads who apparently want to copy some Western “fashion” would probably be surprised about it (RP, 1966, issue 43, p. 3d). The term mánička, which became a synonym to vlasatec in this historical context, is an allusion to the certainly well-known character of Mánička from the puppet shows about Spejbl and Hurvínek. The main idea intended to convey is apparently the “effeminacy” of a man in itself (to classify the type, a common female name Marie in its hypocorism variant is used). The feature of effeminacy is frequently used, in accordance with the traditional or even petite-bourgeoise attitude to the appearance and social roles of men and women (usual in the environment of the top Communist ranks), particularly in the context of repressions against vlasatci in the 1960s and 1970s. The possible connection to the name of a hair-dresser in St. Wenceslas Square (see Pospíšil, Blažek 2010) is in my opinion fairly improbable. 36 “Mopheads” as the Target of Verbal Aggression in Czech Media of the 1960s and 1970s The response to the hippie movement was weaker in the Czech environment than e.g. in Poland26 or Ukraine27 – perhaps due to the fact that the hippie ideology, which was born in the culturally as well as politically different environment of the United States, was merged in our environment with much more interesting and specific ideas introduced by the so-called revival process within the Communist Party in 1967–1968. The occupation of August 1968 and the subsequent repressions meant that the non-conforming currents within Czech society, including the diverse subculture of vlasatci, were manifested with much greater seriousness and in a more civil manner compared to the West (where a social catastrophe similar to that of the post-August Czechoslovakia occurred). Specifically at the time of normalisation, i.e. after 1969, the second, much tougher surge of media war against vlasatci took place. They were perceived as the core of the corruptive28 powers within the Czech society of the second half of the 1960s. Unlike the campaign following the Prague Majáles of 1965, the normalisation pressure on vlasatci was more systematic; it was conducted on three levels (or in three lines,29 as it was commonly said and written) at the same time: the government level, which set the goals and parameters of the campaign, at the level of the recently re-organised30 Socialist Youth Union, where long-haired men were continuously affected31 by its local organisations, and at the level of Veřejná bezpečnost [Public Security], the Communist police, whose scope of authority 26 The response to the North-American hippies was obvious particularly in the appearance, behaviour, and opinions of a great number of young Poles, fans of music groups such as Osjan or Manaam, as well as other artists, such as the singers Kora, M. Rodowicz, M.N. Jackowski, the poet E. Stachura and others. 27 The centre for Ukrainian hippy followers was in Lviv; it was also the scene of the activities of one of the leaders of the Ukrainian branch of this movement, V. Eresko called Sharnir. 28 The adjective corruptive belonged in Communist newspeak to the evaluative ones conveying the greatest possible deprecation – see for instance the statements of various “work groups” on Charter 77 published in RP after Charter 77 was published: We assure the signatories of the libel treatise and their followers that we shall not give them any chance for corruptive influence (RP, 19th January 1977). 29 The secondary prepositional phrase in the line was also part of typical Communist newspeak: Their offensive [of the bourgeoisie ideologists – note by O.B.] developed in two directions – in the line of falsification and destruction of Marxist teachings […] and in the direction of distortion and the corruption of historical materialism (Tvorba, 1973, issue 37, p. 3a). 30 The predecessor, Československý svaz mládeže (ČSM) [The Czechoslovak Youth Union], an organisation governed by the Communist Party associating young people aged 15–35, ceased to exist in 1968. The Svaz socialistické mládeže [Socialist Youth Union], established in 1970 under the leadership of the new, Neo-Stalinist government of the Communist Party of Czechoslovkaia, was intended to serve as a tool of the so-called normalisation of the political as well as social atmosphere among students at secondary schools and universities. 31 The verb působit [affect] was very frequent in texts from the totalitarian period, as it enhanced the image of objectivity and the scientific nature of a text: On the contrary, they may fully affect [i.e. the objective social principles – note by O.B.] only through the conscientious activities of people (RP, 7th January 1977). Historical and Cultural Context 37 was significantly strengthened at that time and which ensured32 persecution of the particular vlasatci. The persecution, taking place wherever and whenever possible, meant vlasatci were expelled from restaurants, cinemas, and other public institutions, as well as from public transport. They had to face frequent arrests33 and shorter or longer detention without the Public Security stating any reason, and in particular they were forced to have their hair cut and get shaved “upon an official order” under the threat of further persecution (and typically at their own expense). A very important role in the campaign against vlasatci was played by the municipal National Committees, i.e. bodies of the state administration at the level of a municipality, district, or region, which issued various directives, e.g. lists of restaurants or other public places where vlasatci were not allowed. The nature of the second surge of the campaign against long-haired men was also complemented by the fact that its “brains” were the newly installed Communist, in fact Neo-Stalinist, top officials: office-holders whose intellect and sense of aesthetics did not reach even the level achieved by their “reform” pre-August predecessors, who were removed from leading positions in the purges of 1969–1970. As early as the 1960s, television became a popular, generally available, and thus also propaganda-efficient form of media. In the early 1970s, the only broadcasting company in the country, Československá televize [Czechoslovak Television], was a natural centre of the campaign whose slogan remains familiar even for presentday Czech people (If your hair is long, do not come along!). The character of the campaign was established by the Socialist Youth Union. TV regularly broadcast propaganda programmes; the essence of such programmes was the documentary Jablko sváru [The Apple of Discord] from 1973, directed by M. Pavlinec and presented by J. Škuba (for more detailed information see below). The campaign against vlasatci also involved Československý rozhlas [Czechoslovak Radio] and printed media – apart from the prominent Czech daily Rudé právo, these included especially the weekly Signál [The Signal] and the fortnightly Zápisník [The Notebook] (both newspapers were published by the Ministry of Defence of the Czechoslovak Republic). There were, however, dozens of less important periodicals which engaged in the campaign, including factory periodicals.34 32 Multiverbal expressions with the verb zajišťovat [ensure], borrowed from administrative language and also common in the communication within the Czechoslovak People’s Army, were also a characteristic feature of the style of contemporary opinion journalism: Both sides claimed that the USSR and CSSR would guard and strengthen the unity of the socialist community in all possible ways, ensure even closer coordination of events internationally, and proactively increase the common contribution to the defence of peace, freedom and independence of individual nations (RP, 21st March 1977). 33 The legislation allowed the Communist police to zadržet [arrest] any person (such as The Public Security of the North-Moravian Region arrested a federal fugitive, an 18-year-old youngster with no permanent place of residence – RP, 26th June 1969) for a relatively unlimited, or more precisely, a freely extendible time. 34 For instance the magazine Plamen míru [The Flame of Peace], published in Ostrava for the employees of the Nová huť K. Gottwalda factory, rejected […] TV programmes for our soldiers, where 38 “Mopheads” as the Target of Verbal Aggression in Czech Media of the 1960s and 1970s Similarly to the cases of many other negative, or “negative” phenomena persecuted by the incumbents in various countries at various times, the normalisation campaign against vlasatci also resulted in effects entirely opposite to those intended. The campaign led to strengthened feelings of community and solidarity among vlasatci35,and the attraction of this revolt against contemporary conventions also seemed to increase. This was why the campaign of Communist media against longhaired men was significantly inhibited in the second half of the 1970s and resulted in a conclusion typical for all the other campaigns: a statement that the most important factor is always the prevention of so-called negative social phenomena.36 Shortly before the campaign against long-haired men eventually ceased at the end of the 1970s, there was the last surge in relation to the hard campaign of the Communist regime against the underground music group The Plastic People of the Universe in 1976 accompanied by repressions against the political opposition following the presentation of Charter 77 the following year. Although long hair on men was not accepted without reservations, even after the end of the campaign (for instance in secondary schools and universities, or when being admitted to a job), as at the turn of the 1980s, the regime tried to “adopt” young people who, apart from non-conformity in haircuts and appearance and an interest in rock music, did not show any signs of extravagance in relation to the regime (especially in the political sense). In addition, at the end of the 1970s, even the Communist culture guards of Czechoslovakia faced a new phenomenon, which was even more provocative than vlasatci – the punk movement.37 In a similar way to vlasatci, the regime subsequently “adopted” additional modern cultural phenomena which had been previously (in the 1960s and the first half of the 1970s) criticised “in various lines” as parts of undesirable manifestations in front of handsome and decently kempt fellows, there was a group of mopheads with moustaches and bearded chins (Plamen míru, 1970, issue 17, p. 3c). The management of Czechoslovak television responded to such complaints in 1970 by deciding that no long-haired artists would appear on TV. Apart from the requirement for any English name of a music group to be translated into Czech as well as a thorough checking of the ideological harmlessness of the song lyrics, the requirement for a hair trim was one of the conditions for successful so-called auditions, i.e. a process every band had to undergo in order to be granted approval for public performing (for more information, see e.g. Lindaur, Konrád 2001, p. 60). 35 For instance the underground poet and art theorist I.M. Jirous writes in relation to the devastating police pressure against the musician and poet P. Zajíček that this prominent representative of the Czech underground had to […] first get rid of the attribute that tightly connected him to people here. He had to get rid of his long hair, which linked some of us more closely into mutual relationships than any other kind of ties […] (Jirous 1997, pp. 366–367). 36 For instance the assessment of the educatical function of TV programmes (including contemporary popular TV series): It is important to show, plan, and enforce perspectives. From both the point of prevention and cure. Even our TV production has recently managed to handle the political issues in an excellent way in some of its TV series (RP, 15th February 1977). 37 Punkers kept the guards of socialist culture busy over the following decade: Or are the punkers, who keep demolishing the Prague cinema Blaník for several weeks when the movie “Proč”? [Why?] was on, supposed to be the creative and reviving ones? (Kmen, 1988, issue 18, p. 3b). “Mopheads” as Wreckers of Traditions and Good Taste 39 of the vlasatci subculture: wearing jeans, as well as organising discos. The first of these phenomena was accepted by the regime rather silently, in some cases even with not much reasonable hope that wearing jeans would fade without any intervention Although it does not seem that the jeans fashion is losing momentum, it is probable that very soon an equal substitute will be found (RP, 1976, p. 187, supplement Haló noviny [Hello News], issue 30, p. 10a). In contrast, in the case of the phenomenon of discos, the acceptance of such cultural events by the regime was manifested in a more sophisticated way. The regime stated via the media that it aimed to elaborate on this type of entertainment – in accordance with the scientific and educational intentions adopted by totalitarian regimes in general – to the level of certain educational events or training with a supplementary entertainment part. This is apparent from media statements such as Only in this way [thanks to financial support – note by O.B.] could the discos be raised to a more sophisticated form of entertainment, chequered with pantomime, debates with prominent personalities from science, politics, and culture, jazz-film forums, or experimental programmes of disc-jockeys, combining modern melodies with political news and interesting interviews (Mladý svět [The Young World], 1973, issue 41, p. 7b).38 3.2. “Mopheads” as Wreckers of Traditions and Good Taste Opinion journalism texts from the first months of the normalisation period address the topic of long-haired man only cautiously, rather frequently with reference to the fact that even in the West, long-haired men are considered an untraditional, impractical, and to some extent inappropriate phenomenon. An example may be a commentary on long hair about the footballer George Best, of Manchester United: On multiple occasions, Matt Busby [the coach – a note by O.B.] had to answer the question as to whether he minded Best’s long hair. He always answered in the same way: “As long as George plays well, I don’t care what he wears on his own head. Crucial is what he has in his head and legs” (RP, supplement Haló sobota [Hello Saturday], 4th April 1969). However, the author of the article points out that when Best made a mistake or missed a chance during a match, […] the spectators shouted: ‘Get your hair cut!’ or ‘Miss, you’ve forgotten your purse!’ (ibid.). 38 See also: Although the experience with functioning, operation, and the sense of discos – i.e. events focused on entertainment, dancing, sometimes even education, where the main role was played by a presenter (more widely labelled by the ugly expression disc-jockey) – is both good and bad, this culture and entertainment form for young people has in general proven itself to be good (RP, 1977, issue 300, p. 5d); In fact, the actual creative work with a gramophone record […] complemented […] with an interpretation by the dominant personality of the disco presenter (or “disc-jockey”, “announcer”, “player”, etc.) may bring a range of good programme forms (Práce [Labour], 1981, issue 266, p. 6b). 40 “Mopheads” as the Target of Verbal Aggression in Czech Media of the 1960s and 1970s What is more remarkable are the reports by the Czech media covering the “getting rid of” long hair occurring among representatives of Western pop culture: Several long-haired prominent personalities from the world of rock music have also listened to the calls [i.e. of the London fashion designers – a note by O.B.] and had their hair cut, such as Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones, Davy Jones of the Monkees, and many others. Conversely, the Beatles, who introduced the long hair fashion trend about five years ago, have so far been avoiding the hair-dresser’s scissors (RP, the supplement Haló sobota, 1st May 1969). In contrast, four years later, Czech journalists express themselves much more directly (even though certainly with irony) in relation to the long-haired singers and musicians: Popular music has got “new” blood. Long-haired, unkempt rock stars have been replaced with neat youngsters (Mladý svět, 1973, issue 42, p. 24d). If the media mention the domestic vlasatci not belonging among artists, but only (at the most) among art consumers, their media image clearly manifests reproach even in the early normalisation years. They are presented not only as people with an appearance that is against good taste, but also as unsocial individuals bothering their surroundings among other things with a typical attribute – a transistor radio switched on: A youngster puts his transistor device next to your plate and cutlery, playing the newest hits. The long-haired individual looks happy, while you are losing your appetite (RP, 1970, issue 151, supplement Haló sobota 25, p. 2a). The material is quite remarkable in the way it uncompromisingly denounces long hair on men and links it with some actually dangerous social phenomena, as does the already mentioned TV documentary Jablko sváru [The Apple of Discord] from the year 1973.39 Dominant features of this text are both direct and indirect references to the professional, objective and scientific approach of its authors to the issue of long hair on men (this phenomenon is assessed from a strictly scientific unbiased perspective, as stated by the presenter himself), as well as the constant implicit appeal to emotions, values and needs of a decent working person,40 which is the type of documentary viewer. Such viewers may be parents aiming to divert their long-haired son from the slippery slope he has reached by adopting this external attribute, long hair, as well as people aiming to discipline the long-haired co-workers at the workplace in a friendly way so that they do not become a bother for the entire work group. The recipient of the text may also be a young man who, despite 39 Jablko sváru [The Apple of Discord]. Directed by Miloš Pavlinec. Prague: Czechoslovak Television, 1973. 40 The feature of decency of an individual or entire society was frequently emphasised in the positive sense within the Communist newspeak and silently substituted with “conformity”: Honest people in Czechoslovakia feel really free and have extensive civic rights; these, however, cannot be divided from their duties – which is natural in every decent society (RP, 25th February 1977). “Mopheads” as Wreckers of Traditions and Good Taste 41 wearing long hair, is still not completely corrupted – the programme should raise his awareness of the nature of his own bad habit41 and help him with the remedy.42 The interconnectedness between the phenomenon of long hair and the contemporary cultural and political atmosphere, or even the symptomatic nature of long hair regarding the overall “quality” and progressiveness43 of the cultural era, is emphasised in one of the initial statements of the documentary Jablko sváru (hereinafter JabS): Really long hair was always a feature of female beauty, and it would perhaps be possible to prove that when long hair appeared on men too, it was a manifestation of the propensity of the particular period for decadence (JabS). Here, the statement implicitly includes the common reference to the decadent44 nature of Western Europe and the United States of America – as is obvious from other contemporary ideological texts, according to the interpretation provided by the regime, these countries were undergoing a capitalist crisis.45 The film clearly expresses the provenance of the decadent phenomena manifested among other things in the existence of thousands of vlasatci in Czechoslovakia: The fashion of long male hair was unfortunately not born in our country (JabS). The documentary shows footage of New York from the air as well as from the human angle with “decadent” music being played in the background, as if from a bar: Long hair was intended as a manifestation of protest among the non-conformist part of U.S. and West-European youth, a manifestation of protest against the surviving capitalist systems (JabS). Images of dancing and perhaps even drunk or drugged mopheads and their female partners are commented upon by the presenter as fol41 The term bad habit was used in Communist newspeak either to refer to the personal imperfections of an individual, or to issues related to higher levels, for instance within an organisation: We need to energetically face the bad habit in that every production and product innovation is inevitably connected to new investments (the publication Hospodářská politika KSČ [The economic policy of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia]). 42 The proclaimed faith in a remedy for every “misguided” individual was intended to reflect the great amount of tolerance, objectivity, and scientific nature of the Communist manner in which it governed society: […] [it is important to support – note by O.B.] such works which strengthen our people, reveal the perspectives, criticise imperfections, and search for a remedy, help establish friendly relations between all people of good will (RP, 8th February 1977). 43 The terms progressive, progressiveness are among the fundamental positive evaluative terms in Communist newspeak – Communist systems even claimed absolute progressiveness; cf. for instance the following statement: The development of Soviet socialist society is accompanied by development even in other areas of life – in other words, the progressiveness of capitalism was only one-sided, relative, while the progressiveness of socialism is universal, absolute. 44 The terms decadence and the attribute decadent were reserved for evaluation of the West, especially the moral values of its political representatives, its normal inhabitants, as well as art: It is reflected (i.e. the deep moral crisis of the West) in the increase in criminality, in corruption, and unprecedented scandals of political personas. It is manifested by the decadence in art, in pornography and in horror. It is expressed in the fashion of occultism and religious mysticism (RP, 12th February 1977). 45 See for instance: And if the internal incoherence of imperialism escalated especially in recent years, it is a consequence of the general crisis of capitalism, which has been further deepening, and not as a result of the easing of tensions (RP, 9th March 1977). 42 “Mopheads” as the Target of Verbal Aggression in Czech Media of the 1960s and 1970s lows: This ill-conceived revolt has eventually turned out to be even more meaningless than the order against which it was targeted (JabS). The fundamental element in the statement provide above is the attribute ill-conceived, which is frequently connected in the ideology language with a reproach which is, however, slightly mitigated by the fact that the reproaching subject – an authoritative, even “omniscient” person, whose expertise is based on a “scientific” worldview, often even directly on statements by Marxist-Leninist thinkers – understands the sources from which the “ill conception” is derived.46 Another feature typical for this type of totalitarian text is that in order to achieve greater persuasiveness, it seeks support even in authorities who definitely cannot be considered either left-wing or Communist, but are progressive even from the perspective of twentieth century Communism.47 The analysed documentary uses antiquity in this way; the Communist regime, being the organiser of the campaign against long hair, implicitly considers itself the “heir” of this period: Why is there the feeling that long hair in men is unnatural and purposeless, felt persistently by me and many others? It is so easy [the presenter is opening a narrative publication by F. Adorn et al. called Klasické Atény [Classical Athens] published in 1970 – note by O.B.]. There are no traces of effeminacy to be found even in the noble faces of Old Romans from the most famous times of the Eternal City (JabS). In their search for the reasons behind the popularity of long hair in men, the authors of the documentary venture “to the streets” to conduct a survey. The presenter approaches long-haired men in the streets of Prague, asking them and creating the illusion of a certain free and mutually relaxed interview: It is no concern of mine – it depends on you, if you want to answer me (JabS). He asks questions such as the following: Do you realise that, based on current norms accepted by the majority of people, you seem at least [a significant pause – note by O.B.] unusual? The vlasatci asked by the presenter answer very cautiously, sometimes evasively, and often with a hint of humour. The interviews in general, however, do not seem natural – they give the impression of artificiality and affectation. Another typical feature of propaganda texts is the involvement of the conforming view of “a common citizen” – the authors also include this element in their survey, where among the typical answers is that long hair in men is not appealing to women. The most remarkable opinion is that of a “random” passer-by, a woman at a younger retirement age: They don’t look at all like men, that’s the first thing, 46 See the frequently used “self-criticism” of leading representatives of the Communist Party, which was manifested at all levels and often only strengthened the recipients’ (and in fact even the transmitters’) impression that the Party’s intentions are enforced non-dogmatically and with discretion: We cannot arbitrarily overload our youth with functions, idle meetings and reckless actions, and thus arbitrarily disrupt their healthy development: we must not rush it (RP, 19th December 1952). 47 See e.g. the statement: I often remind myself of the idea by the famous French sculptor Auguste Rodin. The great artist and progressive thinker died in the same year when the Great October Socialist Revolution outlined the new era in human history (RP, 9th February 1977). “Mopheads” as Wreckers of Traditions and Good Taste 43 do they, and their hair is greasy, which is inappropriate, isn’t it (JabS). There once again appears the common reservation about the undesirable blurring of visible differences between men and women, accompanied also by a remark on the unsanitary nature of long hair. This argument, which ranked among the milder and “objective” ones within the campaign, was implicitly present even in the presenter’s repeated question posed to randomly addressed vlasatci: How long does washing take you in the morning? (JabS). The meaning-establishing climax of the documentary is the passage where the presenter offers to give the vlasatci passing by some money to have their hair cut at the nearest barber. One youngster subsequently agrees, after a short negotiation, that the amount of 150 Czechoslovak crowns (about 10% of the current average wage) is adequate as compensation for the loss resulting from cutting his long hair. With this “trick”, the authors of the documentary quite clearly demonstrate to the viewers that in the case of most Czech men, there is no great “revolt” idea or actual non-conformity behind long hair – vlasatci are not incorruptible. The actual face of a totalitarian country, i.e. its inherent militarism, is revealed by the documentary in the following passage, which somewhat shakes the relaxed, friendly nature of the previous survey. The passage is introduced with the presenter’s statement: It is not always necessary to negotiate in this way – in the end, life frequently solves many things on its own (JabS). As background, there is footage of the front gate of some barracks, and legs in army boots, followed by footage of a youngster having his hair cut by an army barber, accompanied by cadenced marching music. The entire footage ends with a shot of lines of recruits with shaved hair in uniforms. The implied aspiration of the totalitarian regime to being entirely universal and omnipresent, to owning a man completely and without reservations, is condensed here in the explicit identification of the political system and the state with the words life and solve on its own. The final part of the film employs a well-established prop – a family with a small child as a model of the greatest and timeless value. According to the author, even this value may, however, be threatened in a certain sense by the long-haired men phenomenon: Happy parents, a nice, happy child – and still this idyllic family will one day face a host of ideas. And it will subsequently take some time for the parents to explain to the idealist youth that the desire for a better world is not to be manifested through long or short hair, loose or tight trousers, but through patient work, morale, and a positive attitude; that the external features mean almost nothing (JabS). At this point, the actual paradox appears – the regime puts significant effort into fighting something that “means almost nothing”. The documentary follows with the usual remarks on freedom as the greatest achievement, which was claimed by Communists surprisingly matter-of-factly to be the fundamental attribute of life in the state they were governing: It is a matter of everyone’s personal freedom 44 “Mopheads” as the Target of Verbal Aggression in Czech Media of the 1960s and 1970s to decide about his/her own appearance – but it is a matter of the personal freedom of others as to what they think about it (JabS).48 3.3. The Criminalisation of “Mopheads” As is obvious from what was mentioned above, the analysed 1973 propaganda film presents the domestic, Czech vlasatci as individuals disturbing the norms of aesthetics and hygiene accepted within a socialist society, rather than as actual outclass elements (this is an expression very frequent during normalisation which in fact became a term).49 In contrast, foreign vlasatci, especially the American ones, are presented by the documentary not only as potential or actual criminals (Groups, or better said, gangs of boys and girls terrorising entire towns, JabS), but sometimes even as especially dangerous, psychically deranged individuals (Witchcraft sects that have appeared in the United States serve black devil’s masses, and the result of their protests are brutal murders, JabS).50 In connection with the aforementioned, an important place in the documentary is occupied by an opinion of a psychiatrist, introduced as “Doctor Zemek from a detention centre”. Softly, as if in a confidential manner, but with the professional interest of a specialist, he explains the basis of the fashion of long hair. He states that among the people admitted to the detention centre, i.e. drunk rioters, […] the number of long-haired ones is greater than those with a short haircut (JabS), and that […] long hair is sometimes an object that is, so to say, a source of attention (JabS). The important fact here is that the phenomenon of long-haired men is dealt with by a psychiatrist – the viewers are thus presented with the implication that long hair may be a symptom of a psychological disorder or even a deviation. To make the issue clearer, the presenter adds the following: We have been provided with information from a psychiatrist that a head of hair is very important for some boys (JabS). It was particularly the gathering of vlasatci, along with their shared solidarity resulting from pressure from majority society, as well as the potential exchange of non-conformist opinions, alcoholism, and drug abuse, that represented the basis 48 Following these words, with a certain mockery, the presenter puts a long-haired wig on a classical bust which, together with a bookshelf, creates the background of the space from which the “longstanding truth” is presented to viewers. 49 Particularly characteristic is the reprehension targeted against the signatories of Charter 77: So they hire [the Western enemies of socialist countries – note by O.B.] new “fighters” recruited from emigrants and apostates, the remains of the defeated bourgeoisie, various renegades, immoral and outclass elements; and all of these have received even a new fashionable label “dissidents” (RP, 12th January 1977). 50 What speaks for itself is the fact that in the footage of vlasatci dancing at a disco, the song playing in the background is one by the Scottish band Nazareth called Bad Bad Boy. The Criminalisation of “Mopheads” 45 for the general criminalisation of vlasatci. Hints of the above-mentioned are present in the opinion journalism’s reflections on the phenomenon of long hair already from the beginning of the normalisation period: She describes [a reader – note by O.B.] a story of her relative, whose daughter, “sensible, obedient, hard-working, always the best in class” got involved with a group of “mopheads”, so she interrupted her studies. Then she regretted it and attempted to commit suicide (RP, 1970, issue 270, p. 3e). The presenter or the analysed document Jablko sváru also visits an acquaintance – who seems, in his view, to be a good-hearted mother, in order to listen to what changes she observes in the behaviour of her adolescent son Vladimír, after he let his hair grow long. The mother states: Otherwise, he is quite a good boy; he is obedient, good at school. Sometimes I think that he doesn’t care so much about his hair, but then, when I see other youngsters, I’m worried about it. It’s somehow unnatural. I wonder why those girls like it […]. When he starts to talk about it, it’s weird, he even shouted at me; he’d never done that before […]. But we understand each other less and less [stated with a dramatically quiet voice – note by O.B.] – as if he was running away from me somewhere I can’t follow (JabS). With the increasing political pressure against vlasatci and with the escalating exhaustion of the intensively repressive bodies of the regime, the first half of the 1970s saw an increase not only in the extent of criminalisation of this group of young people, but also in the brutality with which the regime acted against vlasatci. An example may be the crackdown against the participants of rock concerts51 and the subsequent entertainment evening in the restaurant Na Americe in Rudolfov near České Budějovice which took place on 30th March 1974 (for more detailed information see Kudrna, Stárek 2015). The police “solution” to common riots escalated into an extensive ideologically flavoured repressive event where long hair in men was practically considered evidence that its owner was guilty of attacking the socialist establishment.52 Following the crackdown in Rudolfov with the subsequent necessary haircut provided to vlasatci, 335 people were investigated for an offence and 140 people were taken into custody (Necenzurované noviny [The Uncensored Newspaper], year 1992, issue 24, p. 11; see also Jirous 1997, p. 333). Another significant issue the authorities had to face was the punishment of female counterparts of vlasatci, as there was a considerable number of them among those arrested in Rudolfov – in such cases, the excuse for repressions was another 51 Among other performers, there was even the band The Plastic People of the Universe. Again, there is an example from the reactions to the presentation of Charter 77, dated several years later: I reprehend the attack of a handful of isolated enemies of the socialist establishment, attempting to discredit its amenities and advantages, as claimed by the Rector of Comenius University of Bratislava (RP, 14th January 1977). 52 46 “Mopheads” as the Target of Verbal Aggression in Czech Media of the 1960s and 1970s “unusual” feature of their appearance,53 or for instance some loosely-defined offence such as resisting arrest. As a feature serving as evidence of antisocial attitudes, long-hairedness, labelled by the signatories of the well-known public protest as “the photogenic decorum of the criminal charges”,54 was even presented in the case of the greatest politically-motivated affairs of the 1970s: the lawsuit against the members of the band The Plastic People of the Universe in 1976 (the band members were arrested on March 17th) and the media campaign against signatories of Charter 77 the following year (the Charter was published from 6th to 7th January 1977), even though the regime denied through the media that there would be any direct relationship between the appearance of the accused and their thinking: There were even entirely hairless brass-band music players being sued for manifestations of such attitudes; there is a need to distinguish between the individual cases (Mladý svět, 3rd December 1976, p. 49; see Jirous 1997, p. 742). The adjective long-haired served during the normalisation period as a stable attribute of a socially harmful person used in the reports on criminal activities (the so-called Black Chronicles) and in columnists’ work, such as the following: A vehicle with flashing red lights skidded onto the pavement in front of the car. The door swung open; the long-haired youngster had no chance. A strapping policeman, whose shirt collar was coloured with blood, punched him in the stomach with his fist (RP, the supplement Haló sobota, 5th February 1977); or The third [bribe – note by O.B.] was, of course, immediately grabbed by the hairy maintenance worker (RP, 25th March 1977).55 If a long-haired man appears in media texts in a positive context, he is presented rather as a certain exception to the rule: Sometimes it was really problematic for me. It took a lot of effort to make some older co-workers understand that longer hair is not automatically a sign of a hooligan […]. Michal plays in a band; he likes having fun and organising parties […] (RP, 9 th July 1969); 53 Although this chapter is focused on the phenomenon of long hair on men, it is worth mentioning that another feature perceived in the 1960s and 1970s as problematic (unaesthetic, outrageous), although significantly less frequently, was considerably short hair on women. Cf. for instance the following: […] my boy-like haircut is history, the same as a number of “impish” songs I simply cannot sing anymore (Mladý svět, 1973, issue 39, p. 19d). 54 The declaration was signed by the literary scholar V. Černý, the philosopher J. Patočka, and the writers V. Havel, I. Klíma, P. Kohout, J. Seifert, and L. Vaculík: If it is overlooked that longhaired young people are sentenced as criminal offenders for their unconventional music today, then that makes it easier for any other artist to be sentenced tomorrow in the same way for their novels, poems, essays, and pictures – and it will not even be necessary for them to have long hair as a photographic decorum for the criminal charge (Machovec 2012, p. 145). Thanks to the German writer H. Böll, the text was published in the daily Franfkurter Allgemeine Zeitung (6th September 1976). 55 This stereotype was naturally manifested even in fiction, for instance in a detective story by N. Frýd from 1974, where there is mention of a certain torture tool (the so-called Spanish boot): If we used this today on those long-haired hooligans, we’d receive the order instantly […] (Frýd 1974, p. 136). Conclusion 47 Another three NC machines in a similar line are operated by twenty-three-year-old Antonín Jurák. At first sight, you’d say: a guy with dandyish long hair. But foreman Svatopluk Michálek cannot say anything bad about him, as he ranks among the best workers in the NC machine department (RP, 10th January 1977). Conclusion The 1960s–1970s campaign of the Czechoslovak Communist regime against long hair on men followed similar media-based campaigns criticising non-conformity in clothing and haircuts that had already taken place in the 1940s and 1950s (a campaign against potápky, bedly, páskové, against the havel and eman haircuts, etc.). From the perspective of the linguistic means used and the manner of presentation and factual relationships of long hair on men, the campaign was undoubtedly an aggressive one, although it did not result in a balance between the argumentation and the effects. The totalitarian regime was provoked to incite such a campaign by the obvious social non-conformity of the majority of long-haired men, which threatened to become a manifestation of direct revolt against socialist morals and policy. In the second half of the 1970s, the aggressivity of media proclamations about long-haired men decreased, and towards the end of the decade, the regime even tried to “adopt” the subculture of vlasatci at least partially (i.e. it diverted the focus to other bad habits and the enduring fashion of long hair was usually silently tolerated). 4. Reflections on the Church and Religion in Czech Opinion Journalism Texts from the So-Called Normalisation Period Communist ideology is, similarly for instance to Nazi ideology, substantially strongly anti-religious in its nature. The world and the position of humans within it are presented by both Communism and Nazism seemingly scientifically, constructively, and realistically. They only consider the material nature of phenomena, provide a coherent and clear explanation of social relationships, offer rather simple scenarios as to how to make the world fairer and human life better, and even create certain visions of a re-established paradise on Earth. For both Communism and Nazism, religion and especially various forms of Christianity, deeply rooted in the culture and life of Europeans, represented a great danger, as both ideologies fail at providing humankind with a purpose and a direction for their actions throughout life. Without using brute force, manipulation, and intimidation, a totalitarian ideology has no chance to succeed when confronted with the Christian emphasis on practising love, mercy, and forgiveness – and particularly when confronted with the Christian faith that life does not end with death. For these reasons, i.e. with the understanding that the values and possibilities provided by totalitarian ideologies cannot stand up in comparison with those offered by Christianity,56 European totalitarian regimes put significant effort into destroying Christianity. 4.1. The Relationship between the Czechoslovak Communist Regime and the Church and Religion Communist ideology presented itself as being superior to Christian ideology, because Christianity never attempted to overcome the existing social and class conflicts anywhere in a factual, revolutionary way. In contrast, from the beginning up until the present day, it has 56 This fact was sometimes inconspicuously admitted even by the incumbents of the Communist and Nazi states themselves. The Relationship between the Czechoslovak Communist Regime and the Church and Religion 49 been postponing the resolution of these conflicts into a fantastic other-world. It was only in this way that it could become the religion of a slave state, and later even the ideology of all exploited societies, the feudal and capitalist ones alike (Příruční slovník naučný [The Manual Thesaurus], volume 2, 1963, p. 694). The frequently repeated ambition of the totalitarian regime was to create new, socialist humans. Their intended main characteristics were the following: the active, conscientious creator of a new society, freed from prejudice or obscurantism (RP, 23rd February 1977).57 The above-mentioned prejudice especially included religion that has been linked for centuries to social oppression (ibid.). According to Communist ideology, religion was based on blind faith and fear, binding the powers of humans, restricting options for universal development, and depressing spiritually with its ethical rules that have nothing in common with actual human happiness (ibid.). The intention of the Communist regime was to “eliminate” religion that spiritually depresses its worshippers and prevents them from achieving actual human happiness from social life, and subsequently to eliminate Christian morals (formulated in the Old Testament’s Ten Commandments and elaborated in the Gospels), which naturally endured even among those people who did not claim to be religious, and replace them with so-called Communist morals. Similarly to many other achievements of Communism, these were, however, only a vaguely sketched chimera.58 While sticking to the material world, Communist ideology observed the institutions, primarily the Church (especially the Roman Catholic Church), perceiving them as large organisations influencing the world both throughout history and in the present. The Communists claimed that the Church as an institution became very soon the ideological tool of the governing exploiting class – a tool that served for exploitation of the working class and strengthening its power. […] During the period of proletariat revolutions, all churches everywhere – as a prominent element of the overthrown bourgeoisie power and its ideological support – stood against the revolution and became a substantial element of the counter-revolutionary powers. […] The churches exceeded the framework of 57 A summary of the relationships between the Communist regime and churches is provided in the article K zabezpečování ústavou zaručeného práva svobody vyznání [On Ensuring the Constitutionally Bound Right To Freedom Of Religion], with the subtitle Socialistický stát a náboženství [The Socialist State and Religion] (RP, 23rd February 1977, p. 3), which is frequently cited in this section. The author of the article is the well-known Communist ideologist K. Hrůza, a long-term leader of the Secretariat for Church Matters at the Presidium of the Government of CSSR. The particular statement is a direct citation from the resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia from October 1972. 58 Cf. the entry Communist Morals in Malá československá encyklopedie [The Small Czechoslovak Encyclopedia] (volume 3, 1986, pp. 470–471): It is a set of life principles and norms of behaviour corresponding to the Communist socio-economical formation. Communist morals create a system of principles, e.g. loyalty to the Communist idea, activities contributing to social wealth, collectivism, humanism, patriotism and internationalism […]. Its main principle is solidarity of workers […]. Communist morals, developed among other things in the struggle against relics from the past and based on new socio-economic relations, the active operation of the Party and social organisations bringing the members of society closer to each other, and leading them towards perceiving others as fellow fighters, not as competitors. 50 Reflections on the Church and Religion in Czech Opinion Journalism Texts organisations of worshipers and intended to constrain the construction of socialism to ensure an internal as well as foreign reaction (Příruční slovník naučný, volume 1, 1962, p. 333). Following the Communist putsch in 1948, the Czechoslovak totalitarian system was no exception with regard to the ideological aspects – but unlike its counterparts in other Communist countries, e.g. the relatively religious Poland, Czech ideologists and propagators of atheism could follow a long tradition of a phenomenon that has been previously labelled (Bláha 2015) “the confession lability” of the Czech nation (with wider Central-European links). Although the history of Czech Christianity is long (since the ninth century), and although it involved a significant amount of cultural achievements, its typical feature is a certain oscillation, a propensity for re-assessment and non-conformism. Specific features of Czech religious history are an oscillation between the Western and Eastern orientation of Czech Christianity (especially in liturgy) in the first centuries after Christianisation, as well as a great diversion from the Catholic Church in the Hussite period of the early 1400s (which continued in various forms for almost two centuries), and the exclusive, but culturally and theologically very efficient, activities of Jednota bratrská [The Unity of Brethren] (since 1457), which ranked among the greatest opponents of the Catholic Church. These momentous periods are subsequently followed by a shift of the great part of the nation towards Lutheranism and Calvinism in the 1500s, and the exceptionally dramatic re-catholicisation following the year 1620, which left a range of negative stereotypes related to the Catholic Church in Czech culture. Another factor that significantly contributed to the above-mentioned “confession lability” was the atmosphere in the last decades of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, when Czech people perceived Catholicism as an attribute of the rather unpopular Habsburg imperial dynasty, and also the atmosphere of the First Republic (1918–38), when suspicion towards the Catholic Church was only slowly fading among a great part of the country’s inhabitants. The enduring aim of Communist ideology in Czechoslovakia (for the entire period of 1948–1989) was a complete shift to atheism59 within Czech society. The totalitarian regime varied throughout its existence in the manner of suppressing its enemies (the bourgeoisie, right-wing-oriented political opponents, foreign critics in Czech exile, etc.); similarly, its persecution of Christianity and the Church also varied over time. In the 1950s, Christianity was eliminated almost physically – the characteristic feature was repression targeted against bishops, priests, as well as 59 According to a contemporary encyclopedia, the basis of atheism is the belief that there are no supernatural beings, i.e. beings created by fantasy at the lower, pre-scientific level of knowledge […] Marxist atheism, which shows the path for achieving true human happiness, eliminates […] the imperfections of the older materialist opinions (Příruční slovník naučný, volume 1, 1962, p. 127). What is important here is the note that atheism helps “achieve true human happiness” – implying that theism, religious faith, leads to the opposite result – to “non-happiness”. The Relationship between the Czechoslovak Communist Regime and the Church and Religion 51 regular members of the Church. They were imprisoned, tortured, and bullied, in addition to the official termination of all institutions and associations ideologically or personally linked to Church life.60 After suppressing the external, visible, or physical aspects of religious life in Czechoslovakia, the regime subsequently initiated (approximately since the end of the 1950s) propagandistic influencing of the widest masses of inhabitants possible, especially through the school system and media. Counter-religious propaganda involved especially withholding basic facts about the nature of the Christian religion and churches, while at the same time stereotypically emphasising several facts that were supposed to document the twistedness of Christianity. These emphasised aspects included the naivety, “non-scientific basis” of Christianity, superstition, religious chauvinism (burning heretics, the Crusades, etc.), and especially an aspect that became the key point of the “historic philosophy” within Communist ideology – the role of capital, or economic relations. A quotation from a classic Marxist author, the philosopher B. Engels, published in the media can serve as an example: With the scientific revelation of the powers driving social development and their dialectics, Marxism has established […] fundamentally new starting points and criteria. Political, legal, philosophical, religious, literary, artistic, and other development […] is based on economic development (RP, 26th February 1977). The media and school education continued to emphasise the discrepancy between the preaching of poverty in the Gospels and the efforts of Church dignitaries to gain hold of the greatest wealth possible. Another trendy topic was the moral cynicism of the higher clergy, their political ambitions, as well as the suspicious historical connection to world imperialism and “warmongers”. The incumbents as well as the media governed by them had to occasionally publicly admit that despite all efforts to secularise society religion remained the only coherent, widespread non-Marxist ideology in our socialist society that still has enough members to undertake its activities. Although positive results have been achieved, even today there are still a range of agents constraining the diversion of worshippers from religious ideology (RP, 23rd February 1977). Since the Communist regime presented itself to the outer world as progressive and humanistic, the actual persecution of Christians in Czechoslovakia was 60 In contrast to what followed after the Communist putsch of 1948, there is the fact that the first “proletariat” president K. Gottwald underwent, following his appointment (on 14th June 1948) the ceremonial thanksgiving mass Te Deum – unlike his democratic predecessors (T.G. Masaryk, E. Beneš), whose relationship to churches and religion were ambiguous or even complicated for various reasons. Gottwald’s Te Deum may be interpreted as a sign of the later manifestations of “the open relationship towards religion” which was insisted on – in public proclamations, not in actions – by the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia throughout its existence, even during the so-called normalisation period. 52 Reflections on the Church and Religion in Czech Opinion Journalism Texts always accompanied by an emphasis on the fact that the country consistently met the principles of freedom of religion – these being, after all, defined by the Constitution.61 This is also documented with the representative overview of the relationship between socialist society and churches published in the Malá československá encyklopedie [The Small Czechoslovak Encyclopedia] (volume 1, 1985, p. 691): In socialist countries, churches are restricted entirely to the religious function. Freedom of religion and practising religious ceremonies is defined by the Constitution. The majority of socialist countries have undergone the separation of Church and State and the school system from the Church. At the same time, the socialist state and other socialist organisations ensure the education of all citizens in the spirit of the scientific worldview. A remarkable feature of the public proclamations on religious freedom in Czechoslovakia was that they presented the practising of religion on the one hand, and atheism, on the other, as two equal doctrines having the same potential to be enforced: Nobody is forced to be a religious worshipper or an atheist in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic – to practise religious ceremonies, or not to practise them. All of this is a matter of every citizen’s conscience and is fully respected by our state (RP, 23rd February 1977). Based on current needs, the media also assured their recipients that there was also freedom in art, making it possible, for instance, to freely take inspiration from Christianity-related topics, as documented e.g. by the statement from the painter Ľ. Fulla: Nobody interferes with my artwork. I chose the topics myself. For instance, I even create works inspired by religious topics and none of the representatives of either the State or the Party question it. Nobody reprimands me. I can’t imagine a better, more goal-oriented policy, a better, fairer establishment than our socialist one (Haló sobota, 12th March 1977, p. 1). The Communists also kept repeating that it was only during their government (27th July 1954) that registry of religious faith adopted by citizens was discontinued, and that the new institutions established by them serve for harmonisation and support of the life of churches. Already in 1949, Státní úřad pro věci církevní [National Office for Religious Matters] was established, supervising all churches and religious societies in Czechoslovakia. In 1956, this office was discontinued and its authority was taken over by the Církevní oddělení [Church Department] (later on 61 The Constitutional Act 100/1960 Coll. as of 11th July 1960 (The Constitution of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic) states in Article 32: (1) Freedom of religion is guaranteed. Every person may exercise any religious belief or no religious belief, and conduct religious activities, as long as these are not against the law. (2) Religious faith or belief cannot be the reason for any person to be denied the fulfilment of civic duties defined by the law. For the Czech original, cf. https://www.psp.cz/docs/ texts/constitution_1960.html. Whether religious faith or belief of a particular citizen was perceived as an anti-social factor (i.e. “compromising the leading role of the Communist Party in society”), was subsequently a matter of delimitation of the the above-mentioned civic duties. The Relationship between the Czechoslovak Communist Regime and the Church and Religion 53 Sekretariát pro věci církevní [Secretariat for Church Matters]) of the Ministry of Education and Edification, and subsequently of the Presidium, which intervened in even the tiniest details in the life of churches up until 1989. The scope of competences of the Secretariat included, among other things, even the administrative process of the so-called approval of religious activities – it was particularly this approval that served as a means of bullying the clergy in Czechoslovakia. It is natural that even within the churches, there were groups of clergy who did favours to the regime for various reasons – either through various private activities (or even collaboration with State Security), or within the actually collaborationist association Mírové sdružení katolických duchovních [Peace Association of Catholic Clergy] (1951–1968) and its successor, the infamous Sdružení katolických duchovních Pacem in terris [Association of Catholic Clergy Pacem In Terris] (1970– 1989).62 Various forms of collaboration occurred even among the clergy of the other two large Czech churches – Českobratská církev evangelická [The Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren] and Církev Československá [The Czechoslovak Church] (since 1971 Československá církev husitská [The Czechoslovak Hussite Church]).63 This chapter aims at documenting the way in which opinion journalism of totalitarian Czechoslovakia treated nine basic terms from the semantic field of “religion”: církev [Church (n)], církevní [church (adj)], kněz [priest], křesťan [Christian (n)], křesťanství [Christianity], křesťanský [Christian (adj)], náboženství [religion], náboženský [religious], and věřící [worshipper]. In contrast to the section on the ideologically motivated criticism of long-haired men, this topic allows for the option of a quantitatively focused investigation in a text corpus, since the above-mentioned terms habitually convey a clear ideologically marked content (while with terms such as long hair or long-haired, there is only potential ideological markedness, and their frequency within opinion journalism texts is significantly lower). The materials for analysis are texts from the main Czech periodical of the investigated period, the daily Rudé právo – texts from the onset of normalisation (texts from the year 1969), and those from the end of this period of “re-establishment of order” within Czech society (texts from the year 1977).64 62 The externally-presented image of Czechoslovakia as a country actually complying the freedom of religion and taking it as a matter of course, was maintained by the regime among other things by allowing the Catholic priest J. Plojhar to hold the high government office of Minister of Health for an unusually long time (1948–1968). 63 The situation in the Czech Lands (Bohemia, Moravia, and the Czech part of Silesia) has to be distinguished from the situation in Slovakia – here, the Communist bodies of the state administration and the Communist-governed media had to adopt a significantly more cautious approach towards the criticism of churches, since the natural religiousness of the inhabitants was much stronger here than in the western part of the state, and the authority of churches (both the Catholic Church and the Gospel Church) was higher there. 64 Once again, the corpus TOTALITA was used; it was published on a CD as an attachment to the publication by F. Čermák et al. (2010). 54 Reflections on the Church and Religion in Czech Opinion Journalism Texts The analysis involves assessment of every aspect related to the individual lemmas církev [Church (n)], církevní [church (adj)], kněz [priest], křesťan [Christian (n)], křesťanství [Christianity], křesťanský [Christian (adj)], náboženství [religion], náboženský [religious], and věřící [worshipper] – both with regard to the context and the more general associations it raises within the particular text. For every aspect, we subsequently investigate whether the utilisation of the particular word within the text may be perceived as neutral (this group involves even infrequent cases with positive connotations), or as having negative connotations. Secondly, it is investigated whether the aspect is related to the domestic or the foreign environment. The third parameter investigated is the particular dominant image the religion-related term induces of foists in the reader (for instance the backwardness of the Church, the lack of unity regarding the dogma, superstition, the effort of the Church to rule the world, etc.). This parameter, with regard to the relative arbitrariness of the categories that may be introduced within it, is not quantified – but is addressed in the final part of this section. Prior to the analysis, cases referring to other, non-Christian religions were excluded from the collection of samples (these were especially references to Judaism in opinion journalism articles on Israel, and those on Buddhism where Vietnam was mentioned). Similarly, we excluded cases where the adjective Christian is related to political parties in West Germany, Italy, etc., not to the religion itself (Christian Democrats, Christian-Democratic Party, Christian Left Wing, etc.) – in total, these were 122 cases. After careful consideration we also decided to leave in the sample collection cases where the adjective Christian or the substantive Christians were used to more closely specify one of the parties involved in the war of Lebanon (Communist opinion journalism view the Lebanese Christians quite negatively, since they were the allies of the “expansive and militaristic” State of Israel – in this sense, the articles on Lebanon even served anti-Christian propaganda). 4.2. Neutral Versus Negative Associations of Utilised Religion-Related Terms Following the selection of adequate samples, we worked with a total of 608 items related to the above-mentioned nine lemmas. The analysis of these basic terms related to religion and the life of churches resulted in the following pattern of “neutral” and “negative” associations: Media texts from the period of normalisation primarily include the neutral assessment, or neutrally perceived associations that may be drawn from the way in which the particular term is used in the particular context. Although it is clear that the regime regarded religion as a negative phenomenon or an “anachronism”, this condemnation was not usually manifested publicly, at least not in an ultimate Neutral Versus Negative Associations of Utilised Religion-Related Terms 55 Figure 1. Neutral versus negative associations of religion-related terms Source: Author’s work. way. While a high level of verbal aggression against religion and the Church was expected in the texts from the onset of the Communist government in Czechoslovakia (especially from the turn of the 1950s), the analysed texts from 1969 and 1977 reflect the fact that the regime already believed they had the Church “under control”. The frequency of the individual terms suggests that the centre of media attention (and therefore even the attention of the regime which controlled them) was neither the ideology of Christianity, nor the individual followers of Christianity, but the institution, církev [the Church] – which applies even to the wider context marked with the adjectival form of the term. This fact apparently confirms that the Communist regime perceived the Church and religion from the viewpoint of its own, materialistic image of the world, and also with regard to its own clinging to institutions which was often turned into bureaucracy. The texts often simply address the institutional “competitor” – the visible, earthly, centrally governed církev as the natural enemy of Communist systems. This is in accordance even with the rather high representation of the adjective náboženský [religious] which is related to the main “tool of enslavement” used, according to Communist doctrine, by the Church as an institution, as illustrated by the following: Religion as a system explaining why people should patiently bear oppressions from others here on earth and focus on the reward ‘in the other-world’, 56 Reflections on the Church and Religion in Czech Opinion Journalism Texts as stated in the above-cited encyclopedia. This “tool of enslavement” is labelled much more frequently with the paraphrasing general expression náboženství [religion] than the particular expression křesťanství [Christianity]. The followers of this religion are also more frequently labelled with the general expression věřící [worshippers] and the particular křesťané [Christians]. The choice of more general expressions seemingly reflects an attempt at detachment, with a “scientific” approach to labelling the particular phenomenon without any “distracting” interest in what the object of the faith specifically is. The term věřící, which labels its denotation based on a categorical delimitation (with the distinctive feature +faith) is, after all, quite common even in present-day Czech opinion journalism when referring to Christians. The sample of 608 items related to the nine lemmas from the semantic field of “religion” may also be considered with regard to how the neutral or negative associations, incited by utilisation of the particular terms within texts, are combined with the context of “a domestic event”, “a foreign event” and “a historical event” (typically from the Middle of the Early Modern Ages). Figure 2. Negative and neutral associations of nine religion-related terms in the context of domestic, foreign and historical events Source: Author’s work. The quantitative ratios indicate that in opinion journalism texts from the years 1969 and 1977, greater attention was paid to contexts from the life of the Church abroad and “religion abroad” in general, while there are fewer links to the domestic environment. The presence of negative associations when using religion-related terms in articles on foreign news in contrast to domestic news is a major difference. The number of contexts in which religion and the Church are presented negatively in news reports and commentaries about foreign countries is approximately three times higher compared to articles addressing domestic news. Impressions Induced by the Utilisation of Religion-Related Terms 57 Since the great majority of texts cover the Roman Catholic Church (as the international, supra-state, and therefore difficult-to-control institution), one can state that Communist opinion journalism presented the image of the Church and religion prevalently as “an evil” threatening Czech society from the outside. Even from this perspective, the domestic situation is assessed in a rather “neutral” manner – the Communist regime claimed to have freedom of religion, and if a conflict with the Church and worshippers was admitted, opinion journalism strived to make the impression that the situation was “fully under control”. The historic links to the Church and religion were addressed by opinion journalism (by definition) only occasionally. What is apparent, however, is the remarkably balanced assessment of “the negative” and “the positive”, since domestic ideologists never ceased to claim that the Church had made many mistakes and committed numerous crimes especially throughout history, before the “progressive” views appeared and its influence was limited. 4.3. Impressions Induced by the Utilisation of Religion-Related Terms To the outside world, Communist regimes demonstrated their humanist nature, and their permanent attributes included an “effort for peace”. Of interest is the fact that in the frequency dictionary of Czech from the period of totality (Čermák et al. 2010) the lemma mír [peace] occupies 100th position on the frequency list, while in the dictionary reflecting conditions in present-day Czech (Čermák et al. 2004) it is only in the 1572nd place. From the above explained reasons, the humanist effort and attempts at the permanent establishment of peace among nations was used as an element in which “progressive” Communist ideology was united with “enduring” Christian ideology, as is apparent from opinion journalism formulations such as: The development in the struggle against exploitation and poverty of wide masses, and against imperialist oppression even results in a reaction for this desire for progress from the progressive part of religious circles (RP, 18th June 1969); Communists believe that it is particularly in this way – the way of extensive relations and common events – that the masses of worshippers become an active power in the counter-imperialist struggle and in deep social shifts (RP, 18th June 1969); The final communique from this meeting [of the international secretariat of the Christian Peace Conference in Prague – note by O.B.] expresses support for the Bucharest declaration of the leading representatives of countries of the Warsaw Pact and an appeal to Christians all around the world to contribute to strengthening the process of mitigating tension in the world which has been heading forward despite the resistance of certain reactionary circles (RP, 14th January 1977); They emphasised that distorting the truth about human rights and lack of religious freedom in our country deliberately harms the good image of Czechoslovakia and other socia- 58 Reflections on the Church and Religion in Czech Opinion Journalism Texts list countries, and disrupts Christian efforts for peace conducted by churches of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic together with the progressive democratic powers in the world (RP, 18th January 1977). According to the media, the above-mentioned progressive part of religious circles could rely not only on religious freedom, but also on support from the highest positions of the Communist regime. This is implied in quotations of authorities such as the General Secretary of the Communist Party and subsequent President G. Husák, whose statement was reported in RP (23rd February 1977): The socialist state respects the religious faith of worshippers and admires the fact that a great majority of them honestly participate in construction efforts. Attempts at a kind approach to Christians were even apparent at the lower levels of the Communist nomenclature, as illustrated e.g. by the following: In his reaction, the Mayor of the Capital City of Prague, Zdeněk Zuska, praised the active participation of worshippers in the bodies and organisations of the Národní fronta [National Front] (RP, 23rd February 1977). The seemingly tolerant approach of the Communist elites was appreciated by loyal statements from the opposite side, i.e. from representatives of the conformist part of the Czech clergy: The Central Committee of the Czechoslovak People’s Party emphasises that with its activities focused especially on the political engagement of honest worshipping citizens of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, it aims to consistently fulfil its duty towards our society (RP, 28th June 1969); Our association Pacem In Terris intends to be a guarantee that Catholic priests shall not abuse religion to create a counter-socialist opposition, since this stands in conflict with the spirit of a post-synod priest; based directly on their religious inspiration, they shall exhibit loyalty to the socialist establishment (RP, 23rd February 1977). Together with proclamations on the cooperation of “progressive” clergymen with the Communist regime, the representatives of this regime objected via the media to the doubts of foreign “scribblers” regarding, among other things, the existence of freedom of religion in Communist Czechoslovakia. Such media articles wrote about the anti-Communist campaign in which [the bourgeoisie media – note by O.B.] keep repeating various claims about the so-called infringement of human rights, as well as the failure to allow citizens freedom of religion and practising religious ceremonies in the countries of the socialist community. These various scribblers and so-called experts on the conditions in “East Europe” have not forgotten to mention Czechoslovakia (RP, 23rd February 1977); In fact, the imperialist and reactionary powers have attempted to use religious ideology to save the basis of capitalism and fight the revolutionary movement (RP, 23rd February 1977). The presentation of Charter 77 gave rise to otherwise less frequent statements regarding the “abuse” of religion not by foreign “elements”, but by domestic ones, Impressions Induced by the Utilisation of Religion-Related Terms 59 who “have met the darkest anti-Communist reactionism”,65 as written in an article which further states that the signatories of Charter 77 are […] anarchist and Trotskyite individuals similar to Uhl, organisers of the infamous K 231 and KAN, as well as those who would like to misuse religion to carry out their reactionary political intentions (RP, 12th January 1977). Even these articles on domestic conditions include remarks such as: In a number of letters and proclamations, the slander of our country has been reproached by both Catholic bishops and Vicars Capitulars, and representatives of non-Catholic churches within the Regional Association of the Christian Peace Conference (RP, 23rd February 1977). Despite particular manifestations of tolerance towards the Church and religion, opinion journalism texts from the normalisation period continue to emphasise that Christianity is undergoing a global and deep internal crisis.66 This emphasis takes place on two planes – the more general one, and the one involving remarks on particular problematic issues, e.g. the issue of celibacy. More general claims regarding the religious crisis in the world can be illustrated by the following: The Catholic Church and some other religions are undergoing an ideological crisis which undermines their traditional conceptions and structures (RP, 18th June 1969); Up until today, the religious faith, despite all efforts to achieve a facade of modernisation, has lost its status of a trustworthy exegete of human fate. It has been, however, replaced by a new faith – based on scientific methods, tables, and figures (RP, 2nd February 1977). In the view of Communist opinion journalism, celibacy was naturally at the centre of attention (similarly to present-day commentaries on “problems in the Catholic Church”): The fact that in Brazil, seven hundred Roman Catholic priests abandoned their priestly robes, led to the submission of a proposal regarding the revocation of celibacy at the annual national bishop’s conference in Rio” (RP, 11th April 1969); The fact is used here as reasoning in order to argue that the Church is rigid and does not take into account the worshippers comments (ibid.). Another aspect frequently covered by opinion journalism was the generally declining interest in religion among inhabitants of Western countries (British par65 The diction of the reactions to Charter 77, published especially in January and February 1977 in the daily Rudé právo,is similar to that of militant Communist opinion journalism from the early 1950s. This style of reaction to political opposition was not, however, the characteristic feature of normalisation opinion journalism as such. 66 See also the information from Příruční slovník naučný (volume 3, 1966, p. 958): In the mid-twentieth century, it was becoming increasingly clearer that in the eyes of the great majority of believers, the relationship to the imperialist interest threatened the prestige and the entire position of the Catholic Church, especially regarding the growing power of the socialist camp and the increasing influence of Marxism-Leninism (the following passage somewhat mildly praises the reforming efforts of Pope John XXIII). 60 Reflections on the Church and Religion in Czech Opinion Journalism Texts ents are not interested in their children attending classes of religion at school; they are, however, interested in ethics education – RP, 22nd April 1969), and claims relating to the advancement of civilisation to a movement away from the religious perception of the world: For a person living in our world, a world whose aim it is to free people from the prejudice of religion and bourgeoisie ideology and morals, it is almost unbelievable that in the USA, which strives to make the impression of being the most developed civilisation in the world, there is such great space provided to the authorities etc. (RP, 2nd February 1977). A special category of the evidence provided by opinion journalism regarding the fact that the Church is a problematic institution, even from the perspective of morals, consists of references to the link between the Church and Nazism, using the “affairs” of particular persons who – quite regularly – did not serve Nazism, but did enter into the services of its power successor, i.e. Western imperialism: He lives in Munich [i.e. captain Matthias Defregger, suspected of war crimes – note by O.B.], but not any longer as a soldier, but as a priest. In September of the previous year, he was even appointed by Cardinal Döpfner as consecrating bishop of the Catholic Church (RP, 10th July 1969); The interrogation has demonstrated that František Topiarz, a priest now residing in Bavaria, used to be a confidant to the Těšín Gestapo during the war. He shared responsibility for the deaths of our citizens and Polish partisans shot by German Fascists in the municipality of Istebna (RP, 21st January 1977); Even now in West Germany, he (the above-mentioned F. Topiarz) continues, with the knowledge of the authorities, in activities for the West-German and American intelligence offices against socialist Czechoslovakia (RP, 3rd February 1977).67 The image of “criminals” becomes more closely linked to the topic of Christian religion even in news on “Western mercenaries” engaged in war conflicts, especially in Lebanon: Recently, citizens from the USA, France, and West Germany fought in Lebanon on the side of the right-wing Christian powers. The mercenaries were also used by international reactionism even in the aggression against Angola. At present, there is especially great demand for paid assassins in Rhodesia (RP, 15th January 1977). Some of the reflections on history have a similar character, e.g. the popularising description of the history of the internal combustion engine originating, according to the article’s author 67 In connection with this, it is worth mentioning that Communist ideology often polemicised about the idea of Christianity as a “religion of love”; see e.g. the encyclopedia entry Christianity in Malá československá encyklopedie (volume 3, 1986, p. 628): Although the Bible contains many statements about love for our neighbour and forgiveness, Christianity cannot be understood in general as a “religion of love and humanity”, not only due to the numerous manifestations of hatred, cruelty, and intolerance incorporated in the Biblical texts as well as the practices of Christian churches, but especially because Christian humanism is based on theocentrism. Impressions Induced by the Utilisation of Religion-Related Terms 61 with an unknown Christian who, for the first time in history, took a ball in one hand, gunpowder in the other, put both of them in an iron tube, pointed it at a crowd of other Christians, and took a shot (RP, the supplement Haló sobota, 26th April 1969). According to the Communist press, the Church (or more precisely the reactionary Church hierarchy) stands even behind the policy of the aggravated internal dictatorship and intensified external expansion and aggression (RP, 11th July 1969), and colonial crimes are committed as a consequence of religious fanaticism (RP, the supplement Haló sobota, 14th June 1969). However, Communist ideology mostly assigns the power function to religion (as is obvious from the previous remarks on religion as “the enslavement tool”), and it also serves as an excuse for, not the cause of, foreign social conflicts. This is typically illustrated by news reports on riots in Northern Ireland: although the Western media claim that it is a religious war that rages in Ulster, the fuses of the conflict are to be found elsewhere – in economic and social conditions (RP, 13th January 1977); it [the religion – a note by O.B.] is the criminal means used by the governing circles in Great Britain to maintain unrest in Northern Ireland (RP, 10th March 1977).68 Counter-religion propaganda in Communist Czechoslovakia was naturally also interested in superstitions and various religiously-motivated eccentricities that could serve as evidence of the emphasised internal crisis of Christianity and, more generally, the fact that religion is only a relic from the past in the present-day world. This is suggested for instance in the reports on activities of the Holy See: The news admits that the Vatican has recently started a certain “purge” in order to remove everything raising sound criticism or doubt in the area of Church theology. For instance, it has begun to avoid stories about Hell, has enhanced its critical attitude to various so-called miracles, etc. (RP, 12th July 1969). Another topic enthusiastically made use of by normalisation opinion journalism, although not a prominent one in relation to the issue of religion, was the analysis of some Western religious eccentricities – for instance the wicca movement, carrying some reminiscence of paganism and witchcraft. Religious and pseudo-religious activities are depicted in the context of reprehension of “depravity”: On this occasion [i.e. at a witchcraft session – note by O.B.], clothes were frequently removed. The Ceremony – another word would be more suitable – […] involved symbolic whipping, unction, mutual kissing and drinking (RP, 26th April 1969). A similar attitude is presented in a description of religiously motivated handling of rattlesnakes occurring 68 In this case, it is not a misinterpretation, but a rather truthful account of the situation, which was nevertheless used in the environment of Communist Czechoslovakia for counter-religious purposes. 62 Reflections on the Church and Religion in Czech Opinion Journalism Texts among members of certain Gospel Christian sects in the southern states [i.e. of the USA – note by O.B.], which continue to handle snakes during their secret rites in dark and decrepit houses in the Appalachian Mountains. They have chosen rattlesnakes as the symbol of their faith (RP, the supplement Haló sobota, 5th March 1977). According to the information published in Rudé právo, perverted religions of various types were supposed to support even printed matter smuggled into Czechoslovakia across its Western borders; the confiscated packets allegedly included all kinds of things: from literature encouraging religious fanaticism to anti-state appeals and inciting our frontiersmen to falter in their duties (RP, 5th January 1977). Under these conditions, according to the media and especially the authorities governing them, it was appropriate to either ignore religion,69 or oppose it through systematic and generally recommended edification concerning atheism. The already quoted article, where Church Secretary K. Hrůza summarises the nature of the relationships between the Communist establishment and churches, states the following: That is why we say openly and honestly that in order to ensure further development of socialism we cannot give up on the development of conscientious activities aimed at overcoming the relics of religion (RP, 23rd February 1977). Although training in atheism had to be undergone by all university students during their studies, as well as a great majority of other citizens of Czechoslovakia, the regime admitted via its ideologists that freeing a person from religious prejudice cannot be solved within one generation, since it is a long-term, complex process. This is also the reason for the high demands on atheism propaganda and education, as their aim is to emancipate believers from spiritual oppression and strengthen their awareness of their own power, competences and sense (RP, 23rd February 1977). It is at this point apparent that such goals could not be fulfilled in a totalitarian regime – in particular because the awareness of one’s own power, competences and sense was indeed what the totalitarian regime suppressed in its citizens. A new stage in the development of the relationship between the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia and the Church occurred with the pontificate of Pope John Paul II who, being a Pole and having lived a long time as a citizen of a Communism-governed state, lacked the idealistic views typical for some of his predecessors, who wanted to exercise the policy of reconciliation towards socialist countries and Communism itself, as aptly illustrated by the entry John Paul II in Malá československá encyklopedie (volume 3, 1986, p. 158): 69 A hint of “being exalted above the immaterial religious facts” may be found in statements such as: On Thursday, France celebrated a Catholic feast that used to be called here, if I am not mistaken, Ascension Day (RP, 16th May 1969). The next, ironically marked passage claims: Candidates for presidency did not celebrate the feast regardless of their religious faith; they focused on a different ascension, an entirely secular and earthly one, that is to come after the 1st or 15th June and will lead through the gates of the Élysée Palace. Impressions Induced by the Utilisation of Religion-Related Terms 63 He is forced [i.e. the Pope – note by O.B.] to acknowledge the socio-political reality of socialism; this acknowledgement is, however, combined with highly problematic attempts at achieving the spiritual supremacy of the Church in the present-day world. This was why the Czechoslovak media intended to ignore Pope John Paul II, who worked for many years diplomatically but very efficiently for the benefit of Christians in socialist countries.70 Even the appointment of this Pope on 15th October 1978 was only covered with a short notice in the main Czechoslovak Communist periodical, the daily Rudé právo;71 the same also applied to the Pope’s ground-breaking visit to Poland on 2nd–6th June 197972 or even the first assassination attempt on John Paul II on 13th May 1981.73 It seems that this “silence about John Paul II” in the media, obvious especially in the 1980s, when among other things, the Pope criticised the collaborationist associations of Catholic priests with his decree Quodam episcopi (published on 8th March 1982), indicates the increasing helplessness of the Communist regime as to how to further “suppress” the Church and Christianity, which – contrary to the older forecasts, and despite increased atheism propaganda – did not fade away from the life of society in Communist countries. 70 The official attitude of the Communist leaders of Czechoslovakia concerning these activities of the Pope may be summarised with the entries in the representative Malá československá encyklopedie (volume 6, 1987, p. 465): Especially during the pontificate of John Paul II, the Vatican has been attempting to erode socialism and strengthen the position of power and the ideological influence of the Roman Catholic Church in socialist countries; it has been attempting to pit individual socialist countries against the USSR as well as against each other; it has been promoting the concept of “a Christian Europe”, “Christian panslavism”, “the model of Polish Catholicism”, etc., and it has reservations about the loyalty of priests and worshippers in their socialist motherland. The Vatican has been trying to influence more than 700 million Catholics in different regions of the world; it controls over 430,000 Catholic priests active in its services, 2,000 religious orders, and numerous secular (national and international) Catholic organisations. 71 A short note The New Pope Elected, RP, 17th October 1978, p. 7 (only basic biographical information). 72 Short notes on the extent of several lines The Pope’s Arrival in Poland, RP, 4th June 1979, p. 6; and The Return of the Pope to Rome, RP, 11th June 1979, p. 6. 73 A short note Turkish Terrorist’s Assassination Attempt on the Pope, RP, 14th May 1981, p. 7. In the following issue (RP, 15th May 1981, p. 7), together with the information that the Pope is safe the newspaper only published the literal wording of a telegram of the Soviet leader L.I. Brezhnev: I am deeply outraged by the attempt at your assassination. I wish you a quick and full recovery. However, what is typical, is how Communist propaganda emphasised the connection between the assassination attempt and the orientation and nature of West-German policies: the article Traces Lead to West Germany (RP, 16th May 1979, p. 7) states that the assassin, M.A. Ağca, stayed in West Germany shortly before the act. It adds that according to the chairman of the Federation of Turkish Labour Associations in Germany (FIDEF) H. Özcan, members of the Turkish minority repeatedly notified West-German politicians about the presence and plans of the Turkish terrorist organisation Grey Wolves, but always “encountered ‘deaf ears’”. The article summarises the entire issue as follows: According to the chairman of FIDEF, this documents the reluctance of the West-German bodies to undertake rigorous action against terrorism. 64 Reflections on the Church and Religion in Czech Opinion Journalism Texts Conclusion The way in which Czech totalitarian opinion journalism of the normalisation period reflected the Church and religious life both in the country and abroad, confirms one of the fundamental propositions regarding the functioning of language in a totalitarian society: texts are the place where in particular ideology is manifested to the greatest extent (perhaps even much more significantly than ever possible in the real world). Even in the period of increased ideological activity, when the Communist government in Czechoslovakia suppressed certain negatively perceived consequences of the so-called revival process of the 1960s and when the factual persecution of churches was once again strengthened, the regime continued to claim via its journalists that freedom of religion in Czechoslovakia exists and that cooperation between churches (or their “progressive representatives”) and the Communist state was possible. Quantitative analysis of the utilisation of 608 items related to basic religion-related terms showed that when referring to religion and churches in the media, a neutral evaluation prevailed – as to domestic news. This fact indicates the regime’s self-consciousness with regard to relations between the state and churches and in the area of the churches’ influence on society, “it has the situation under control”. The negatively evaluating context appears if opinion journalism texts refer to foreign events. The Church, especially the Roman Catholic Church, is often presented as “evil acting from the outside”. Particularly significant is the orientation of opinion journalism texts on the external features of the existence of a particular religion, especially the Church as an institution – as is obvious from the high frequency of the terms církev [Church (n)] and církevní [church (adj)]. In contrast, what is also very remarkable is the lack of interest in the content of the religion, or specifically Christianity; general terms such as náboženský [religious] and věřící [worshipper] are much more frequent in the analysed texts than more specific ones such as křesťanský [Christian (adj)] or křesťan [Christian (n)]. Regardless of the fact that Christians (typically those engaged in various peace and anti-imperialist movements) were presented as allies and were “respected”, the regime did in no way ever cease in its anti-Christian propaganda – even in opinion journalism. It instead emphasised various “relics” in the Church’s theory and practice, the lack of internal unity of churches, and the focus of their representatives on material possessions. At every possible occasion, it exaggerated the role of Christianity in the emergence of social conflicts of all sorts (the war in Lebanon, riots in Northern Ireland, the activities of sects in the USA, etc.) and made it apparent that from its perspective, the way to harmonising society lies in strict atheism. 5. A Critical Reading of News Reports The following sections already focus on the reflections of events in the contemporary press, or the contemporary media in general. The primary function of news reports is to provide matter-of-fact information about current phenomena and events (for more details, see Čechová et al. 2008, p. 263). The information should be distributed immediately and their authors should strive for as much objectivity as possible. The arrangement of the topic and content in news reports is based on the need for answering the following questions in relation to the particular topic: what happened, who did it and when, possibly briefly explaining how and why, but in-depth analysis of the news is usually not expected (ibid.). The news report should be presented impersonally; it normally uses a formal register, and automatisation of the means of expression is commonly employed. As stated by Petr Mareš, news reports should transfer matter-of-fact information about a current event (Mareš 2016, p. 266). What constitutes the exceptional importance of media is that they do not only reflect on life in the society, but they also have the potential to participate in creating, influencing, and changing it. A news reporter often does not write a news report in a way so as to immediately capture the event “in the here and now”, but tells a story with a considerately selected amount of factual data and at the same time provides the reader with their evaluation. So although the nature of the genre determines that a news report should bring impersonal and objective information about a current event, it also reflects the contemporary social and political context, the priorities and hierarchy of values adopted by the respective media, and its final form is also influenced by the expectations of prominent social institutions. In fact, news reports force the recipients to accept as natural and correct particularly the image of the reality that is preferred by the respective media, their owners, or the social establishment in general. The reflection of the space, agents, and actions in the “outside” world is often not neutral, and the particular event is presented by the media in a way affirming the adopted (or desired) social relations, structures, and values (for more information, cf. Allan 2005, p. 105). An important role is already played by the manner of selection of events intended for media coverage. There is information about a greater number of events available to the media than they can process, and this surplus leads to the need for 66 A Critical Reading of News Reports creating a mechanism of efficient selection and choice of topics, so-called gatekeeping. The editor’s decision-making process on which events to process and publish, takes place at several levels: the news reporter is influenced not only by his/her own views regarding the attractivness of the topic available, but also by the relations in the media organisation, which has its own priorities, and is also under permanent pressure from the outside. By deciding to cover a particular event, the editor attributes a certain importance to it, which is also reflected e.g. in the position of the news report within the newspaper, the amount of space dedicated to it, the manner of its graphic design, etc. The media thus show the expected recipient which events or “pseudo-events” are regarded as important or which deserve attention. By repeatedly covering a selected problem in the media, they can attribute a society-wide importance even to topics that are substantially marginal. The selected vantage point, arrangement of the individual components of the event, the manner of their contextualisation and presentation of their background, the implication of possible consequences and deliberate emphasising or omission of particular pieces of information, may significantly influence the overall tone of the message, and in extreme cases even compromise its objectivity. Interpretation and assessment of social phenomena take place simultaneously in the language of media as well as politics, and it is therefore necessary to observe and critically assess the way in which the media can make its recipients adopt its interpretation as sensible, natural, and truthful. If assessing a message in a complex way as a communication event, we find out that the intention of the transmitter is frequently not to inform the recipients, but rather to influence them. The process of decoding and interpretation is individual and the author cannot guarantee that it will take place with identical or at least similar results in all recipients. With regard to the extent of awareness or at least perception of the efforts for manipulation, Stuart Hall (1980, p. 129 ff.) distinguishes three levels on which the recipient’s activity is based: 1) The recipient of news feed is entirely influenced by the incumbents, identifies with prevailing opinions, and accepts the presentation of a particular event as usual, natural, and substantially correct. The recipient meditates on the information in accordance with the governing official ideology and views the message from its perspective. 2) The recipient is able to recognise which meanings are postulated as preferred, is aware of the existence of discrepancies between the “objective” reality and its media image, and doubts the impartiality and neutrality of the media. 3) The recipient recognises the logic and ideology of incumbents in the particular message and perceives all the information provided by the media as a call for discussion and polemics. Unlike the accepting and doubting approaches, this approach is significantly critically and potentially opposing. The Method for Critical Analysis of Printed News Reports 67 5.1. The Method for Critical Analysis of Printed News Reports The starting point for critical reading of a message is the presupposition that in news reporting texts the media do not only strive to provide a neutral reflection on important events, but are frequently more likely to “tell a story” reflecting the social organisation and its value hierarchy. The aim is to make the readers accept this kind of perception of the world and adopt it as their own. In order to discover the substance of a news report, Allan Bell (here 2005, p. 65 ff.) proposes an analytical framework applicable to any report (or a group of topic-related reports) that may be used to reconstruct the core of the information and determine what the message of the report is. The method of critical reading leads the recipient to realise how the agents of the news report are presented, what activities are attributed to them, what stereotypes are created when presenting the representatives of the elite or members of the selected social groups, what is the role of the place and time of the event presented, etc. By applying individual steps, it is also possible to discern “white spaces” and realise that while certain facts are openly presented, others are backgrounded or entirely withheld. The reconstruction of what is omitted in the news report and the identification of white spaces are also an important part of interpretation, as they constitute part of the author’s communication strategy. We view Bell’s analytical framework and its application to an authentic news reporting text as a very useful tool for critical reading, since it is an easily applicable algorithm covering all aspects constituting the overall meaning of a report, including attribution of a story to a press agency or a particular journalist. The basic structure of the report is described by Bell in the following figure (2005, p. 71). NEWS REPORT NEWS REPORT ATTRIBUTION (AGENCY, JOURNALIST) ABSTRACT HEADLINE ACTORS STORY EVENT ACTIONS EVENT SETTINGS Figure 1. News report structure Source: Bell 2005, p. 71. In order to find out what actually happened in the news report, we gradually answer the following questions: 68 A Critical Reading of News Reports 1) WHAT? In the first step of the analysis we need to find out what events are presented in the headline, the lead, and the report itself. It is important to observe whether the events appear in all parts of the report and whether there are any logical contradictions between them. For further analysis, it is useful to number the individual events and focus on what role they play in the presented “story”. It is important to answer the question about the relationship between the headline and the lead, and investigate whether the most important information from the lead is also present in the headline and whether the headline represents plausibly the entire story. The informativity and objectivity of the message may be influenced if the headline or the lead include a piece of information that is omitted in the report itself. In such a case, there is a need to ask for the reason. 2) WHO? The second step of analysis focuses on all the agents in the report. A very important factor is who is its author. The media could have ownership or ideological link to a prominent social institution, a political party, or representatives of the establishment, so it is essential whether the text is an editorial or an agency text. In case of an editorial, it is possible that the news report was “custom-made” for the owner, and the event covered is important for the customer, while it does not need to be current or important for society. The news report (as a news reporting genre) must work with verified sources. It is therefore important to find out whether these sources are listed, who is cited, whether this person is an actual authority in the particular field, etc. As with the events, it is important to list and number the sources of the individual utterances and subsequently realise who is cited directly and indirectly, how the text works with the verbs of speech in the introductory sentences, whether the sources have a certain link to some authorities (representatives of political parties, economic elites, etc.) and whether the link is explicitly mentioned in the report. In order to find the “white spaces”, it is important to determine whether the text includes passages where no source is referred to, is unclear, or deliberately omitted. The analysis also includes information about who is presented in the news report, whether the agents of the report belong to the establishment or political elites, and whether there is an obvious tendency to personify the story. The recipient is potentially influenced if the agents of the report are attributed with certain features or characteristics, if they are connected to certain activities, if a stereotype of a certain social group is created, etc. 3) WHERE? The interpretation of the news report is also influenced by the location or an event, so it is important to observe in what places the events take place, how these places are labelled and what function they have within the structure of the entire report. Applying the Analytical Framework 69 4) WHEN? The recipient is influenced by the non-chronological ordering of events within the report. The author of the message may intentionally shuffle the individual events and thus confuse the reader with regard to what is the cause and the consequence of the event. When analysing the news report, it is therefore necessary to create a temporal structure. The time of the central event is labelled with a neutral symbol, such as time 0, the preceding events are labelled as time -1, -2, etc., and analogically the subsequent events are labelled +1, +2, etc. In this way we can determine whether the report is presented chronologically, or whether there have been any time shifts. Critical analysis is directed towards recognising why this happened, what was the author’s reason for doing so, and whether the temporal structure of the report changes in any way the interpretation of the event. Part of the communication strategy may be if the author includes information on what preceded the current event, especially if this serves for the ideological framing of an event. What is crucial with regard to the influence on the recipient is whether the author offers a commentary or evaluation of an event, embeds it in a context, or expresses certain political attitudes or ideologies. The news report may imply that a certain continuation is expected and the persuasive potential is also present in reactions to events including some evaluation. 5) THE EVENT AND ITS STRUCTURE The last step of the analysis is creating the structure of the entire event presented in the news report. What is available to us are the lists of agents, places, times, and events. We need to order them chronologically, and attribute places and agents to the individual events. We should focus on whether there are any discrepancies in the report in relation to places, times, and agents. We should observe whether the individual accounts and events are mutually linked within the report, how these links are expressed, whether there is a clear relation between the cause and the result, or whether there is any confusion in the text, whether the text unfolds smoothly or if there are any shifts, and possibly what function these have in influencing the recipients. By applying this tool, we can determine whether the report makes it obvious what happened, how the event happened, whether there are any ambiguities, blank spots or confusion, and especially if any further explanation or addition is necessary. 5.2. Applying the Analytical Framework The proposed analytical framework is applied to an authentic news reporting text, particularly a news report published on the title page of the daily MF DNES [The 70 A Critical Reading of News Reports Young Front Today]. The position of the text plays an important role – if an article appears on the title page (in this case even in the most prominent position directly above the title of the daily) and has a banner headline, it is obvious that the editorial office attaches considerable importance to its content, and it may be assumed that the news report will concern current events impacting the entire society.74 Napětí v českých ghettech roste [Tension In Czech Ghettos Increasing] Václav Janouš Editor for MF DNES 18th September 2017 Murders for money * Unemployment up to eighty percent * Seven hundred slum areas PRAGUE Last November, nineteen-year-old Roma youngster Patrik Danko did, out of boredom, an Internet test predicting what his life would be like in ten years. His result was: you’ll be on the run from the FBI. This almost came true within one year, except that he is not on the run from the “feds”, but from the Czech police intervention team, which came for him and three other underage boys at a dilapidated farmhouse in Dobřany, Plzeň region. The youngsters from the local ghetto are suspects in the murder of a thirty-year-old Ukrainian for money, which they never had much of, similarly to thousands of other people living on the verge of poverty. Sociologists warn that these youngsters are a typical product of the Roma ghettos, whose numbers are rapidly growing in the whole country. In the last twelve years, the number of ghettos as well as the people in them have doubled. “In the whole country there are approximately 1.5 million people in danger of poverty or social exclusion, including almost 100,000 aged six or younger and almost 180,000 people older than 65. The number of people living in socially excluded areas ranges between 95 and 115 thousand,” states an expert officer at the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Jiří Vaněk. To make the matter clearer: in 2015, according to the last precise population census, there were 606 ghettos and approximately 700 lodging houses in 297 towns and municipalities. According to officers, this year there will already be almost 700 ghettos. In contrast, there were only 310 ghettos in 2005, housing around half the people living there these days – 60,000 people. Recently, the ghettos have begun to be disintegrated into smaller areas. The large housing estates are disappearing and “solo houses” are emerging in villages. Poor, often unemployed people with low education move here, as well as the elderly, single mothers, and physically disabled individuals. “Smaller towns and municipalities lack developed social services. Increased abuse of addictive substances, which goes hand in hand with criminality, is appearing” states Simona Wachsbergerová from the Roma centre DROM in Brno. This is also exactly the case with the murder in Dobřany, a town of 6,000 near Plzeň. The youngsters, some of whom already have experience with hard drugs, chose the Ukrainian in a gaming arcade where he won some money on a slot machine. At the nearby kindergarten, they kicked him to death and took several thousand crowns from him. The boys’ families are now afraid of vengeance from Ukrainians, and have left the decaying house. This means over fifty people in total. “The problem with these areas is unemployment reaching up to eighty percent. This leads to other problems, such as social frustration, petty crimes, and social tension,” states spokesperson for the Minister for Human Rights and Equal Opportunities, Michal Kačírek. The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs has been claiming for years that a solution for socially excluded areas is a priority. Nevertheless, the trend is not slowing – even though the Ministry is going to spend over ten billion crowns on related measures, the biggest amount in history. 74 The report is divided into two parts, the second part is called Svérázný život ve vybydleném [Peculiar Life at a Run-Down Place] and is placed on the third page. For reasons of space, this trea- Applying the Analytical Framework 71 1) WHAT? The information provided in the headline does not trigger a present event, but a long-term process (the formation of tension in excluded areas /1a/) which is approached from a rather wide and indefinite perspective. More detailed information is provided in the initial summary substituting for the more common lead; it lists the important social problems: robbery-murders /1b/, high unemployment /2b/, and the emergence of excluded areas /3b/. Contrary to the genre standard, the report does not employ an informative style, and the events in the first two paragraphs are presented as a personal narrative. If the composition principle of the inverted pyramid is used, the first paragraph contains the core of the message, but in this case, the first paragraph provides information about the result of an Internet test made by the actor of the report, according to which his future is going to be criminal (the nineteen-year-old Roma youngster Patrik Danko did, out of boredom, an Internet test /1c/). The content of the second paragraph follows this event (the actor of the event was arrested together with other individuals for being suspects in a robbery-murder /2c/). At this point, the character of the report becomes significantly personal; what is undesirable is for instance the evaluation of the motives behind the crime (for money, which they never had much of.). In our opinion, another problematic aspect is the immediately following statement (Similarly to thousands of other people living on the verge of poverty.) where the formation of a false couple creates the impression that thousands of poor people are forced to cope with their situation in a similar way to the actor of the event. The events of the first two paragraphs are used to generalise the topicalised social problems (youngsters are a typical product of the Roma ghettos); in the following three paragraphs, the author includes numerical data related to the number of inhabitants in danger of poverty, the number of excluded areas and their social structure, and on the emergence of a new type of ghetto. These passages do not present information on any current event; they describe a particular demographic problem (large housing estates are disappearing and “solo houses” are emerging /3c/). In the last part of the article, the author returns to the events presented in the first paragraphs, describing more thoroughly the circumstances of the event /2c/ and implying its consequences (The boys’ families are now afraid of vengeance from Ukrainians, and have left the decaying house /4c/). Subsequently, another social issue is addressed (high unemployment), and the hopelessness of the situation is implied (Nevertheless, the trend is not slowing down), as it is put into direct contrast with the costs incurred by the state for its solution (even though the Ministry is going to spend over ten billion crowns on the related measures, the biggest amount in history /5C/). tise only deals with the first part, but if conducting a thorough analysis, it is important to also pay attention e.g. to the textual coherence of both parts of the article, the manner in which the topics addressed are developed, etc. 72 A Critical Reading of News Reports 2) WHO? The analysed news report is not a reproduced agency announcement, but an original editorial text. Its author is an employee of the daily, so the article was probably created for the needs of the editorial office, and represents its opinion. At this point, it is important to emphasise the link between the former owner of the media house Mafra, which now owns the daily MF DNES, to the world of politics (at the time of the article’s publication, the former owner of the daily and present Prime Minister Andrej Babiš held the office of Minister of Finance).75 The text of the report does not provide any information on the source of the author’s information on the event presented in the article. It only provides citations from two state officials (an expert officer of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and a spokesperson for the Minister for Human Rights and Equal Opportunities) and an employee of the Roma centre DROM. Their accounts are presented as literal citations, but are not directly related to either the crime or particular areas. They are only general statements related to the number of people in danger of poverty, the missing social care in small towns, and the high unemployment in excluded areas. It is therefore possible to find a link in the accounts of the cited sources to the hyper-topics summarised in the initial part of the article, but these are general claims and do not clearly indicate whether they were created for the needs of this article. Actor /1/ in the news report is the nineteen-year-old boy who is attributed with the activities and features that serve the author as tools to confirm the stereotypical conception of the particular social group. He is a young member of an explicitly-mentioned ethnic group who is bored and spends time on the Internet, lives in a half-collapsed abandoned farmhouse, is poor, and has never had “much” money, lives in the company of drug addicts, and in the effort to gain some money even resorts to the most brutal sort of crime. Actor /1/ committed the crime together 75 The media group Mafra was bought in June 2013 by Agrofert, a company owned at that time by Andrej Babiš. This occurred four months prior to his appointment to the position of Minister of Finance in Bohuslav Sobotka’s Government based on the elections to the Chamber of Deputies. In 2016, an amendment to the Act on the conflict of interests, nicknamed “Lex Babiš”, was adopted. According to this, members of the government and other officials owning at least a 25% share in a company cannot draw money from non-compulsory subsidies or carry out public contracts. In addition, the Act also entirely prohibits publishing printed media and operating TV and radio broadcasting; the issue of online media is, however, not specified in any way in the Act. The amendment was vetoed by President Miloš Zeman, but the Chamber of Deputies nevertheless approved it. Andrej Babiš reacted to the Act by putting his companies into two trust funds. AB private trust I and II in February 2017, and appointed his wife and his lawyer into the three-member supervisory board. Technically, Andrej Babiš therefore “got rid of” his property, but it is still prevalently managed by people closely-related to his person (for more information, see the online resource available at: https://ct24.ceskatelevize.cz/ekonomika/2028378-babis-prevedl-agrofert-do-sverenskeho-fondu-dohlizet-na-nej-bude-i-jeho-partnerka). Applying the Analytical Framework 73 with three other underage individuals /actors 2, 3 and 4/: apart from their age, the report provides information about their place of residence, and mentions their likely experience with drug abuse. The text also mentions the victim of the crime; the murdered man was a Ukrainian /actor 5/, and in relation to him, the reader is only provided with the information that at the time immediately preceding the crime he was gambling on a slot machine. The news report does not provide any account by actors /1–4/, and the author did not acquire more detailed information from the family members, investigators, or social workers. It is therefore unclear if the author used an older agency announcement, information provided directly by the Police of the Czech Republic, or his own source of information. 3) WHERE? The location of the event is described only to a limited extent in the report; the description is provided in relation to the events /1c, 2c, and 4c/ (the attempt at arresting the youngsters following the murder of a thirty-year-old Ukrainian). In particular, the report mentions the farmhouse where the actors lived /1/, and the town of Dobřany (more precisely a gaming arcade and the nearby kindergarten /2, 3/). The report also includes a general reference to ghettos (the important feature is not their location, but the current trend of their division into smaller areas) and village houses where socially disadvantaged individuals move (the unemployed, individuals with low education, etc.). In this case, the location is presented in general, but the important aspect is that these are small towns and villages, because these places in particular do not have sufficient social services. 4) WHEN? The author of the news report “tells a story” about the bad situation in ghettos, lodging houses, and houses inhabited by socially disadvantaged individuals, which is presented as a long-term condition with the implied perspective of further deterioration. The author supports his view by mentioning an event whose actors are four youngsters – the author provides the name of one of them. The background of the event is outlined. The story begins in November of the previous year, when actor /1/ did a test on the Internet (event time /-3/). The continuation is mentioned as well, (the attempted arrest of the youngsters that took place in the recent past /-1/) and so is the preceding crime (the murder of a Ukrainian in the nearby town /-2/). The author of the text even implies the direct consequences of this criminal act (the youngsters’ relatives moved away from the dilapidated house in fear of the victim’s family /0/). The “non-current” time /0/ may be determined as a longer period of time including the present state in ghettos. The report includes even its continuation (a negative trend that is not likely to be changed even by the billion-crown measures taken by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs /+1/). 74 A Critical Reading of News Reports 5) THE EVENT AND ITS STRUCTURE The headline of the news report states the information about the negative trend of development in ghettos. The information is even supported by the summarising lead concerning the most pressing social issues. What is problematic is the relation of these parts to the content of the report itself – the problematic points regarding the influence on the presumed recipient are the utilisation of the plural in the expression Murders for money, because although the report presents one particular case that is tragic and certainly also socially significant, the report does not relate it to the official police statistics, so it is not clear what percentage of the perpetrators of such serious crimes are committed by inhabitants of ghettos and socially excluded areas, and consequently, whether there is any demonstrable relationship between the place of residence and the number of murders. However, the form of the word used, murders, implies that it is a frequent phenomenon. Another piece of information, concerning high unemployment, is supported with a reference to the Ministry spokesperson; his statements are, however, very general. In addition, the negative impacts of unemployment, such as frustration or petty crimes, are a logical and expected consequence of losing one’s regular financial income, and the report does not provide any clear link to the event described (the actors in the event were prevalently youngsters, not individuals suffering from long-term unemployment). The last statement seven hundred slum areas is also misleading. The author of the article works with particular numbers, but does not state their source – the vague reference according to officers connected to the future tense there will already be almost 700 ghettos creates a discrepancy between the headline, the summarising lead, and the report itself. The headline states that the situation in ghettos is getting worse. However, it is not clearly specified how the author uses this expression – usually, it refers to secluded areas within a city agglomeration, and at present it also refers e.g. to housing estates inhabited by thousands of citizens, but as the report subsequently states, Ghettos have begun to be disintegrated into smaller areas. It is therefore unclear whether the amount stated in the report is related to secluded city areas, or abandoned and often run-down houses in small towns or, similarly to the case of the analysed news report, countryside farmhouses. In addition, the headline also seems illogical – an unsupported claim that tension in ghettos is increasing does not correspond to the subsequent claim that in fact these are presently disappearing. The text intentionally works with demographic data. The author virtually terrifies the readers by claiming that 15 % of inhabitants are directly in danger of poverty, but he does not state what it actually means, for instance what the daily income of such a person is. Also, it is not obvious how the concept of an excluded area is used in the report, because it states, referring to a Ministry official, that up to 115 thousand inhabitants live in such areas, although the ghettos (where the numbers of inhabitants have doubled) accommodate approximately half of them, i.e. around 60 thousand. Concerning the non-compliance with the principle of ob- Applying the Analytical Framework 75 jectivity and the subsequent effort to influence the readers, the problematic aspect is therefore the utilisation of imprecise and approximate numbers; in addition, these data are in terms of tens of thousands, so they have a significant potential for terrifying the reader. Another passage that may potentially influence the readers’ opinions and attitudes is the last paragraph of the report, which may be perceived as criticism of the activities of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. Despite the proclaimed interest in the issue of excluded areas, the Ministry is not capable of slowing down the negative trend. The negative assessment and attitude of the reader (and probably the taxpayer) may be induced especially with the final information regarding the planned expenses of ten billion crowns. At the time when the news report was published, i.e. shortly before the elections to Parliament, the reader is presented with a story about the grim social situation and learns that the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs is responsible for the situation. At that time, the Ministry was managed by a coalition partner of the politician who until recently owned the newspaper that published the text. The structure of the news report is captured in the following figure: NEWS REPORT Editorial (the journalist is a member of the editorial office belonging to the property holding company linked to a prominent politician) A list of pressing social issues (murders, unemployment emergence of slum areas) General information on the increasing tension in ghettos The Roma youngester. Three underage accomplices. The victim of the crime The Internet test. The murder of a young Ukrainian. The attempted arrest of the perpetrators. The escape of their relatives Figure 2. Structure of the analysed news report Source: Author’s work. A story of a grim social situation, incresing poverty, and the incompetence of the Ministry in charge The crime, its investigation and consequences. Manipulation with demographic data The excluded area. A non-specified place where accounts of the cited authorities were achieved 76 A Critical Reading of News Reports Conclusion The method for critical reading of news reports proposed by Allan Bell is a universally applicable algorithm. Having used it, the reader reflects on why the particular media text was created, what story it tells, and from what perspective the individual actors are presented. The reader links the news report with the current political context and considers to whom the particular interpretation of the outside world is beneficial and to whom it is detrimental. 6. Critical Reading of News Reports Concerning Artificial Reproduction Critical discourse analysis is commonly used as a qualitative method especially when working with isolated texts,76 but it may also be applied to groups of topic-related texts and may be focused for instance on their intertextual links and relationships, since the efficiency of news reporting messages is significantly strengthened if the influence on the recipient is long-term, and the reader accepts information as truthful more easily, if it is repeatedly affirmed. Media thus systematically work on strengthening the interests of political and economic elites (for more information, see Allan 2005, p. 108). The original informative function of news reporting is frequently not respected. In contrast, the persuasive potential of news reports is enhanced. In order to comprehend the entire meaning of the message, it is therefore important not only to place the text into a wider social context, but also to realise its links to other messages. The following chapter deals with a critical reading of news reports published over two years on the website of the Internet daily iDNES77 addressing the topic of assisted reproduction. In order to place these reports into the wider socio-polit76 The analysis of larger aggregates of data uses for instance the method of corpus linguistics, which combines the a priory qualitative assessment of discourse with the new angle of perception and enriches it with further tools and procedures. Traditional corpus linguistics is based on the presupposition that variation in the selection of the means of expression in a language is always functional and represents a systemic phenomenon (for more information see Mautner 2016, p. 155), so its results may potentially be used even for socio-linguistically oriented language research. The methods and tools of corpus linguistics enable the utilisation of large aggregates of texts for analysis, which reduces the risk of confusion and ambiguous interpretation resulting from a limited amount of material in traditional qualitative research. The utilisation of corpus linguistics software must not limit the research only to the quantitative assessment of the obtained data; instead, it is targeted at assessing the importance and functions of the collocations used in texts and describing the semantic specifics of particular lexical units. Interesting results may also be derived from research into grammatical categories, etc. 77 The news reporting website iDNES.cz was established on 12th January 1998, and is part of the media group Mafra. It is an online equivalent to the daily MF DNES. iDNES.cz publishes not only content adopted from the printed media, but also continuously updated reports. Apart from reports concerning events from the Czech Republic, the website also includes sections focused on news from abroad, from the sector of economics, sports and culture. More information is available at https://mafra.cz/portfolio.aspx?y=mafra/portfolio-idnes.htm&cat=internet/ (accessed: 19.02.2019). 78 Critical Reading of News Reports Concerning Artificial Reproduction ical context, it is important to note that the personality of the former owner of this online daily and the current Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Andrej Babiš creates links incorporating not only private clinics executing assisted reproduction and a particular media house, but also the sector of politics. In 2014, Babiš became co-founder of the investment fund Hartenberg Holding. This fund invests especially in the healthcare sector, mainly in gynaecology and reproductive medicine. The fund has been gradually buying reproduction clinics in the Czech Republic as well as abroad, and has integrated them into a network of clinics, FutureLife. At present, FutureLife incorporates clinics in four European countries. Apart from the Czech Republic, these are Slovakia, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.78 In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the FutureLife network has become by far the largest. In this country, it controls around 40% of the market concerning clinics offering artificial fertilisation, but the company is large even on a European scale: in Europe (apart from Russia and Ukraine) it holds third position. In addition, Hartenberg publicly claims its intention is to extend the network further and expand, especially abroad.79 At present, women are entitled to three cycles of IVF (in vitro fertilisation) financed by their health insurance company. If only one embryo is implanted at the first two attempts, they are entitled to four cycles, provided that these are executed prior to the woman’s 39th birthday.80 If these cycles are not successful, further attempts are financed by the couples themselves. The Ministry of Health, governed by a person without political affiliation nominated by the ANO movement (a political movement whose chairperson is A. Babiš), is working on a change to this system. The age limit should be extended by one year,81 although according to medical statistics the success rate of assisted reproduction decreases with age and only approximately four percent of forty-year-old women give birth to a child following artificial fertilisation.82 The increase in expenses for health insurance companies would amount to dozens of millions of crowns. Another adjustment could be one more cycle financed by the health insurance company for women undergoing first IVF before the age of 35. This bonus is intended to motivate women not to postpone the process, because there is a better chance of success at a younger age. Further78 Available online at https://idnes.cz/ekonomika/podniky/babisuv-hartenberg-koupi-klinikygennet.A141202_151739_ekoakcie_fih/ (accessed: 21.02.2019). 79 Available online at https://seznamzpravy.cz/clanek/sazka-na-umele-oplodneni-se-babisovi-vyplatila-jeho-futurelife-je-evropskym-hracem-34628/ (accessed: 21.02.2019). 80 Section 15 (3) of Act 48/1997 Coll. On Public Health Insurance and on the Amendment and Changes to Certain Related Acts. Available online at https://zakonyprolidi.cz/cs/1997-48#cast10/ (accessed: 21.02.2019). 81 Available online at https://idnes.cz/zpravy/domaci/rodicky-umele-oplodneni-tehotenstvi-dite-ministerstvo-zdravotnictvi.A181030_201851_domaci_mesz/ (accessed: 21.02.2019). 82 Available online at https://archiv.ihned.cz/c1-66427840-do-umeleho-oplodneni-maji-jitdesitky-milionu-navic-zvysovat-se-ma-i-vekova-hranice-u-zen-odbornici-volaji-po-lecbe-muzu/ (accessed: 21.02.2019). Presentation of the Topic in News Reports 79 more, the Ministry of Health is also concerned that women could be entitled to further cycles financed by the health company, if they had previously successfully undergone assisted reproduction.83 The analysis of the selected news reports therefore focuses on the way in which the online daily iDNES presents the particular health issue, which may be controversial for health as well as ethical reasons for many readers, and which is the object of significant interest of a prominent politician, who controls the funds managing both the news reporting website and the network of reproduction clinics. 6.1. Presentation of the Topic in News Reports In order to discover persuasive and manipulative strategies, T.A. van Dijk proposed the application of five imperatives to the text. These enable us to identify in what way the principles of objective and balanced presentation of information are infringed, and reveal the potentially present manipulative tendencies: 1) Investigate the context of the discourse. The important aspects of the context are the role of the author, his/her possible affiliation with social and interest groups, the motivation for communication, the genre, the expected audience, and the environment of the communication act. 2) Analyse which groups, power relations, and conflicts are included in the message. The individual actors of the events are commonly attributed an affiliation with particular social groups which have their own aims and interests. It is therefore important to observe the categories defining the interests and identity of the actors. 3) Notice the positive and negative labelling related to the dichotomy “us” versus “them”. 4) Explicate what is presumed as obvious in the text and what the text implies. 5) Investigate all formal structures strengthening or diminishing the polarised group opinions (cited according to Trampota 2006, p. 73, shortened). In the period 2017–2018, we searched the online daily iDNES for news reports addressing in some way the topic of artificial fertilisation. The time scale was determined so that its beginning corresponded with the day on which A. Babiš placed the media house as well as the reproduction clinics into the trust funds, and the end was determined as the end of the year 2018. Over this period, the daily published seventeen news reports addressing the topic of assisted reproduction. Their analysis focuses on the macro-propositions appearing in them, and the positive or negative presentation of the topic. We also analysed who the actors of the reported 83 Available online at https://idnes.cz/zpravy/domaci/rodicky-umele-oplodneni-tehotenstvi-dite-ministerstvo-zdravotnictvi.A181030_201851_domaci_mesz/ (accessed: 21.02.2019). 80 Critical Reading of News Reports Concerning Artificial Reproduction events are, what personalities express their attitudes to the issue of artificial fertilisation, whether they are linked in some way to the artificial reproduction clinics, and possibly also their experience with this issue. In addition, we observed what means of expression are used in the texts in order to support the presented content. 6.2. Macro-Propositions and the Topic Structure of News Reports The analysis involved articles published in the section News (domestic, from the regions, and in one case from abroad). In this section, readers traditionally expect brief and unbiased information on current topics important to society (see above). Contrary to this expectation, the analysed reports often presented information about events that are not current and their social importance is questionable. In addition, the section of the News also includes interviews with medical doctors (three cases in total) on the issue of infertility and its treatment from the longterm perspective. As to the influence of the particular text on its recipients, an important factor is the perspective from which the topic is viewed, and whether it is presented in a positive or negative way. The individual texts are intertextually connected by common umbrella hyper-topics, i.e. the semantic macro-structures which may be derived from the narrower, currently implemented, local meaning structures. Macro-propositions are the result of abstraction and they represent a certain generalisation. By formulating them, the recipients de facto refer to what they understand as the most important aspect of the text, and “what it is about” in their view. Macro-propositions link the content and its individual structural units and function generally as a means of text coherence, so they form the core meaning of the entire message (for more detailed information regarding the terminology see van Dijk 1980, 2001b). Their overview is presented in the following table. The most frequently covered macro-propositions in the individual articles were the following: 1) the embryo mix-up at the Reprofit clinic, 2) reasons for infertility, 3) the IVF method, 4) ova donations as a possible solution to the infertility issue, 5) the method of financing of the IVF method, 6) popularity of Czech clinics abroad, 7) multiple pregnancies, 8) the ban on artificial fertilisation for single women and women living in a lesbian relationship, the negotiations in Parliament. Macro-Propositions and the Topic Structure of News Reports 81 Table 1. The macro-propositions used in the analyzed articles News report publication date 3rd January 2017 Headline Brněnská klinika čelí podezření ze záměny embryí, případ prověřuje stát [Brno clinic faces suspected embryo mix-up, the issue is investigated by the state authorities] Macro-proposition The first case of embryo mix-up is investigated Ownership link to the trust fund of A. Babiš The error was reported by the clinic itself How the embryo mix-up could occur Possible solution in families with mixed-up embryos The tradition of assisted reproduction in Brno 5th January 2017 Po kauze s vyměněnými embryi může oplodňovací byznys v Brně utrpět ránu [Brno fertilization business may incur losses after the affair with embryo mix-up] Excellent reputation and success of domestic clinics Embryo mix-up as a nightmare for reproduction clinic doctors Popularity of clinics among foreign clients Rigorous checks and minimal risk of a mixup Clinic’s positive approach to the problem 4th February 2017 24th February 2017 27th February 2017 Odmítli dvě embrya, protože se báli dvojčat. Nakonec se narodila trojčata [Out of fear of having twins they refused the implantation of two embryos. Eventually they had triplets] Poslanci zaútočili na umělé oplodnění i náhradní mateřství [Deputies attacking artificial fertilization and surrogacy] Za záměnu embryí na klinice v Brně může lidská chyba, zjistil SÚKL [The embryo mix-up at the Brno clinic was a human error, found the State Institute for Drug Control] Multiple pregnancy is rare after the implantation of one embryo The life story of a particular couple who wanted to have two children, and have four in total, following artificial fertilisation Smooth pregnancy, childbirth, and subsequent care for babies Conservative deputies intervened against artificial fertilisation for single women and lesbian couples Ethics-related problems of anonymous donations Proposed restrictions (the number of embryos from anonymous donors, the age of ova recipients, the ban on surrogacy) The mix-up is not a system error, but was caused by an individual Clinic’s negotiation with the affected couples about compensation The procedure of assisted reproduction Circumstances of the mix-up Statistics on the number of children born after artificial fertilisation 82 Critical Reading of News Reports Concerning Artificial Reproduction 26th April 2017 Ženy bez partnerů nezískají nárok na umělé oplodnění, rozhodli poslanci [Deputies have decided: Single women are not entitled to artificial fertilization] The ban on artificial fertilisation for single women and women in lesbian relationships Conservative deputies addressing the Parliament April 2017 Zbláznila se, řekla Marksová o Chalánkové, která odmítla právo na dítě [Chalánková rejected the right to have a child: She’s gone mad, Marksová claimed] The reaction of the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs to the negotiations in Parliament The IVF method with single women 30th April 2017 Odmítnout právo na umělé oplodnění má svou logiku, myslí si lékař [Rejection of the right to IVF seems logical, a doctor thinks] 26th Proposals by conservative deputies and the negotiation Advantages of artificial fertilisation and its financial demands Myths and superstitions around the IVF method The fourth clinic executing IVF opened in Ostrava 1st May 2017 V Ostravě otevřela další reprodukční klinika [A new reproduction clinic opened in Ostrava] Promotion of the clinic by its manager Denying the advantages and qualities of the clinic by competitors Competition in the field is beneficial and may help patients 6th June 2017 15th April 2018 18th June 2018 Za záměnu embryí má klinika zaplatit 800 tisíc, sama na chybu upozornila [The clinic should pay 800 thousand for embryo mix-up; the clinic itself reported the error] Někdy žena už ve dvaceti nemá dost vajíček a neví o tom, říká gynekolog [Some women may not have enough ova already at the age of 20, without being aware of it, a gynaecologist says] V Motole přišla na svět čtyřčata, v Česku se narodila po patnácti letech [Quadruplets born in Motol, being the first ones in The Czech Republic in fifteen years] The fine for an error at the Reprofit clinic The clinic itself reported the error, it was an individual’s error The procedure of assisted reproduction, preventive and safety measures How the mix-up could occur An interview with a doctor who perceives the high age of women as a frequent reason for infertility Reasons for infertility Current trends in treatment Ova donations Zero risk of hormonal stimulation Multiple childbirth statistics Advantages of the Motol hospital Demographic trends Hormonal treatment and the importance of artificial reproduction centres Macro-Propositions and the Topic Structure of News Reports 83 Artificial fertilisation has already been going on for 40 years 25th July 2018 Dříve mohly za neplodnost líné spermie, dnes odkládání mateřství u žen [In the past, the infertility was caused by lazy sperm, at present, it is women postponing maternity] The treatment method is constantly improved and developed (medication as well as medical appliances) The women’s advanced age is a more frequent reason for infertility The first IVF-conceived child was born in Brno in 1982 The success rate of the treatment is rapidly increasing 26th August 2018 Není pravda, že se zhoršují spermie, tvrdí přední český embryolog [The deterioration of sperm is not true, a prominent Czech embryologist claims] An interview with a doctor who claims that increased infertility in men is not scientifically proven Negative factors influencing men’s fertility Convenient time for infertility treatment The IVF method and its development The tradition and prestige of Brno clinics 9th October 2018 4th November 2018 30th December 2018 Za umělým oplodněním míří do Česka stále více cizinek, nejvíce Britky a Němky [Increasingly more foreign women heading to the Czech Republic for artificial fertilization, mostly the British and Germans] Stát chystá změny v umělém oplodnění. Přidá rok i další pokus zdarma [The state prepares changes to artificial fertility. It is going to add a year and one more free-of-charge cycle] Doma byla na umělé oplodnění už stará. Pomohli mi až Češi, líčí Francouzka [Too old for artificial fertilization at her home. I only received help from the Czechs, a French woman state] Source: Author’s work. The number of infertile couples seeking help in the Czech Republic is increasing High quality and low price of treatment at Czech clinics The popularity of Spanish clinics Czech women go abroad only if they are single or live in a lesbian relationship A personified story of a patient who has two healthy children thanks to the IVF method Changes planned by the Ministry of Health (extension of the age limit for treatment and increase in the number of free-or-charge cycles) Risks related to postponement of treatment Ova donations as a solution to the infertility problem A personified story of a French woman who could not undergo treatment in her country due to her age Advantages of treatment in the Czech Republic (price, swiftness, doctors’ competence) Selection of the ova donor (similarity to parents) The increasing popularity of Czech clinics among foreign clients 84 Critical Reading of News Reports Concerning Artificial Reproduction The unifying hyper-topics are processed in the individual article so as to present the method in a strictly positive way, as a sensitive treatment method which can solve the infertility problem. The interviews with experts emphasise in particular the development the method has undergone, and address the long-term tradition as well as the exceptional success of Czech clinics (especially those in Brno). What is either trivialised or entirely omitted are the complications the repeated hormonal stimulation may induce. The reports state that a very convenient method of treatment is the utilisation of donated ova (it is repeatedly emphasised that particular parents may choose among the donors a woman who is visually similar, e.g. has the same colour or eyes or hair, and the child also acquires a certain similarity to the mother during prenatal development. Another significant factor is the subsequent imitation of the mimics and gestures of the parents, etc.). The credibility of Czech clinics is supposed to be enhanced by their popularity abroad. The authors of the articles include statistics documenting the increasing interest, and the low price compared to foreign clinics is stated as one of the reasons. The emphasised aspects include the high quality, short waiting periods and ensured anonymity. The importance of other reasons for infertility (such as infertility in men) is questioned as a repeatedly mentioned factor considered the greatest problem is the advanced age of women. The authors of the texts influence women by arguing that they should not postpone the treatment and should visit the experts in the field as soon as possible. Another aspect covered in relation to this is the issue of payments for treatment. It is repeatedly mentioned that a change is going to be introduced that would extend the age limit for women to undergo treatment free-of-charge and provide one more cycle financed from the health insurance if the client seeks help before the age of 35. What is mentioned in relation to the IVF method is the risk of multiple pregnancy. Even in this case, however, the presumed disadvantage is presented as a positive. The author (a member of the editorial office) documents an example of a particular family where triplets were born following artificial fertilisation and that neither the pregnancy, nor childbirth, nor the upbringing of triplets are substantially difficult. He supports his claim with reference to anonymous doctors caring for the particular client, who were pleasantly surprised that the pregnancy and childbirth were smooth, as well as the fact that the woman did not heed any help from social workers within the children’s first year. The only risk factor actually mentioned in the articles is the potential mix-up of embryos. The topic appeared in reaction to a case that happened at one of the clinics belonging to Babiš’s trust fund. Even in this case, the authors of the articles (affiliated with the editorial office as well) are trying to present the negative content of the news reports in a positive way. It is repeatedly stated that the error was reported by the clinic itself (so it was not the case of a scandal revealed by a journalist), that it was in no way a system failure, but a human error caused by a particular individual. In addition, an interviewed expert repeatedly described the procedure Actors of News Reports 85 of assisted reproduction in several articles; he pointed out the stages of the process at which the mix-up could hypothetically occur. What is important, however, for potential clients is the emphasis on the fact that now the clinics will be even more careful than in the past, so the previous minimal risk has not been reduced to almost zero. Later reports addressing this topic also state what compensation the couples afflicted by the mix-up will receive. The last hyper-topic is the Parliament negotiations regarding the law on surrogacy. Deputies who have pointed out the ethical and health issues resulting from IVF are labelled as conservative. The articles question their decision not to make the treatment available for everyone (i.e. not for women who are single or live in a lesbian relationship). The polarisation of the positively accepted group of “us”, i.e. those who approve of the method, and “them”, i.e. those who oppose it, is manifested most significantly in the article headlined Zbláznila se, řekla Marksová o Chalánkové, která odmítla právo na dítě [Chalánková rejected the right to have a child: She’s gone mad, Marksová claimed]. 6.3. Actors of News Reports In the context of other social and cultural processes, the form of present-day media communication is significantly changing. A typical feature of current public media and political communication is the expansion of the communication framework which is related among other things to the changing roles of the participants of a communication act – both in the sense of their number and the quality of their contribution to the general result of a particular communication event. Fairclough (2005b, p. 146) notes that politics is finding itself in a transitional stage (from an extreme vantage point, it may be perceived as a political crisis); its typical features are the following: a) the strengthened pressure of institutions on politicians, and b) a change in the interests of active politicians. It has therefore become slightly problematic to define the field of politics and to determine where it begins and ends, since at present we regard politics rather as a social structure of society. Another issue closely related to that mentioned above is the question about the relationship between “civil” society and the world of “professional” politics. There are actually two co-existing types of political communication – the mutual communication among professional politicians, and communication between politicians and the media, environmental activists, human rights defenders, etc. The area of political media communication is expanded by new topics in the public interest, and this process leads to a logical extension of the range of active participants of a communication act. Apart from professionals, i.e. politicians and journalists, other parties entering the communication include experts from the 86 Critical Reading of News Reports Concerning Artificial Reproduction respective field (they are approached by the media organisations particularly to provide laypersons with an “impartial” explanation concerning the essence of the problem), as well as so-called new politicians, i.e. representatives of various civil society groups, volunteer organisations, etc., representatives from the field of economics, and increasingly more space is also dedicated to so-called ordinary people who are supposed to present “unbiased and healthy” popular opinions, as well as contribute to the personalisation of news reports. The choice of witnesses and commentators approached is a well-conceived process and is an important part of the chosen communication strategy. The actors in the sample of analysed news reports are both active politicians and professionals from the field of artificial reproduction, including representatives of professional organisations, and communicators from the public (these groups consist exclusively of female clients who have successfully undergone the treatment, and their family members). In our opinion, another very significant fact is that all the texts (except one report that was prevalently adopted from the French daily Le Figaro) are original editorial messages, so they are not reproduced agency reports. They are texts created to meet the needs of the editorial office. An overview of the actors is provided in the following table, and if needed, the topics of their activities are attributed to them. The analysis of texts indicated that the actors of the individual news reports are selected in such a way so that their accounts contribute to the generally positive presentation of the topic. The interviewed experts are exclusively doctors and specialists who are either employees of reproduction clinics, or are active in research related to this method at the theoretical level. They always present artificial fertilisation as a method with significant potential for solving the infertility problem, emphasise the importance of seeking a solution to this problem in time (the success rate of the IVF method significantly decreases with the increasing age of patients), and at the same time they downplay the importance of the influence of other health complications leading to infertility where the IVF method is not indicated. None of the interviewed experts mention ethical issues (e.g. the destruction of embryos that are not used during the treatment), possible risks associated with the treatment (related for instance to the repeated hormonal stimulation of clients), or possible medical complications for the ova donors. Moreover, the cases where the treatment was unsuccessful are not mentioned either. In summary, the method is presented as a safe and non-problematic way of solving the problems of infertile couples. Representatives of other professional organisations include in particular the spokespersons of the State Institute for Drug Control, the Ministry of Health, and the Institute of Medical Information and Statistics. Their accounts cover the issue of embryo mix-up in one of the Brno reproduction clinics which belongs specifically to the holding company connected to Prime Minister Babiš. The statements provided by the spokespersons of state institutions always emphasise the fact that the Table 2. Actors of news reports News report publication date 3rd January 2017 Expert from the field of IVF The chair of the department of assisted reproduction of the Czech Gynaecology and Obstetrics Society, who lists all the measures that substantially prevent the embryo mix-up at all clinics Doctors from reproduction clinics in general 5th Director of the largest Brno clinic Repromeda Spokesperson for the State Institute for Drug Control emphasised that embryo mixup at the Reprofit Clinic is an error caused by an individual, not a system failure A lawyer describes the possible ways of compensating for the affected couples Politician Andrej Babiš as the former owner of the Reprofit clinic Ministry of Health refuses to comment on the issue Clients of reproduction clinics Children born every year in the Czech Republic thanks to the IVF method Spokesperson for the State Institute for Drug Control emphasised that embryo mix-up is an error caused by an individual, not a system failure Spokesperson of the holding company owning the clinic, who emphasised that it is not a system failure An interviewed doctor emphaPR experts noting that the sising all the safety measures Reprofit clinic managed the situation very well and emphasising that treatment will be secured in an even better way from now on Foreign clients affected by the embryo mix-up Foreign clients in general Actors of News Reports January 2017 Representative of a professional organisation 87 Parents who had triplets following IVF Doctors from the maternity hospital where the babies were born Conservative politicians who rejected the proposal to make IVF available even for single women and those living in lesbian relationships 24th February 2017 27th February 2017 Chair of the department of assisted reproduction of the Czech Gynaecology and Obstetrics Society, who presents the IVF procedure and states how the embryo mix-up could hypothetically occur Spokesperson for the State Institute for Drug Control emphasised that embryo mixup is not a system failure and speaks about the professional approach of the clinic where the mix-up occurred Andrej Babiš and his connection to the clinic where the embryo mix-up occurred Deputies who rejected the proposal to make IVF available for single women and those living in lesbian relationships 26th April 2017 Deputies standing strongly against this proposal A deputy who proposed making the treatment available to everyone Two clients whose embryos were mixed up The number of children born in the Czech Republic thanks to IVF 88 Critical Reading of News Reports Concerning Artificial Reproduction 4th February 2017 Gynaecologist who cared for the mother of triplets Minister of Labour and Social Affairs who criticised deputies for rejecting the proposal to make IVF available to everyone 26th April 2017 Deputies who were against the proposal 30th April 2017 1st May 2017 A doctor from the Prague Centre for Assisted Reproduction explains in an interview the most frequent “myths” around IVF The head clinician of the newly opened reproduction clinic emphasises the advantages of his workplace Heads of existing clinics advocate the quality of the existing facilities Managing director of the company which invested in the new clinic emphasised the advantages of the workplace Patients who will have better access to medical care after the clinic’s opening Actors of News Reports 89 6th June 2017 Director of the medical holding owning the clinic where the embryo mix-up occurred Chairman of the department of assisted reproduction of the Czech Gynaecology and Obstetrics Society, who states how the embryo mix-up could hypothetically occur 15th April 2018 A gynaecologist from the Karlovy Vary assisted reproduction centre speaking about the reasons for infertility 18th June 2018 Doctors from the University Hospital in Motol 25th July 2018 A gynaecologist comparing the present-day medical procedures to those 40 years ago 26th August 2018 A Brno embryologist explaining the reasons for infertility Spokesperson for the State Institute for Drug Control Quadruplets born in the Motol hospital A woman born 40 years ago in Great Britain as the “first IVF child” The first boy born thanks to IVF in the Czech Republic in 1982 90 Critical Reading of News Reports Concerning Artificial Reproduction The Reprofit clinic where the embryo mix-up occurred An employee of the Reprofit clinic states the nationality of the patients (Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Israel, the USA, Austria) Employees of the clinics Iscare and Arleta confirm similar data 9th October 2018 The head of the IVF Cube clinic states that patients have experience from abroad, but their treatment was successful only in the Czech Republic A gynaecologist from the University Hospital of Palacký University Olomouc emphasises the advantages of treatment in the Czech Republic The Institute of Medical Information and Statistics confirms the rapid growth in the number of foreign clients Foreign couples coming to the Czech Republic for IVF due to the lower price, shorter waiting period, and the high standards of medical care Czech women going abroad – the only reason is that the Czech Republic does not allow treatment for single women or lesbian couples Actors of News Reports 91 4th November 2018 Chair of the department of assisted reproduction who considers the extension of the age limit an optimal solution, and promotes the method of IVF with donated ova A doctor from the Reprofit clinic emphasising the advantages and success of the IVF method 30th December 2018 Source: Author’s work. Spokesperson of the Ministry of Health informing about the planned changes Ministry of Health; the report presents in a positive way the proposal for extension of the age limit for free-of-charge treatment financed by health insurance companies (up to the age of 40) and to provide another free-of-charge cycle for women who decide to start treatment before the age of 35 A forty-one-year-old patient who has undergone numerous attempts at IVF resulting in her having two children, and who had to pay 430,000 CZK for the treatment Ova donors (anonymous Czech women aged 20–25) Foreign clients – the popularity of Czech clinics abroad is increasing; the advantages are excellent care and a good price A French woman, Céline, and her twenty-year-younger partner, have successfully undergone treatment in Prague and are awaiting the birth of their daughter 92 Critical Reading of News Reports Concerning Artificial Reproduction A doctor from the centre for assisted reproduction who welcomes the extension of the age limit for free-of-charge IVF Local Meanings and the Used Means of Expression 93 mix-up was not a consequence of a system failure, but a rare human error caused by one particular individual. Additional emphasised aspects include the safety and preventive measures. The statements of Ministry officials address the financing of the treatment, and they mention the hope for many clients arising from the potential extension of the age limit for treatment financed by health insurance companies and the increase in the number of cycles financed by them. The last topic addressed is the popularity of Czech reproduction clinics abroad. The statements list the home countries of the clients coming to the Czech Republic, and emphasise the advantages of treatment in the Czech Republic compared to foreign countries. The topic of artificial fertilisation represents a problem related to the entire society, and is related in some of the reports to the current negotiations taking place in the Parliament. These reports even allow space for politicians who disapprove of the IVF method and reject it for health as well as ethical reasons. The reports frequently emphasise their conservative attitude, and in relation to the statements of these politicians the reports present the fact that they reject the application of this method in cases of single women and those living in a lesbian relationship. The reports thus emphasise their conservative approach and non-democratic attitude. The most important persuasive potential is in our opinion represented by the selection of lay commentators from the public. These include exclusively female clients who have successfully undergone treatment with this method and become pregnant thanks to it, or who have already given birth to healthy babies. The interviewed individuals do not include anyone whose treatment was unsuccessful or led to subsequent health complications. The selection of actors in the analysed texts therefore strengthens the implicit tone of the news reports presenting IVF as a successful method that does not involve any substantial risks. The existence of experts or laypersons who would question its advantages or reject it as generally not permissible are not provided with any space in the news reports; the deputies opposing the method in Parliament votes are labelled as non-liberal, undemocratic, and conservative politicians. 6.4. Local Meanings and the Used Means of Expression Apart from the choice of topics and contents transmitted, the presumed recipient is also influenced by the selection of the means of expression. These so-called local meanings include the used lexical units, the organisation of sentence structures, utilisation of the verbal voice and the related way of expressing the agent and his or her backgrounding, etc. The utilised means of expression can potentially influence the way the transmitted contents are interpreted. By using a means of expression including an implicit evaluation (e.g. figurative speech, presupposition, an inherently expressive expression, etc.), the author influences the recipient, the way in 94 Critical Reading of News Reports Concerning Artificial Reproduction which the message will be interpreted and the value frameworks into which it will be embedded. The analysed messages, with regard to their topic, usually do not involve any explicitly manifested effort for polarisation of society and establishment of a strict line between the positively evaluated group of “us” and “them”. The reason is that there is almost no space allowed in these messages for the actors – communicators who do not approve of the IVF method. In this sense the exception are the reports addressing the negotiation about artificial fertilisation and surrogacy in the Parliament. Their actions are labelled with the military metaphor deputies attacking, and it is emphasised that those opposing IVF were conservative deputies who intervened against artificial fertilisation for single women and lesbian couples. A female Minister supporting the proposal was shocked by the opinion of her colleague – a female deputy from the opposition party, and claimed her colleague has gone mad when she rejected the right to have a child. News reports addressing the topic of embryo mix-up repeatedly claim that it was an error caused by an individual, emphasising that it was the first embryo mixup, and that it was a human error, which the clinic itself detected and immediately reported to the State Institute for Drug Control. The problem only involved one particular workplace which faced it and the mistake resulted in strengthening the control measures to achieve even greater certainty (which implies that there were certain measures prior to the incident and they are going to be strengthened). The only part conveying the elements of negative evaluation is the remark that the clinics are profit-oriented (according to its critics, assisted reproduction has become a profitable business in the Czech Republic; some information states that up to four billion crowns flow into the sector annually). The headline of an editorial news report from 5th January 2017 reacting immediately to a current event shows the evident detachment (the fertilisation business in Brno may incur losses), but the text itself presents the method unambiguously in a positive way – thousands of couples from the Czech Republic as well as from abroad come here, thanks to the excellent reputation of local clinics and Brno reproduction clinics are well-known – the previously excellent reputation was attacked, but the error occurring at one particular clinic is downplayed by claiming that it is a nightmare for doctors from [all – a note by J.S.] clinics. The positive aspects of the method are promoted in news reports related to the popularity of Czech clinics abroad. They usually include a presupposition: e.g. in the headline Increasingly more foreign women heading to the Czech Republic for artificial fertilisation, implies that the number of foreign clients was high even in the past, but it has been constantly increasing. The statement that future parents do not need to wait so long implies that the situation elsewhere is worse, while the expression reproduction tourism implies that the situation is not serious and solving the infertility problem is as easy as organising a trip. The relevant factors influencing choice include the high quality of treatment, clients coming to Czech clinics are Conclusion 95 experienced patients who have undergone several unsuccessful cycles. The number of foreign women coming to the Czech Republic is large. The positive evaluation of the results of the treatment, even in the case of multiple pregnancies, is strengthened by particles: it is uncommon that a triple pregnancy would be so smooth and the babies and the mother were alright. The desired effect of the influence on the recipients is also the acceptance of the requirement for the extension of the age limit for free-of-charge care as a legitimate and justified one. A positive evaluation is usually placed in the statements of the interviewed experts: We would welcome an extension of the age limit for financing IVF cycles; The age of forty is not a compromise, but an optimal option. I expect that the age limit will be increased – the step is supported by the public. The Ministry is planning changes that would save money and increase the chance of some women falling pregnant. The potential of the emotional influence on the recipients is conveyed in the statements of experts such as: The child is the most important thing in a woman’s life. A child is a gift. The greatest one. Conclusion The analysis of a sample of topic-related news reports has proven that the news reporting genre, intended originally for objective and matter-of-fact presentation of information about a current event, may be used as a tool for systematic and long-term influencing of recipients in relation to topics being the area of engagement of the media’s owner or other social institutions belonging to the establishment of the particular society. The choice of actors, experts, covered events, and the linguistic means used enables the achievement of desired communication aims and of significant influence over the views and attitudes of the presumed recipients. 7. Dyskurs — ideologia — agresja Niniejszy rozdział dotyczy polskiego dyskursu o czeskich manifestacjach jako przykładu zaniku norm grzecznościowych i reguł spójnościowych we współczesnej polszczyźnie. Język dyskursu politycznego jest w ramach współczesnej polszczyzny w jasny sposób nadmiernie ekspansywny. Polityczne odwołania można odnaleźć w każdym niemal jej rejestrze funkcjonalnym i stylistycznym. Nawet te wypowiedzi, które w założeniu nadawców mają być przepełnienie humorem, w rzeczywistości są wypowiedziami silnie nacechowanymi politycznie; nawet te warstwy leksyki, które wydawałyby się apolityczne, mogą w zaskakujący sposób stać się argumentem politycznym. Dobrym na to dowodem są przykłady fikcyjnych toponimów przywoływane przez Ewę Badydę i Lucynę Wardę-Radys na marginesie słynnego w polskiej polityce, aczkolwiek nieistniejącego kraju San Escobar (Badyda, Warda-Radys 2018). Dyskurs internetowy — ze swoją potocznością i dążnością do skrótowości, o których wspominał Grzenia (2006, s. 97–119) — zdaje się przestrzenią niemal stworzoną do tego, aby być naturalnym habitatem dla sporów politycznych. Anonimowość w połączeniu z efemerycznością, tak charakterystyczne dla sytuacji komunikacyjnych związanych z Internetem, przekształcają potocyzmy w wulgaryzmy, skrótowość zaś doprowadza do daleko idących uproszczeń składniowych, co potwierdza słuszność dawnej już jak na kwestie związane z Internetem tezy Bożeny Taras, która o języku interentowym pisała: Oznaką przemian jest prymitywizacja norm komunikacji międzyludzkiej, na poziomie języka wyrażającego się agresją słowną, oraz odrzucenie dotychczasowego systemu wartości i wzorca grzeczności językowej. (Taras 2004, s. 42) Oba te zjawiska w tradycyjnym opisie językowym powinny stać się przedmiotem refleksji stylistycznej, jednak — jak zauważył Krzysztof Maćkowiak — dość powszechną tezą, powtarzaną w Polsce od początku lat dziewięćdziesiątych XX wieku, jest stwierdzenie o daleko posuniętej dezintegracji stylistyki (Maćkowiak 2017, s. 24). I choć sam autor stara się bronić stylistyki, to jednak nietrudno zauważyć, że nawet prace, które mają być argumentem na rzecz obrony stylistyki, chętnie posługują się pojęciem dyskursu, a w niektórych wypadkach wręcz odchodzą od ram stylistycznych na rzecz pojęcia dyskursu i jego analizy. Dla mnie istotne Materiał tekstowy 97 jest, że zabieg ten szczególnie często dotyczy przestrzeni mediów, nowych mediów i polityki, jak ma to miejsce w publikacji Style współczesnej polszczyzny, w której pojęcie dyskursu okazuje się bardziej poręczne. W tym syntetyzującym ujęciu kwestię dyskursu w Internecie i wtórnie stylu tego dyskursu podjęła Urszula Żydek-Bednarczuk, która na dyskurs internetowy patrzy głównie przez pryzmat zagrożeń niesionych przez tę formę komunikacji w stosunku do ogólnie przyjętych norm polszczyzny, szczególnie dla normy typograficznej, interpunkcyjnej i leksykalnej (Żydek-Bednarczuk 2013, s. 371). W ewidentny sposób to poczucie zagrożenia w stosunku do norm językowych nasila się w czasie, zwłaszcza gdy mowa o normie grzecznościowej. W ocenie tej tylko peryferyjnie, i raczej na zasadzie hipotezy, pojawił się problem tego, co Kazimierz Sikora niewiele później określił mianem „afirmacji wulgarności jako sposobu przeżywania świata” (Sikora 2016, s. 111). W tym ujęciu zjawiska związane z dyskursem internetowym stanowią zagrożenie nie tylko dla struktury języka, lecz także dla aspektów socjolingwistycznych, szczególnie dla tego, co można określić mianem językowego obrazu świata. W niniejszym tekście chciałam się skupić przede wszystkim na kwestii tego, w jaki sposób dyskurs internetowy wpływa na zawężenie horyzontów osób w nim uczestniczących oraz na tym, jak dalece agresja językowa, czyli płaszczyzna stylistyczna tekstu, dotknięta jest owym zawężeniem. W tym sensie mój tekst będzie stanowić potwierdzenie obaw związanych z tym, w jaki sposób Internet jako medium wpływa na jakość dyskursu. Będę też starała się wykazać, że językoznawca może bezproblemowo łączyć refleksję dotyczącą dyskursu z refleksją co do planu stylistycznego. 7.1. Materiał tekstowy Swoje rozważania oprę na materiale tekstowym zebranym przy okazji pracy nad artykułem prasowym zamieszczonym w „Gazecie Wyborczej”, poświęconym antyrządowemu protestowi, który odbył się w Pradze. Artykuł ten ukazał się 25 czerwca 2019 roku na portalu Gazeta.pl. Internauci zareagowali na ten tekst dość żywiołowo, doczekał się on bowiem 490 komentarzy, które — po opuszczeniu komentarzy powtarzających się — stworzyły korpus liczący 25 stron znormalizowanego maszynopisu. Z połączenia tych wszystkich krótkich tekstów powstała całość traktowana przeze mnie jako jeden przykład dyskursu internetowego. Techniki analizy wypracowane na gruncie analizy dyskursu są mi pomocne w tym właśnie miejscu najbardziej, pozwalają one bowiem traktować wiele różnych wypowiedzi, będących komunikacyjnymi aktami różnych nadawców, jako jeden tekst. Przekonanie, że pojęcia tekstu i dyskursu są wzajemnie zależne i do pewnego stopnia wręcz synonimiczne, stało się już w pewnym stopniu natural- 98 Dyskurs — ideologia — agresja nym założeniem współczesnej refleksji językoznawczej (Svobodova 2016, s. 15). Analiza dyskursu, opierająca się na pracach Teuna van Dijka, do tekstologicznego charakteru wypowiedzi dodaje jeszcze aspekt społeczny — tekst nie istnieje sam w sobie, lecz jest komunikacyjnym zdarzeniem o charakterze procesualnym (van Dijk 2001a, s. 10). Oznacza to, że artykuł opublikowany w Internecie nie jest tylko pojedynczym aktem komunikacji masowej, rozumianej jako nadanie komunikatu przez nadawcę instytucjonalnego (por. Goban-Klas 2004, s. 44), ale też procesem jego recepcji. Komentarze internautów stają się więc społecznym kontekstem, który można poddawać analizie jako jeden proces, tożsamy z powstaniem dyskursu. 7.2. Metody analizy Całość tę w pierwszej kolejności poddaję korpusowej analizie słów kluczowych, do której przeprowadzenia wykorzystałam program AntConc. Program ten pracuje wyłącznie z tekstami bez diakrytyki, więc materiał tekstowy został na użytek pracy z programem przekształcony w tekst bez polskich znaków diakrytycznych, jednak wszystkie przykłady będę podawać w pisowni oryginalnej. Analiza korpusowa została przeprowadzona przy użyciu własnej stop-listy oraz listy lemmatycznej, obejmującej praktycznie tylko nazwy państw i ich mieszkańców oraz form fleksyjnych. Prymarnym celem takiej analizy korpusowej jest sprawdzenie, czego dotyczy dyskurs prowadzony przez internautów, i zestawienie tej informacji z zawartością artykułu, którego owe komentarze dotyczą. 7.3. Analiza materiału tekstowego 7.3.1. Elementy analizy korpusowej Tekst wyjściowy był stosunkowo mały — liczył niecałe 1,5 strony maszynopisu. Potraktowanie go jako osobnego korpusu i analiza listy słów (przy zastosowaniu tej samej stop-listy i tej samej listy lemmatycznej co w wypadku tekstu stworzonego na podstawie komentarzy) pozwala stwierdzić, że odredakcyjny tekst dotyczy odbywającego się w Czechach protestu przeciwko postaci Andreja Babisza. Lista frekwencyjna układa się bowiem w sposób następujący: 1. Babisz — freq 9 — lemma word forms: Babisz (3), Babisza (6); 2. Czechy — freq 7 — lemma word forms: Czech (1), Czechach (2), Czechy (2), Czesi (2); 3. protest — freq 5. Analiza materiału tekstowego 99 Na dalszych miejscach analizy frekwencyjnej znalazły się leksemy, które w dokładny sposób odnoszą się opisywanych wydarzeń. Leksemy „dotacje” (rank 4 — freq 4) i „bocianie” (rank 10 — freq 2) odsyłają do jednego z głównych powodów, dla których demonstranci występują przeciwko A. Babiszowi. Powodem tym jest podejrzenie o wyłudzenie dotacji europejskich na budowę ośrodka nazwanego „Bocianie gniazdo”. Leksem „osób” (rank 5 — freq 3) odsyła z kolei do liczebności demonstracji. Pojawiająca się na miejscu 8. (rank 8 — freq 2) nazwa własna odsyła wprost do postaci A. Babisza, który był twórcą i do niedawna oficjalnym właścicielem koncernu Agrofert. Dla porównania przytoczmy teraz pierwsze 10 pozycji listy rankingowej stworzonej na podstawie tekstów komentarzy: 1. Polska — freq 67 — lemma word forms: Polacy (10), Polsce (23), Polska (22), polskie (6), polskiego (6); 2. Czechy — freq 64 — lemma word forms: Czech (5), Czechach (13), Czechow (6), Czechy (14), Czesi (26); 3. PiS — freq 35; 4. Babisz — freq 24 — lemma word forms: Babisz (20), Babisza (4); 5. wybory — freq 16 — lemma word forms: wyborach (10), wybory (6); 6. Kaczynski — freq 13 — lemma word forms: Kaczynski (8), Kaczynskiego (5); 7. Wegry — freq 13 — lemma word forms: Wegrami (5), Wegry (8); 8. Soros — freq 10 — lemma word forms: Soros (5), sorosa (5); 9. ludzie — freq 9; 10. Rosja — freq 9 — lemma word forms: Rosja (4), Rosji (5). Miejsca 2. i 4. wskazują na bezpośredni związek łączący komentarze z artykułem. Podobnie, choć w mniej oczywisty na pierwszy rzut oka sposób, rzecz się ma z leksemem „Węgry” z miejsca 7. Jego wysoka pozycja związana jest z tytułem, pod jakim ukazał się artykuł odredakcyjny: [1] Ogromny antyrządowy protest w Pradze. „Nie pozwólmy, by Czechy stały się drugimi Węgrami”. Po analizie konkordacyjnej okazuje się, że spójność tematyczna łącząca komentarze z tekstem odredakcyjnym jest nieco pozorna. W wypadku leksemu „Czechy” konkordancje wskazują, że zaledwie 4 komentarze odnoszą się do czeskich realiów. Pozostałe wypadki raczej traktują Czechy jako część regionu: [2] Czechy, Slovensko się rozwijają tylko Polska panów się cofa. [3] Turcja, Czechy, Słowacja……… Można? Można zmieniać rzeczywistość, ale trzeba być aktywnym a nie tylko narzekać! Wybory zaraz po wakacjach, więc nabierajcie sil i rozumu. [4] Ostatnio postulowali żeby Czechy, Polska Słowacja i Węgry odłączyli się od EU i stworzyli własna wspólnotę. albo też odwołują się do problematyki, która jest typowa raczej dla realiów polskich niż czeskich: 100 Dyskurs — ideologia — agresja [5] Czechy są państwem świeckim, to kompletnie inne społeczeństwo, któremu księża nie mieszają w głowach. [6] Nie pozwólmy by Czechy stały się druga Polska GDZIE KACYK Z NOWOGRODZKIEJ MA Nieograniczoną Władzę. Przenoszenie znaczeń związanych z Czechami na te związane z Polską jest bardzo wyraźne w wypadku form wykrzyknikowych, których użycie w jasny sposób wyraża pochwałę dla wydarzeń rozgrywających się w Czechach: [7] Brawo Czesi!!! [8] Bracia Czesi powodzenia Wam życzę… [9] Brawo Czesi!!! Tak trzymać!!! [10] BRAVO CZESI. Jednak i w tego typu wypowiedziach pojawiają się elementy porównujące, które podziw dla Czechów łączą z oceną bieżącej sytuacji politycznej w Polsce: [11] brawo Czesi! po raz kolejny mamy czego im zazdrościć; [12] Jak PiS w jesiennych wyborach wygra to Polska będzie przegranym, dlatego kochani Czesi walczcie o swoja demokracje. [13] Czesi potrafią, Turcy potrafią a u nas szkoda gadać i to wszystko w ojczyźnie Solidarności. Przykłady [12] i [13] wyraźnie pokazują mechanizmy rządzące strukturą tematyczno-rematyczną tekstu komentarzy — tematem pozostaje to, co narzuca treść tekstu odredakcyjnego, rematem zaś to, co dotyczy polskich realiów. Konstatacja ta pozwala odpowiedzieć na pytanie, dlaczego w komentarzach odnoszących się do tekstu o Czechach na pierwszych miejscach w liście frekwencyjnej znalazły się leksemy w jasny sposób z Polską związane: 1 leksem „Polska” (rank 1 — freq 67), następnie skrótowiec „PiS” (rank 6 — freq 13) i wreszcie antroponim „Kaczyński” (rank 6 — freq 13). Listę tę zapewne należałoby rozszerzyć o leksemy „wybory” (rank 5 — freq 16), w większości użyć bowiem odwołują się one do nadchodzących wyborów w Polsce: [14] Wybory zaraz po wakacjach, wiec nabierajcie sil i rozumu. [15] u nas jak wszyscy pójdą na wybory, to PIS wygra 80% taki mamy ciemnogród. Rozwijanie dyskursu w stronę tematyki polskiej wydaje się zresztą w analizowanym tekście osiągane najprostszymi możliwymi środkami. Najbardziej wyrafinowanym z nich, służącym do przejścia od tematyki czeskiej do polskiej, jest pytanie retoryczne, które pojawia się w analizowanym materiale wielokrotnie: [16] A u nas? Wykleci. Wstawanie z kolan, choojowizna intelektualna rządzących. I patologia która sprzedała Polskę za 500+. [17] Czy „wydymamy” kaczkę na jesiennych wyborach? [18] dlaczego jesteśmy o tyle głupsi od Czechów? Analiza materiału tekstowego 101 Dość często spotykanym narzędziem związanym ze strukturą tematyczno-rematyczną jest wprowadzanie zdań współrzędnych przeciwstawnych: [19] A nasza Zalewska za okradanie PCK musi za kare wpie…c przez 6 lat ośmiorniczki i mule w Brukseli. [20] A u nas Srebrna zrobiona przez Ziobrę na szaro… [21] A my sobie śpimy. Pobudka będzie bolesna. Bardzo. Materiał pokazujący mechanizm przeniesienia dyskursu na płaszczyznę polską odsłania najbardziej bodaj charakterystyczne cechy tekstu na płaszczyźnie stylistycznej. Przede wszystkim rzuca się w oczy kwestia wulgaryzmów, które w większości przypadków są wprowadzone do tekstów w zniekształconej formie graficznej, tak by ominąć zakazy związane z tak zwaną netykietą i regulaminami użytkowników forum, jak to ma miejsce w wypadku takich form, jak: „Choojowizna”, „wpie…c”, „piedolony”, „hvuj”. Niewątpliwie zabiegi te są przejawem swoiście rozumianej kreatywności językowej, pozwalającej obejść obowiązujące zasady i równocześnie potwierdzić obawy językoznawców dotyczące kultury języka. 7.3.2. Wulgaryzmy i wyzwiska Kreatywność jest też wyraźnie widoczna w wyzwiskach i ekspresywizmach, których w analizowanym tekście znalazło się stosunkowo dużo. Znamienne jest przy tym, że adresatami wyzwisk są obie strony sporu — w tym sensie wulgaryzacja dyskursu jest zjawiskiem uniwersalnym i należy ją uznać za jedną z cech charakterystycznych współczesnego języka polskiego. Najprostsze rozwiązania stosowane przez uczestników dyskursu, służące obrażaniu interlokutorów, oparte są na wyrazach powszechnie uznanych za obelżywe, użytych wyłącznie w formie rzeczownikowej: [22] pustak, [23] kmiot, [24] nygus. Warto zauważyć, że w żadnym z tych przykładów nie mamy do czynienia z najczęściej spotykanymi polskimi wulgaryzmami. Formy wariantywne najczęstszych polskich wulgaryzmów spotykane są w konstrukcjach rzeczownikowo-przymiotnikowych, czyli również w ich wypadku można mówić o pewnym stopniu kreatywności językowej, tym bardziej że stosowane w dyskursie przymiotniki zazwyczaj nadają wulgaryzmom specyfikę stylistyczną i — co dla mnie nawet ważniejsze — odnoszą się do obecnych w dyskursie pól semantycznych. Zilustrować to można na kilku najciekawszych przykładach: [25] Pierdolony suweren [w przykładzie tym dochodzi do oksymoronicznego zestawienia wulgarnego przymiotnika i rzeczownika związanego z językiem prawnym, który jednak 102 Dyskurs — ideologia — agresja w ostatnim czasie doczekał się wyjątkowej dystrybucji w ramach polskiego dyskursu politycznego — por. Svobodová et al. 2018, s. 62–79; [26] Cham pisowy [zwraca uwagę użycie niecodziennego formantu „-owy” dodanego do skrótowca PiS. Zamiast neutralnego „-ski”, jak choćby w przykładzie poniżej; zamiast tego zostaje użyty formant, który tworzy augmentativum, co zapewne było celem nadawcy]; [27] Chooje pisowskie; [28] PiSdowski kundlu [w przykładzie tym już samo określenie „kundlu” ma być obraźliwe, jednakże emocjonalny ładunek związany z tym wyzwiskiem zostaje wzmocniony przez kontaminację skrótowca PiS i wulgaryzmu „pizda”]. Za osobną kategorię wypada uznać te konstrukcje rzeczownikowo-przymiotnikowe, które w oczywisty sposób mają obrażać, jednak w ich wypadku nie dochodzi do użycia wulgaryzmów: [29] Esbeczy krzyk [chodzi o krzyk byłych funkcjonariuszy polskiej Służby Bezpieczeństwa, co stanowi emocjonalne centrum całej frazy i decyduje o jej obraźliwym charakterze]; [30] Proniemieckie sprzedawczyki [odwołanie się do promowanego przez obecną władzę poglądu, że jej adwersarze są w rzeczywistości agentami na usługach Niemiec]; [31] Sprzedawczyk 500+; [32] Pomiot grzesiowy [centrum tej obelgi jest obraźliwy leksem „pomiot”, określający w pogardliwy sposób potomstwo, bardzo często występujący na zasadzie frazemu w połączeniach „czarci pomiot” czy „diabelski pomiot”. Z kolei epitet „grzesiowy” odnosi się do imienia lidera największej polskiej partii opozycyjnej — Grzegorza Schetyny]; [33] Gnom z żoliborza [baśniowy gnom odsyła w obraźliwy sposób do niskiego wzrostu, jakim ma się cechować przywódca rządzącej obecnie w Polsce partii PiS, aby jednak to odwołanie było czytelne, konieczne jest doprecyzowanie odnoszące się do jego miejsca zamieszkania, czyli warszawskiej dzielnicy Żoliborz]; [34] Kremlowscy demokraci; [35] Ośmiorniczkowy reprywatyzator [jeden z najciekawszych chyba przykładów, całkowicie nieczytelny jako ekspresivum bez znajomości polskich realiów. Określenie „reprywatyzator” odnosi się do problemów z reprywatyzacją nieruchomości — głównie w Warszawie, które to nieruchomości miały podlegać nieprzejrzystym procedurom, w wyniku których właścicielami stawały się osoby powiązane z rządzącą wówczas, a opozycyjną dziś partią PO. Do tej formacji odwołuje się też w tym wyrażeniu epitet — jak pokazały nielegalne podsłuchy, politycy PO chętnie umawiali się na obiady, w trakcie których chętnie zamawiali potrawy typu frutti di mare, w tym owe ośmiorniczki. Ośmiorniczki są więc symbolem luksusu i oderwania od wyborców i w tym sensie stanowią epitet obraźliwy]. Przytoczone przykłady jasno dowodzą, że wyzwiska są głównym środkiem językowej ekspresji niezależnie od poglądów politycznych. Zwolennicy obecnie rządzącej partii piszą o „ośmiorniczkach”, jej przeciwnicy zaś o „gnomie z Żoliborza”. Agresję językową wypada zatem uznać za cechę charakterystyczną dla dyskursu w Polsce — niezależnie od opcji politycznej. Obie strony sporu wykazują przy tym zresztą podobną, daleko posuniętą kreatywność językową. Co jednak najważniejsze z mojego punktu widzenia w tych wyzwiskach, to fakt, że niektóre z cytowanych przykładów nie mogą być w ogóle czytelne dla osób nieobeznanych z polskimi realiami. Dyskurs zatem odszedł od podstawowego tematu, jakim była czeska demonstracja, tak daleko, że traci na czytelności bez Analiza materiału tekstowego 103 znajomości rematycznego kontekstu pozajęzykowego. Co ważniejsze, temat tego dyskursu jest w zasadzie całkowicie zbędny dla większości użyć rematycznych. Przykłady [16]–[21] pokazywały co prawda, że w niektórych wypadkach osoby tworzące ten dyskurs starały się utrzymywać związek tematu z rematem, jednak w większości wypowiedzi dyskurs tworzących temat wydaje się wyłącznie łatwym do pominięcia aspektem komunikacyjnym, wtórnym wobec chęci obrażenia przeciwników politycznych. Wulgarność w komunikacji staje się zatem nie tylko celem samym w sobie, lecz także mechanizmem niszczącym klasycznie rozumianą strukturę spójności logicznej komunikacji. 7.3.3. Główne pola semantyczne dyskursu Wulgaryzacja dyskursu i związane z tym zaburzenie struktury tematyczno-rematycznej sprawiają, że w miejsce pól semantycznych charakterystycznych dla tekstu wyjściowego — w miarę dokładnie wyznaczanych przez słowa kluczowe — pojawiają się wtórne pola semantyczne, charakteryzujące dyskurs internetowy, zupełnie oderwane od tych pierwotnych, związanych z instytucjonalnym nadawcą. Ich pojawienie sygnalizowane jest już w przykładach wyrażeń ekspresywnych [31], [33] i [34]. Są to kolejne teksty, które pozostają w całkowitym oderwaniu od pierwotnej tematyki dyskursu. Ich funkcja dla całości dyskursu jest jednak kluczowa, albowiem odsyłają one do pól semantycznych, które determinują struktury rematyczne, oparte prymarnie na konotacjach, a nie denotacjach. To właśnie dzięki nim możliwe staje się przekształcenie całego dyskursu związanego z Czechami w dyskurs odnoszący się do Polski. Przykład [31] odsyła do pierwszego ważnego pola tematycznego — pomocy społecznej. Na płaszczyźnie faktograficznej odwołuje się ono do jednego z głównych osiągnięć obecnego rządu polskiego, czyli socjalnego programu noszącego oficjalną nazwę „Rodzina 500+”, która to nazwa została w potocznym użyciu skrócona do „500+”. Oparcie nazwy na liczebniku w oczywisty sposób wpłynęło na listę słów tworzoną przez wykorzystywany przeze mnie program do analizy korpusowej AntConc, który tematu tego praktycznie nie zarejestrował. Uwzględnienie konkordancji dla liczebnika 500 i jego wariantów słownych, takich jak „pięćset”, ale i nacechowane emocjonalnie „pincset” czy „pińćset” albo „pincet”, sprawia, że pojawiają się 24 użycia, które sprawiłyby, że na liście słów owo „Rodzina 500+” pojawiłoby się na 4. miejscu pod względem frekwencji. Owo „500+”, co wydaje się znamienne, traktowane jest przez niektórych uczestników dyskursu rzeczownikowo, o czym świadczy zastosowanie końcówki fleksyjnej, przy czym w pierwszym z poniższych przykładów derywacja ta odnosi się do samego programu, w drugim zaś do osoby będącej jego beneficjentem: [36] wyraźnie 500plusa nie dostali; [37] Zaiste, logika pincetplusa. 104 Dyskurs — ideologia — agresja W analizowanym materiale tekstowym owo „500+” przynosi w większości negatywne konotacje, co wyraźnie jest zaznaczone już na płaszczyźnie graficznej — transkrypcja liczebnika w formie „pincset” czy „pincet” ma naśladować niestaranną i błędną wymowę tego liczebnika, typową dla niższych warstw społecznych. Pragmatyczna sugestia tego domniemanego sposobu swoistego zapisu fonetycznego jest więc jednoznaczna — osoby, które ten społeczny program popierają, mają niski status społeczny i wykształcenie tak słabe, że nie potrafią posługiwać się normatywną polszczyzną ogólną: [38] ty tego oczywiście nie dostrzegasz, bo zasłania ci pincset +; [39] suweren ma beton zamiast mózgu bo pincet+ w portfelu. W niektórych zresztą wypadkach takie niepoprawne formy pojawiają się w pozycjach sąsiadujących z obraźliwymi wyrazami o charakterze wulgaryzmów, tak jak to ma miejsce w poniższym przykładzie, w którym beneficjenci programu „500+” zostają określeni pogardliwym mianem „przydupasów”: [40] Oni dupy nie rusza, wyślą swoich przydupasów, którzy za pincset + w ogień za nich skocza. Z większym jeszcze stopniem wulgarności mamy do czynienia w kolejnym przykładzie, który jasno uświadamia, jak bardzo polaryzującym społecznie tematem jest rządowy program i jak dużą agresję wywołuje jego działanie. Po pierwsze więc mamy użycie wulgaryzmu w formie vocativu, który zostaje zniekształcony tak, by nie został poddany cenzurze obyczajowej — zamiast „jeb się” mamy więc „yeb się”. Następnie natykamy się na równie wulgarne, a omówione już wcześniej (przykład [28]) przekształcenie skrótowca, aby na końcu trafić na dehumanizujące interlokutora określenie „kundlu za pincet”. Wszystko to zostaje wzmocnione pod względem ekspresywności przez zastosowanie kapitalików, czyli jawne złamanie zasad dyskusji na forum internetowym — powszechnie uznaje się, że ich stosowanie odpowiada bowiem krzykowi i często jest powodem usunięcia komentarza lub nawet tak zwanego bana, czyli wykluczenia z dalszej dyskusji: [41] YEB SIE PiSdowski KUNDLU za pincet. Nawet jednak w tych przypadkach, gdy zamiast przekształconych form spotykamy się z neutralnym „500+”, konkordancje odsłaniają negatywne podejście. Dobrze dokumentują to następujące przykłady: [42] patologia która sprzedała Polskę za 500+; [43] Sprzedawczyku 500 plus tak tanio sprzedajesz przyszłość swoja i swoich dzieci? Chcesz żyć jak pańszczyźniany kundel? [44] W Polsce ludzie łykają wszystko z czym PIS przegnie za 500+. Analiza materiału tekstowego 105 Spotykamy się wreszcie z bardziej kreatywnym podejściem, wykorzystującym substytucję połączoną z inwersją — zamiast „500+” otrzymujemy nawiązujące do frazemu „kiełbasa wyborcza” sformułowanie: [45] Wszyscy mają więcej szacunku do siebie i honoru Niż skundlone polactwo, któremu wystarczy pomachać kiełbasą 500, które sami będą musieli spłacić a zachowają się jak tanie sprzedajne dziwki za okupacji. Na zakończenie warto odnotować nieliczne przypadki, w których to pole semantyczne zostaje jednak połączone z pierwotnym kontekstem dyskursu, czyli sytuacje, w których nie uległa zatarciu struktura tematyczno-rematyczna. Nie ma ich w analizowanym tekście zbyt wiele, tym bardziej należy je odnotować, zwłaszcza że — jak pokazuje przykład [45] — utrzymywanie spójności logicznej wypowiedzi może dotyczyć nie tylko sytuacji czeskiej, lecz także kontekstów węgierskich związanych z tytułem artykułu wyjściowego: [43] Facet przegapił moment na 500+, nie to co dobroczyńca żoliborski; [44] Ten Babisz nie wie, że wystarczy dac ludowi 5000 koron co miesiąc w celu zmniejszenia frekwencji na rożnego rodzaju demonstracjach? [45] a mógł im dac po 500+ i miałby spokój, jak w wolsce, i robiłby co chciał… [w tym przykładzie zwraca uwagę zdecydowanie negatywnie waloryzowane przekształcenie nazwy kraju z Polska na wolska — zapewne nie przez przypadek pisane małą literą, które z pewnością domagałoby się osobnej analizy słowotwórczej i stylistycznej — które obecne jest również w innych przykładach: [50]]; [45] wyraźnie 500plusa nie dostali inaczej krzyczeliby egeszege, egeszege jest ok. Za drugie pole semantyczne należy uznać pole związane z instytucją Kościoła. Również przy jego okazji wyraźnie bowiem zaznacza się agresywny stosunek do pozajęzykowej rzeczywistości, który oczywiście powiązany jest z agresją językową. Kościół katolicki jest w ramach tego pola semantycznego traktowany jako instytucja wywierająca znaczący wpływ na życie publiczne w Polsce, co w zasadniczy sposób odróżnia nasz kraj od Czech. W nielicznych wypadkach sygnalizowane to jest przy utrzymaniu związków logicznych z wyjściowym artykułem, jak w następujących przykładach: [46] Wam życzę… i fajnie macie ze żaden kościół Wam się nie wp…… w życie… [47] Czechy są państwem świeckim, to kompletnie inne społeczeństwo, któremu księża nie mieszają w głowach. W większości wypadków temat Kościoła funkcjonuje w całkowitym oderwaniu od realiów czeskich. O wrogim stosunku uczestników dyskursu do Kościoła można wnioskować opierając się na zarówno cechach stylistycznych, jak i konkordancjach tekstowych. Użycie wyrazów nacechowanych emocjonalnie (jak „klecha” — pogardliwe określenie księdza) czy też stosowanie ironii (zdrobnienie „kościółek”) nie pozostawiają co do tego wątpliwości: 106 Dyskurs — ideologia — agresja [48] Bo klechy zamienili w Polsce ludzi w barany, które zostały przeznaczone do strzyżenia. [49] A matuszek kłamczuszek i jego interesy z gruntami które najpierw daje się za darmo kościołkowi żeby je potem za darmo w zasadzie odkupić? Pole semantyczne związane z kościołem jest przy tym stosunkowo obszerne i obejmuje przypadki, w których uczestnicy dyskursu odwołują się zarówno do Kościoła jako instytucji: [50] Nie wiem zaiste, co ma do tego brat Michnika, ale pozdrów cały nasz epidiaskop — oni maczają palce w Wolskiej mafii… jak i do poszczególnych księży, dobrze rozpoznawalnych w polskich realiach politycznych, którzy paradoksalnie zostają ukazani jako kontekst realiów czeskich, czego przykładem może być pojawienie się w dyskusji postaci ojca Tadeusza Rydzyka — kontrowersyjnego szefa nacjonalistycznego Radia Maryja: [51] Pis rozkrada Polskę, rydzyk okrada, czarne pedofile rządzą i nikt na ulice nie wychodzi… może w końcu uczmy się od Czechow. W tym przykładzie zwraca również uwagę, że w obręb tego pola semantycznego zostaje jednocześnie włączona problematyka pedofilii, która w pośredni sposób staje się też elementem pierwszego pola semantycznego nawiązującego do pomocy społecznej: [52] A w Polsce chcą pedofilow+500. Zjawisko to wydaje się o tyle istotne, że choć brakuje bezpośrednich związków przyczynowo-skutkowych między pedofilią a programami społecznymi, to jednak polaryzacja poglądów i agresywne sposoby prowadzenia dyskursu sprawiają, że kwestie te zostają połączone w sposób dla neutralnego światopoglądowo odbiorcy zaskakujący i egzotyczny. Trzecim wreszcie polem semantycznym, którego pojawienie się można ocenić jako równie egzotyczne co połączenie problematyki kościelnej i pedofilii, jest pole związane z faszyzmem. Jego pojawienie się w omawianym materiale tekstowym zostało już zasygnalizowane przykładem [45]. Elementy związane z II wojną światową i ideologią faszystowską pojawiają się już na poziomie grafii skrótowca PiS, która w dyskursie przyjmuje w kilku wypadkach formę PiSS, odwołującą się do niemieckich, owianych złą sławą, jednostek Schutzstaffel: [53] ile wiem kradnie każdy… / [54] Tak, każdy PiSSowiec! [55] Piss, to socjalizm? Pitolisz. To neobolszewizm czyli pierwotna, najbardziej prymitywna odmiana komunizmu. Analiza materiału tekstowego 107 Odwołania do II wojny światowej przybierają jednak przede wszystkim formę bezpośrednich odwołań historycznych, w których dochodzi do dość bulwersującego zestawiania Polaków głosujących na PiS z hitlerowskimi Niemcami wykonującymi gest faszystowskiego pozdrowienia: [56] Gdy Hitler zajmował Kłajpedę, Sudety, Austrie też mu poparcie rosło, podobnie jak Putinowi po zajęciu Krymu. Te tłuste hajlujace Niemry, głosujące na Telegraf i Srebrna. Ci sami ludzie popierają Putina, Hitlera, Kaczyńskiego, Morawieckiego, Szuchewycza. Oskarżenia o faszystowskie zapędy nie są jednak — podobnie jak w wypadku wyzwisk i innych form agresji językowej — ograniczone tylko do jednej strony sporu. Autorzy artykułu wyjściowego zostają na przykład zestawieni z Josephem Goebbelsem, twórcą propagandowej machiny hitlerowców: [57] Gebelsy czerskie w akcji… Na zdjęciu transparent z hasłem, że nie chcą w rządzie oszustów, a w podpisie „Chcemy iść droga Rosji? Nie pozwólmy, by Czechy stały się drugimi Węgrami”… Wypada zauważyć, że podobne oskarżenia — skierowane pod czyimkolwiek adresem — praktycznie zamykają drogę jakiejkolwiek komunikacji i to też jest chyba najtragiczniejszym aspektem. Ten historyczny kontekst zostaje zresztą, na zasadzie kontrastu, odniesiony do czeskich realiów, tworząc dość kontrowersyjną komparację: [58] Mądry naród, bez focha, bez nadąsania patriotycznego, bez choojow faszystowskich. Co ciekawe, w ramach dyskursu zostaje zbudowana łączność pomiędzy drugim i trzecim polem, podobnie zresztą jak to miało miejsce w wypadku pierwszego i drugiego pola. Tym samym analizowany dyskurs układa się w spójną strukturę, która przeraża zarówno swoją konsekwencją, jak i brakiem jakiejkolwiek merytorycznej argumentacji. Swoboda zideologizowanego dyskursu nie wymusza jakichkolwiek uzasadnień, a jedynie pozwala na budowanie uproszczonego językowego obrazu świata, w którym faszyzm łączy się z Kościołem, Kościół z pedofilią i programami socjalnymi, a wszystko to stanowi opis współczesnej Polski osadzony w kontekście czeskim: [59] Lepsza dyktatura podparta nacjonalistami i Kościołem z elementami faszyzmu. Taki katolicki Iran. 7.3.4. Peryferyjne pola semantyczne Oprócz wyszczególnionych przeze mnie trzech podstawowych pól semantycznych w dyskursie można odnaleźć również pola peryferyjne — ze słabszą frekwencją, jednak wyraźnie rzucające się w oczy. 108 Dyskurs — ideologia — agresja Pierwsze z nich jest konsekwencją sygnalizowanego już połączenia problematyki czeskiej z węgierską w tytule artykułu wyjściowego. [60] Chyba trzecimi Węgrami? Drugimi to już jest Polska. [61] kradną w Czechach a winni Węgrzy i Pisowcy :D [62] Znamienne ze jak ktoś protestuje w obronie demokracji, jak na Węgrzech, Konstytucji jak u nas czy przeciw wyłudzeniom jak w Czechach, to prawaczki plują i widza w tym wszechwładną rękę Sorosa. Ostatni przykład odsyła od razu do kolejnego peryferyjnego pola semantycznego, które jest związane ze znanym amerykańskim biznesmenem węgierskiego pochodzenia — George’em Sorosem. O polu tym warto wspomnieć przede wszystkim dlatego, że pokazuje ono, w jak absurdalną czasem stronę dyskurs może być kierowany. Kontekst ten jest bowiem antysemicki w swej istocie, jako że Soros wedle teorii spiskowych ma być jednym z przywódców żydowskiej zmowy i wrogiem państw narodowych (problematyką tą zajmują się głównie badacze węgierscy — por. Kopper et al. 2017; lecz także pochodzący z innych krajów postkomunistycznych, na przykład Bułgarii — por. Hranova 2018). Nie sposób też nie zauważyć, że ten antysemicki pogląd nieprzyjemnie współgra z polem semantycznym eksploatującym problematykę faszystowską. W wypadku tego pola charakterystyczne jest, że niemal wszystkie komentarze związane z tą postacią starają się przenieść negatywne waloryzowanie z samego Sorosa na politycznych oponentów. Mechanizm ten jest stosunkowo prosty z językowego punktu widzenia, może być jednak skuteczny perswazyjnie. W pierwszym kroku tego przenoszenia znaczeń konieczny jest epitet jednoznacznie opisujący samego G. Sorosa, następnie zaś pojawia się odniesienie do polskich — czasem też węgierskich czy czeskich — realiów. Znamienne przy tym jest, że w kontekstach tych pojawia się również pozytywny aspekt, czyli rządy prawicy rozumiane jako ostateczny kres spiskowej władzy G. Sorosa. Im większym złem jest G. Soros, tym znaczniejsza jest rola tych, którzy otwarcie mówią o spisku i stanowią dla niego przeciwwagę. W efekcie „europejskie lewactwo” czy też „polscy zdrajcy, węgierscy teraz czescy” są bezradni wobec nieuchronnych zmian zaprowadzanych przez wybitnych polityków prawicy. Mechanizm ten wypada chyba ocenić już nie tylko jako polityczny dyskurs internetowy, lecz także jako odrodzenie się tego, co Michał Głowiński pisał o nowomowie i jej jednowartościowości oraz magiczności (Głowiński 1990, s. 9): [63] Szmalcownik Soros już goni w piętkę, wywala kasę na polskich zdrajców, węgierskich teraz czeskich a tu ch*j wielki i bąbelki. Narody demokratycznie wciąż głosują większością zgodnie z własnym sumieniem a nie tak jak chciałby przestępca Soros. He, he, he. [64] Ostatnie podrygi tow. Sorosa, którego dni są już policzone, z uwagi na wiek. Lewactwo europejskie czuje pismo nosem, że Trump i Duda plus Międzymorze, zaczyna być faktem, politycznym i gospodarczym. Analiza materiału tekstowego 109 W przykładzie [63] ponownie zwraca uwagę językowe odniesienie do realiów II wojny światowej. Leksem „szmalcownik” ma w polszczyźnie zdecydowanie negatywne konotacje — mianem tym określało się bowiem w czasach wojny osoby, które dla korzyści majątkowych zdradzały ukrywających się ludzi — najczęściej zresztą Żydów. Ten leksem, nawiązujący w wyraźny sposób do antysemityzmu, zostaje tutaj zaktualizowany w odniesieniu do osoby pochodzenia żydowskiego. Funkcjonalnym odpowiednikiem prawicowego przekonania o spisku kierowanym przez G. Sorosa wydaje się przekonanie o spiskach kierowanych przez Rosję — w ten sposób przejść można do ostatniego peryferyjnego pola semantycznego obecnego w analizowanym materiale tekstowym. O Rosji w polskim dyskursie w większości wypadków nie pisze się bowiem pozytywnie — do wyjątków należą głosy ironicznie, podchodzące do oskarżania wszystkich o współpracę z Rosją: [65] Teraz straszenie i rzucanie „Rosja” jest w modzie. Co za umysłowa indolencja… Znacznie częściej Rosja pojawia się jako negatywnie waloryzowany kontekst historyczny, do którego można odnieść aktualne wydarzenia: [66] ha, ha, powszechne glosowanie jak w Rosji, na Białorusi, na Węgrzech i pewnie jak będzie w Polsce? CZYLI PRZY TOTALNUM MARGINALIZOWANIU OPOZYCJI W MEDIACH PUBLICZNYCH I ZMASOWANEJ W NICH PROPAGANDZIE PRORZĄDOWEJ??? Czyli jak za komuny. Dość często budowanie analogii historycznych prowadzi do sytuacji, w której pole semantyczne związane z Rosją zostaje powiązane z polem semantycznym dotyczącym faszyzmu: [67] Ba, a jakie poparcie w Rosji ma Putin, na Białorusi Łukaszenka, a w Korei Poł. Kim! Na takiej samej zasadzie, dzięki takim mechanizmom jak tam, poparcie ma Orban. Klękajcie narody. Hitler z Mussolinim zza grobu zacierają ręce, oni dawno nie żyją, ale faszyzm zaczyna rozkwitać. [68] Ha, ha, dla takiego idioty demokracja to dyktatura faszystowsko-kościelna? A demonstracje przeciw przekrętom — objawem upadku demokracji? Nie, faszystowskie trolle popierają nacjonalizmy we wszystkich krajach, ich wzorem Rosja. Za to im płaci… W odosobnionych tylko przypadkach dyskurs dotyczący Rosji zostaje w jakikolwiek sposób powiązany z tematyką czeską, choć i takie wypadki się zdarzają: [69] Babisz i pisowska partia maja te same korzenie z komunistami i Rosja. Macierewicz, Przyłębska Piotrowicz, Kaczyński itp. Pomiędzy peryferyjnymi polami związanymi z G. Sorosem i Rosją istnieje więc swoista symetryczność, która wskazuje na to, że w dyskursie uczestniczą dwie wzajemnie zwalczające się strony, mające własne, odrębne od siebie językowe obrazy świata. Konfrontacja tych dwóch światów jest starciem tym brutalniejszym, im 110 Dyskurs — ideologia — agresja więcej argumentów zideologizowanych pojawia się w dyskusji. W analizowanym dyskursie ideologia doprowadziła w dużym stopniu do sytuacji, w której dyskutując o Czechach, rozumianych jako temat dyskursu, debatuje się w rzeczywistości głównie o Polsce. Do Polski prymarnie zostają bowiem odniesione główne pola semantyczne omawianego dyskursu. Polska przy tym jawi się jako przestrzeń całkowicie spolaryzowana. Agresja językowa staje się w tym układzie pochodną wzrastającej agresji obserwowalnej na płaszczyźnie społecznej. Podziały pól semantycznych nie tylko pokrywają się z tym, jak podzieleni są użytkownicy języka, ale wręcz te podziały petryfikuje, albowiem agresja językowa nie pozwala na jakiekolwiek weryfikowanie swych sądów. W kontekście polskim owa narastająca agresja sprawiła, że pojawiają się nawet postulaty jakiejś wyimaginowanej psychoterapii, której polskie społeczeństwo powinno się podjąć (por. Leszczyński 2017, loc 3808). Wypada tylko zapytać, w jakim języku owa psychoterapia miałaby się odbywać? Trudno bowiem oczekiwać, aby język zaprezentowany w niniejszym tekście mógł doprowadzić do jakichkolwiek koncyliacyjnych rozwiązań. Nie bez znaczenia pozostaje też pokazany na podstawie dyskursu problem rozerwania struktur tematyczno-rematycznych. Podstawowym założeniem klasycznych prac poświęconych zagadnieniu spójności tekstu było przekonanie, że nadawcy chcą w jakiś sposób utrzymywać spójność wypowiedzi. Wynikało z tego przekonanie, że temat i remat muszą wchodzić wzajemnie w różnorakie związki — linearne, hierarchiczne czy też inne (Bartmińska, Bartmiński 2004, s. 278). W odniesieniu do dyskursu zajmowano się również zagadnieniem jego strukturyzacji i logicznych związków pomiędzy poszczególnymi elementami dyskursu — to wiodło między innymi T. van Dijka do wprowadzenia pojęcia schematu strukturalnego (van Dijk 2001a, s. 21). Problem struktury dyskursywnej, która daje się zaobserwować w analizowanych przeze mnie komentarzach, polega jednak na tym, że jest on w zamierzony przez nadawców sposób niespójny i dają się w nim zaobserwować zachowania językowe, które o tej świadomej niespójności świadczą. Można oczywiście zadać pytanie o przyczyny tego dobrowolnego osłabienia mechanizmów spójności tekstu. Wydaje się, że głównym powodem tego zjawiska są elementy pozajęzykowe. Spójność tekstu jest zbędna, ponieważ dyskurs organizowany jest wokół pól semantycznych nacechowanych ideologicznie. Każdy z uczestników dyskursu doskonale wie, czego dyskurs dotyczy, a przede wszystkim przeciw komu jest skierowany. Z trudem wydaje się jednak w takich okolicznościach obronić tezę o funkcjonowaniu w kulturze partycypacji, ocenianą przez Bogusława Skowronka jako jedna z podstaw mediolingwistyki (Skowronek 2016, s. 11), przynajmniej jeśli traktować Internet jako jedno z mediów. W tezie o kulturze partycypacji kluczowe wydaje się to, co autor określił mianem zaniku tradycyjnego podziału na producentów i konsumentów znaczeń (Skowronek 2016, s. 11). Przeprowadzona analiza wskazuje na to, że możliwości oferowane przez Internet być może rzeczywiście umożliwiają takie zatarcie, niekoniecznie jednak prowadzą do Analiza materiału tekstowego 111 generowania nowych znaczeń — za znaczenie bowiem trudno uznać powielanie utartych stereotypów i wzbogacanie ich o posuniętą do granic akceptowalności agresję językową. Nie sposób też w tym kontekście mówić o jakichkolwiek sukcesach perswazyjnych (por. Skowronek 2016, s. 16) — w omawianym przeze mnie przykładowym dyskursie nie chodzi o jakiekolwiek działania perswazyjne, a jedynie o wulgarne obrażanie innych uczestników dyskusji. Świat polskiego dyskursu jest więc światem dwubiegunowym i znajduje to odzwierciedlenie w sposobach, jakimi uczestnicy dyskursu określają samych siebie. Ciekawym zjawiskiem zaobserwowanym w zebranym materiale tekstowym jest również zjawisko, które wypada określić jako symetryzację słowotwórczą, powodowaną toczonymi sporami politycznymi. Dwie strony sporu starają się na użytek prowadzonych dyskusji kreować różne środki językowe — te, które spotkają się z sukcesem użytkowym, wychodzą poza granice okazjonalizmów i zdobywają uznanie innych użytkowników. W efekcie użycie niektórych leksemów bardzo szybko rozszerza się; oczywiście częstotliwość użycia wypada uznać za swoisty sukces reprodukcyjny. Prawdziwym jednak osiągnięciem jest doprowadzenie do sytuacji, w której obóz przeciwny sięga po środki wcześniej zastosowane przez nas samych. Takie właśnie zjawisko towarzyszy parze leksemów „lewak”–„prawak”. Leksem „lewak” jest zdecydowanie częściej spotykany we współczesnej polszczyźnie, co dobrze dokumentuje korpus języka polskiego. W korpusie pogardliwe określenie „lewak” odnotowywane jest 22 razy w różnych rodzajach tekstów, począwszy od artykułów publicystycznych, poprzez beletrystykę, skończywszy zaś na pracach naukowych. Użycie jako neologizmu leksemu „prawak” wskazuje, że z perspektywy kreatywności językowej dyskurs ten jest w zasadzie nieprzewidywalny. Leksem „lewak”, bez względu na jego ekspresywny charakter, wszedł — przynamniej chwilowo — do tych jest już zakorzenionych form — nawet w tych stratyfikacyjnych odmianach polszczyzny, które w domyśle wymagają słownictwa neutralnego emocjonalnie. Użyty w analizowanym przeze mnie dyskursie leksem „prawak” ma póki co cechy okazjonalizmu, lecz należy przyjąć założenie, że jego użycie się ustabilizuje. O tym, czy leksem ten ma szanse wejść do szerszego użycia, decydować będą media masowe i użytkownicy Internetu. W świetle nadchodzących wyborów można oczekiwać, że jego użycie przybierze na sile. Jednocześnie jednak historia niektórych leksemów uwikłanych w polskie spory polityczne wskazuje, iż nawet chwilowe nasilenie się frekwencji poszczególnych leksemów nie gwarantuje, że zagoszczą one na stałe w zasobie językowym osób uczestniczących w tworzeniu dyskursu. Tak skonstruowany dyskurs potwierdza to, co o ideologicznych konstrukcjach w dyskursie zostało powiedziane. T. van Dijk widział w dyskursie narzędzie, które ułatwia spolaryzowane postrzeganie świata. Wspominał przy tej okazji, że istnieje zasadniczo jedna strategia większości powiązanych z jakąś ideologią dyskursów — mówić pozytywnie o nas, mówić negatywnie o nich (van Dijk 2007, s. 44). Dokładnie takie mechanizmy rządzą językiem w polskim dyskursie. Polaryzacja 112 Dyskurs — ideologia — agresja poglądów politycznych prowadzi do jego wyjątkowej brutalizacji i wulgaryzacji. Te zjawiska językowe wydają się dodatkowo wzmacniać ideologizację dyskursu. Ważnym aspektem tego dyskursu jest jego symetryczność. Prawakom odpowiadają lewaki, Kościołowi odpowiada ateizm, Kaczyńskiemu odpowiada Schetyna. Językowy obraz świata wyłaniający się z tych opozycji jest całkowicie spolaryzowany. Nie wydaje się możliwe, aby obie strony toczonego sporu w ogóle chciały się z sobą komunikować, przez co to, co czynią, sprowadza się do kumulacji wyzwisk. W tym sensie rozważania o ideologizacji dyskursu wydają się jeszcze bardziej uzasadnione. Omawiane w niniejszym dyskursie zjawiska związane z agresją językową i wulgaryzacją języka wydają się wskazywać, że użytkownicy języka polskiego nie poszukują w komunikacji żadnego komfortu. Jeśli bowiem przyjąć za słuszną tezę, wedle której „zadaniem systemu grzecznościowych nakazów i zakazów jest przede wszystkim zapewnienie komfortu komunikacyjnego uczestnikom interakcji — stworzenie atmosfery dobrego porozumiewania się” (Sobczak 2016, s. 43), a w tekście trudno doszukać się śladów choćby grzeczności językowej, to wynikałoby z tych stwierdzeń, że taka forma komunikacji ma na celu powodowanie dyskomfortu u jej uczestników. Teza ta wydaje się słuszna również z powodów związanych z referencją całej dyskusji. Starałam się pokazać, że tylko w minimalnym stopniu odnosi się ona do problemów Czech. Brutalizacja i wulgaryzacja to jednak cechy wtórne w stosunku do tego, co wypadałoby uznać za podstawowy problem związany z językową stroną toczonych w Polsce sporów. Jeśli bowiem przyjąć za celne założenia, na których stoi formowana w Polsce szkoła socjolingwistyczna, czyli przekonanie, że język nie tylko odzwierciedla, ale i kształtuje zachowania przez system wartości przejawiający się w języku, to od debaty publicznej i dyskursów toczonych w Polsce nie sposób oczekiwać jakiejkolwiek poprawy w dającej się przewidzieć przyszłości. Zebrane i zanalizowane w tym tekście materiały wskazują, że póki co użytkownicy języka są zadowoleni z tego, w jaki sposób mogą poniżać swoich adwersarzy. Niebezpieczne też wydaje się zawężenie horyzontów dyskusji wyłącznie do spraw polskich. Doświadczenia zewnętrzne niemal nie przekładają się na żadną refleksję dotyczącą świata zewnętrznego. W efekcie każde kolejne wydarzenie rozgrywające się na świecie będzie wyłącznie pretekstem do dalszego prowadzenia sporów. Nietrudno w tym dostrzec mechanizm samonapędzający się, który łatwo może doprowadzić do sytuacji, w której Polacy będą w stanie mówić jedynie o Polsce, nie zaś o Czechach czy otaczającym ich świecie. 8. Harry Potter na stosie. Skandal jako dyskursywny proces społecznego negocjowania znaczeń Koszalińska Fundacja SMS z Nieba 31 marca 2019 roku opublikowała na Facebooku zdjęcia, na których widać księży i ministrantów palących książki. Były wśród nich między innymi opowieści o Harrym Potterze brytyjskiej pisarki J.K. Rowling oraz saga Zmierzch Stephenie Meyer. Zdarzenie to wywołało społeczne kontrowersje i zgorszenie. Celem tego opracowania jest udzielenie odpowiedzi na pytania: (1) jak przebiegała komunikacja w trakcie tych wydarzeń i (2) jakie strategie dyskursywne wówczas stosowano. Prowadzone badanie należy do projektu badawczego, w ramach którego analizuję działania komunikacyjne Kościoła rzymskokatolickiego w Polsce (zob. Warzecha 2019a). 8.1. Metodologia W niniejszym badaniu zastosowano podejście interdyscyplinarne, łączące aparaty pojęciowe public relations (PR) i krytycznej analizy dyskursu (KAD). Public relations rozumiane jest tutaj jako działalność komunikacyjna, polegająca na współwytwarzaniu znaczenia w ramach społecznych interakcji (cocreational communication activity) (Botan, Taylor 2004, s. 651–653). Komunikacja służy do uzgodnienia znaczeń, interpretacji i celów, ma charakter długookresowy i skupia się na relacjach między organizacjami a ich otoczeniem (Cancel et al. 1997; Grunig, Hunt 1984; Ledingham 2003). KAD (Critical Discourse Analysis — CDA) to natomiast kierunek analizy dyskursu rozwijany w socjolingwistyce od początku lat dziewięćdziesiątych. Zajmuje się różnymi przejawami semiozy, którą traktuje jako nieredukowalny składnik rzeczywistości społecznej, i tworzącymi ją, bardziej lub mniej trwałymi, instytucjami, praktykami i zdarzeniami społecznymi (na ten temat zob. Bartesaghi, Pantelides 2017; Fairclough, Duszak 2008; Wodak 2006). Stosuję tu KAD w wersji Normana Fairclougha, przez co należy rozumieć jakościową analizę społeczną, koncentrującą się na wybranych cechach próbek badanego materiału, w której główny nacisk kładzie się na analizę gramatyczną i se- 114 Harry Potter na stosie. Skandal jako dyskursywny proces społecznego negocjowania znaczeń mantyczną (Fairclough 2003, 2005a; Warzecha 2014). Ta wersja analizy dyskursu zakłada, że istnieje analogia pomiędzy rzeczywistością społeczną (instytucjami, praktykami i zjawiskami społecznymi) a tworzącą ją i towarzyszącą jej semiozą (językami, dyskursami i tekstami); w związku z tym utrzymuje się, że zdarzenia językowo-komunikacyjne kształtują większe procesy i struktury społeczne (i odwrotnie). Dyskurs nie tylko konstytuuje, lecz także jest konstytuowany przez procesy i struktury (zob. Jørgensen, Phillips 2002, s. 65). Przedmiotem analizy był korpus tekstów prasowych, które pozyskano poprzez wyszukiwarkę frazeo.pl. Po przygotowaniu korpus ten poddano dokładnej analizie zawartości przy wykorzystaniu programu AntConc w wersji 3.5.8 (Anthony 2019). Pozwoliło to określić liczbę publikacji tekstów prasowych w podziale na poszczególne dni, dostawców treści, gatunki dziennikarskie, najczęściej występujące leksemy, wydźwięk emocjonalny (w tym celu wykorzystano analizator Sentemo: CLARIN-PL 2019; Walkowiak 2018), a także najczęściej używane leksemy nacechowane emocjonalnie. Następnie zgromadzony materiał badawczy poddano starannej analizie metodą zorientowanego procesowo studium przypadku (process-oriented case study). Oznacza to „intensywne badanie pojedynczej sprawy, którego celem jest — przynajmniej w części — rzucenie światła na większą klasę przypadków (populację)” (Gerring 2006, s. 20). W jego ramach badane zdarzenia traktuje się jako unikalne, ale należące do większego procesu (Stacks 2013, s. 99). W analizie korzystano również z koncepcji mechanizmów skandalizacji medialnej Hansa Mathiasa Kepplingera (2008, 2018) i koncepcji mechanizmów wpływu perswazyjnego Stanisława Barańczaka (1975). 8.2. Wprowadzenie Ksiądz Rafał Jarosiewicz (urodzony w 1976 roku) jest duchownym z diecezji siedleckiej, pracującym w diecezji koszalińsko-kołobrzeskiej (Diecezja Koszalińsko-Kołobrzeska 2019; Diecezja Siedlecka 2019). To ewangelizator znany z niekonwencjonalnych metod działania, między innymi na Przystanku Woodstock (Fundacja SMS z Nieba 2016b; Majkowska 2019). Od 2012 roku jest prezesem zarządu koszalińskiej Fundacji SMS z Nieba, której celem jest między innymi „rozpowszechnianie Słowa Bożego, rozpowszechnianie myśli świętych Kościoła katolickiego, organizowanie spotkań katechizacyjnych”. Fundacja między innymi wysyła SMS-ami fragmenty Pisma Świętego, organizuje różnego rodzaju spotkania, koncerty, konferencje, kursy i rekolekcje, a także promuje rozmaite inicjatywy o charakterze chrześcijańskim (Fundacja SMS z Nieba 2012, § 3–4). Na przykład w 2014 roku fundacja zorganizowała jeżdżący po całym kraju „mobilny konfesjonał”, a cztery lata później starała się o wypożyczenie z Tatrzańskiego Parku Narodowego krzyża stojącego Analiza zawartości 115 na Giewoncie i przeniesienie go na Stadion Narodowy w Warszawie, gdzie organizowała wydarzenie modlitewne „Stadion Młodych”. Wywołało to wówczas spore kontrowersje (Jarosiewicz 2014; Mateusiak 2018). Podobnie było w 2017 roku, kiedy ks. Jarosiewicz opublikował w serwisie YouTube film, w którym o mówi o duchowym wpływie tatuaży na życie człowieka, między innymi na płodność (Jarosiewicz 2017, 2018; Jarosiewicz, Olszański, Zamachowska 2018). W niedzielę 31 marca 2019 roku fundacja opublikowała na Facebooku zdjęcia, na których widać księży i ministrantów palących książki. Były wśród nich między innymi opowieści o Harrym Potterze brytyjskiej pisarki J.K. Rowling, saga Zmierzch Stephenie Meyer, a także różne przedmioty, takie jak maska, obrazy, figurka słonia i parasolka z Hello Kitty (Czuma 2019). Zdjęciom towarzyszył oznaczony hasztagiem #hajcujemy następujący wpis: Jesteśmy posłuszni Słowu: „Posągi ich bogów spalisz, nie będziesz pożądał srebra ani złota, jakie jest na nich, i nie weźmiesz go dla siebie, aby cię to nie uwikłało, gdyż Pan, Bóg twój, się tym brzydzi”. (Pwt 7, 25); „Duża liczba uprawiających magię przynosiła swe księgi i palił je wobec wszystkich” (Dz 19, 19a). Ks. Gabriel Amorth, Ks. Olszewski — wprost przestrzegają przed tym, by uważać co się czyta, ponieważ wpływa to na nas i na nasze postrzeganie świata. — w sprzeczności z 1 przykazaniem Bożym — w sprzeczności z KKK punkt 2116 i 2117 […]. (Fundacja SMS z Nieba 2019) Dalej przytoczono wskazane numery z Katechizmu Kościoła Katolickiego, między innymi odrzucające „wszystkie formy wróżbiarstwa” i „wszystkie praktyki magii lub czarów, przez które dąży się do pozyskania tajemnych sił, by posługiwać się nimi i osiągać nadnaturalną władzę nad bliźnim” (Katechizm Kościoła Katolickiego 1994, nr 2116–2117). Zdarzenie to wywołało ogromną krytykę w polskich i zagranicznych mediach. Wieczorem 2 kwietnia duchowny opublikował na stronie fundacji przeprosiny i usunął kontrowersyjny wpis (Jarosiewicz 2019b). 8.3. Analiza zawartości Materiał badawczy stanowił korpus tekstów, który wyodrębniono z wyników wyszukiwania w serwisie frazeo.pl tekstów prasowych zawierających słowa „ksiądz”, „palił”, „książki”, „Potter” (fraza: „ksiądz palił książki Potter”) we wszystkich formach odmiany w okresie 31 marca–14 kwietnia 2019 roku (Frazeo.pl 2019). W wyniku tak sformułowanego zapytania otrzymano zbiór 217 linków do stron internetowych zawierających poszukiwane teksty prasowe. Zawartość tych stron pobrano w formacie HTML za pomocą przeglądarki internetowej Google Chrome z rozszerzeniem Data Miner i po ekstrakcji treści przekształcono do pliku tekstowego (w formacie CSV) w taki sposób, że jeden wiersz zawierał jedną wiadomość prasową 116 Harry Potter na stosie. Skandal jako dyskursywny proces społecznego negocjowania znaczeń (Google 2019; Software Innovation Lab 2019). Pozyskiwanie danych ze stron internetowych (web scraping) wymagało opracowania oddzielnych zestawów instrukcji (recipes) dla każdego dostawcy treści i wykorzystania między innymi składni JSON i wyrażeń regularnych (RegEx). W pliku wynikowym zastosowano następujący układ kolumn: (1) data, (2) godzina, (3) nazwa strony, (4) tytuł wiadomości, (5) nagłówek wiadomości, (6) treść wiadomości, (7) URL. Z tego zbioru ręcznie wyłączono następnie teksty z tych stron internetowych, na których poszukiwane słowa kluczowe nie znalazły się w treści wiadomości, a jedynie zawierały jakiś element wskazujący link do takiej wiadomości (zapowiedzi, listy wiadomości, linki etc.). Ponieważ to badanie dotyczy treści oryginalnych, ze zbioru wyłączono także powtarzające się wiadomości, to znaczy tożsame teksty prasowe, pochodzące od tego samego autora (autorów), ale opublikowane na różnych stronach internetowych należących do tego samego dostawcy treści, grupy medialnej itp. (między innymi Grupa TVN, Polskapresse, Agora), a także takie, które stanowiły przedruk artykułu lub depeszy agencyjnej od innego dostawcy treści. W takich wypadkach wybierano teksty z głównego serwisu dostawcy treści lub takie, które ukazały się wcześniej. Wyodrębniony w ten sposób korpus składa się ze 160 wiadomości prasowych. Liczba publikacji prasowych w dniach 31 marca–14 kwietnia 2019 roku przedstawia się następująco: 1, 56, 39, 36, 6, 2, 4, 5, 2, 5, 0, 1, 0, 1, 2. Liczbę wystąpień tekstów prasowych według dat zaprezentowano na wykresie 1. Wykres 1. Teksty prasowe dla frazy „ksiądz palił książki Potter” opublikowane w okresie 31 marca–14 kwietnia 2019 roku Źródło: opracowanie własne na podstawie: Frazeo.pl 2019. Ponad cztery piąte tekstów prasowych (131) opublikowano w dniach 1–3 kwietnia. Po opublikowaniu przez ks. Jarosiewicza wieczorem 2 kwietnia przeprosin temat żył jeszcze przez jeden dzień. Później zainteresowanie nim znacznie malało, by wreszcie zupełnie wygasnąć. Zdarzenie było już tylko przywoływane w wy- Analiza zawartości 117 powiedziach polityków i komentatorów, tekstach publicystycznych, podsumowaniach tygodnia etc. W badanym korpusie najwięcej tekstów pochodzi z serwisów: Onet.pl (22), NaTemat.pl (12), Gazeta.pl (9) i Tok.fm (9). W tych czterech serwisach ukazał się co trzeci oryginalny tekst na temat sprawy spalenia książek. Ogółem w korpusie zidentyfikowano 39 dostawców treści. Ponad dwie trzecie korpusu (108 tekstów) stanowiły publikacje czysto informacyjne (newsy i zapowiedzi); 49 tekstów miało charakter publicystyczny (felietony — 34, wywiady — 15), a 3 — mieszany, pograniczny, czyli informacyjno-publicystyczny (listy otwarte) (o typologii gatunków medialnych zob. Ślawska 2017). W kolejnej części badania zawartość pierwszych sześciu kolumn pliku CSV przepisano do 160 plików tekstowych (adres URL pominięto, żeby nie zakłócać analizy). Pliki te zostały załadowane do programu AntConc wraz ze stop-listą i słownikiem fleksyjnym języka polskiego (Anthony 2019; Obserwatorium Żywej Kultury — Sieć Badawcza 2012, 2014). Wynik kwerendy z takimi ustawieniami wskazał 5400 leksemów w formie kanonicznej. Z listy tej następnie wyeliminowano te wyrazy, które nie mają wpływu na proces wytwarzania znaczenia (na przykład „mieć”, „mówić”, „przedmiot”), a także połączono te, których znaczenia się pokrywają (na przykład „palić” i „spalić”; „ksiądz”, „księża” i „ks.”; „harry” i „potter”). Listę 20 leksemów najczęściej występujących w badanym korpusie przedstawiono w tabeli 1. Tabela 1. Najczęściej występujące leksemy dla zapytania „ksiądz palił książki Potter” w wiadomościach opublikowanych w polskich serwisach internetowych w okresie 31 marca–14 kwietnia 2019 roku L.p. 1 Freq Lemma Formy wyrazowe książek (633), książki (480), książka (30), książkach (12), książkę (14), książkami (8), książce (3), książką (3) 1183 książka 2 1064 palenia (163), palenie (155), spalenia (106), spalili (78), spalenie (72), spalił (47), spalono (46), paleniu (43), pali (42), palić (40), spalisz (30), spaleniu (29), palili (28), paleniem (27), spalić (24), palą (23), palił (21), palono (12), rozpalili (9), spale(ø|s|roz|pod|za) niem (7), palących (6), paląc (5), palącego (5), spaliła (4), rozpalono (4), paliła (3), paląca (3), palącym (3), spalimy (3), spaliło (3), palić rozpalił (2), podpalił (2), podpalona (2), palimy (1), paliło (1), paliły (1), palące (1), palący (1), palę (1), spalcie (1), spali (1), spaliliby (1), spaliłem (1), spaliły (1), rozpalicie (1), rozpaliła (1), podpalili (1), podpalono (1), podpalonym (1), zapalić (1) 3 804 ksiądz ks (247), ksiądz (182), księża (147), księży (128), księdza (72), księdzem (8), księżach (7), księżom (6), księżą (3), księdzu (2), księżmi (1), księżowska (1) kościół kościoła (163), kościół (93), kościołem (71), kościele (51), kościołów (33), kościołach (4), kościołowi (3), kościelną (3), przykościelny (3), kościelne (2), kościelnych (2), kościoły (1), kościelnej (1), kościelnemu (1), kościelni (1), kościelny (1), kościelnym (1), kościelnymi (1), kościółek (1) 4 436 118 Harry Potter na stosie. Skandal jako dyskursywny proces społecznego negocjowania znaczeń 5 375 gdańsk gdańsku (161), gdańskich (57), gdańska (56), gdańskiej (40), gdańskim (21), gdańsk (8), gdańskiego (8), gdański (6), gdańscy (5), gdansk (4), smgdansk (3), gdańskimi (2), gdańską (2), gdańszczanie (1), gdańszczanki (1) 6 312 harry potter (także „harry” i „potter” we wszystkich przypadkach) 7 287 magia magiczny magii (79), magię (48), magiczne (44), magia (40), magią (36), magiczny (10), magicznych (10), magicznym (4), magicznej (3), magiczna (2), magów (2), magicznego (1), magicznie (1), magiczną (1), mag (1), magami (1), magi (1), magiczno (1), magiczność (1), magik (1) 8 243 fundacja fundacji (127), fundacja (104), fundację (12) 9 235 bóg boga (48), bóg (43), bożego (36), bogów (34), bogiem (20), bogu (14), bożym (13), bożemu (7), boskimi (6), boże (4), bożej (4), bożymi (4), bogom (1), boską (1) 10 185 akcja akcji (75), akcja (59), akcję (40), akcje (4), akcją (3), akcjach (2), akcjami (1), akcjom (1) 11 179 niebo nieba (176), niebios (2), smsznieba (1) 12 179 sms sms (175), smsy (3), smsznieba (1) 13 175 jarosiewicz jarosiewicz (133), jarosiewicza (36), jarosiewiczem (4), jarosiewiczowi (2) 14 174 stos stosie (93), stos (46), stosu (20), stosach (8), stosy (5), stosów (2) 15 173 zło zły złych (32), zła (26), złe (24), zło (23), złego (20), zły (11), złą (11), złem (8), złym (4), złymi (4), złu (4), źle (3), złowrogo (1), złościć (1), złości (1) 16 149 duchowny duchownych (45), duchowni (39), duchowny (42), duchownego (21), duchownymi (1), duchowieństwa (1) 17 147 polski polsce (86), polski (40), polskich (28), polskiego (27), polskie (14), polskiej (11), polska (8), polacy (8), polskim (7), polaków (7), polscy (6), polską (2), polskę (1), polaka (1), polakom (1) 18 145 parafia parafii (114), parafian (9), parafią (5), parafianie (5), parafia (3), parafianami (3), parafialna (2), parafialnych (2), parafialny (1), parafianka (1) 19 145 zdjęcie zdjęcia (88), zdjęciach (22), zdjęć (18), zdjęciami (7), zdjęcie (5), zdjęciu (5) 20 140 figurka figurki (85), figurka (23), figurek (16), figurkę (14), figurce (1), figurkach (1) Źródło: opracowanie własne na podstawie: Anthony 2019; Frazeo.pl 2019. Wizualizację tak opracowanego korpusu przedstawiono na wykresie 2. Analiza zawartości 119 Wykres 2. Wizualizacja zlematyzowanego korpusu tekstów prasowych dotyczących spalenia książek w Gdańsku w okresie 31 marca–14 kwietnia 2019 roku Źródło: opracowanie własne na podstawie: Anthony 2019; Frazeo.pl 2019; Zygomatic 2019. Podstawowe znaczenie analizowanych wydarzeń opisują zatem leksemy o największej frekwencji: „książka” — „palić” — „ksiądz” — „kościół” — „gdańsk”. Zbiór ten oczywiście pokrywa się z wyrażeniem użytym do wyszukiwania („ksiądz palił książki Potter”). Po ich odfiltrowaniu leksemami o największej frekwencji w korpusie będą „kościół” (436), „gdańsk” (375), „harry potter” (312), „magia” (287), „fundacja” (243) w układzie: „kościół” — „gdańsk” — „harry potter” — „magia” — „fundacja”. Leksemy te wskazują znaczenia istotne dla autorów tekstów. Następne uzupełniają obraz językowy analizowanego wydarzenia, dopowiadają kolejne wątki, które są mocniej lub luźniej z nim powiązane. 120 Harry Potter na stosie. Skandal jako dyskursywny proces społecznego negocjowania znaczeń Korpus poddano również analizie wydźwięku emocjonalnego w analizatorze Sentemo (CLARIN-PL 2019; Walkowiak 2018). Wykres 3. Rozkład wydźwięku emocjonalnego w korpusie tekstów prasowych dotyczących spalenia książek w Gdańsku w okresie 31 marca–14 kwietnia 2019 roku Źródło: opracowanie własne na podstawie: CLARIN-PL 2019; Walkowiak 2018. Wyraźny wydźwięk emocjonalny zidentyfikowano w jednej czwartej korpusu (27,82%), ze zdecydowaną przewagą silnych emocji negatywnych (18,6%). Są one dwukrotnie częściej reprezentowane niż emocje wyraźnie pozytywne (9,22%). Ponad dwie trzecie korpusu (69,1%) nie ma wydźwięku emocjonalnego, a w 1,41% jest on niejednoznaczny. Interpretując te wyniki, należy wziąć pod uwagę, że analizator Sentemo określa oddzielnie wydźwięk każdego ze słów, a nie poszczególnych tekstów prasowych w korpusie. Ponadto zgodnie z gatunkowymi wzorcami kanonicznymi w informacjach, czyli między innymi w zapowiedziach, wzmiankach, notatkach, wiadomościach prasowych (newsach), których celem jest prezentacja faktów, zdarzenia przedstawia się neutralnie, czyli bez „wartościowania i elementów osobistego stosunku dziennikarza do przedstawianych faktów” (Ślawska 2017, s. 21). W praktycznych realizacjach tekstowych oznacza to między innymi niewystępowanie elementów sygnalizujących zaangażowanie emocjonalne nadawcy. We współczesnej praktyce medialnej mamy jednak do czynienia z wariantami alternacyjnymi i adaptacyjnymi, co prowadzi „do supremacji w prasie form (odmian gatunkowych) pośrednich, a więc upublicystycznionych” (Wojtak 2014, s. 97). Wydźwięk tekstu nie musi koniecznie oznaczać większej frekwencji leksemów nacechowanych i może być sygnalizowany jako bardziej lub mniej wyraźny akcent w kompozycji tekstu. Nastawienie emocjonalne autora można zatem dostrzec na przykład tylko w tytule, lidzie albo w ostatnim zdaniu lub akapicie tekstu (por. Ślawska 2017, s. 21–22). Polaryzacja emocjonalna występuje natomiast częściej w tekstach publikowanych w tabloidach (takich jak między innymi Fakt.pl, Pikio.pl, Plotek.pl), Studium przypadku 121 a przede wszystkim w tradycyjnie pojmowanej publicystyce, w której autor chce między innymi przedstawić zdarzenie, lecz także przekonać obiorcę do własnej oceny, interpretacji, odczuć etc. Analiza poszczególnych tekstów wykazała, że w 7 z nich ich autorzy (wydawcy) wyrazili się pozytywnie o paleniu książek (nczas.com i Radiomaryja.pl), natomiast w 26 wypowiedziały się tak cytowane osoby (ks. Rafał Jarosiewicz i ks. Jan Kucharski). W 17 tekstach cytowano natomiast wypowiedzi osób niepopierających palenia książek, ale wyrażających w jakiejś formie poparcie dla ks. Jarosiewicza i walki z zagrożeniami duchowymi (ks. Wojciech Parfianowicz, Maja „Frytka” Frykowska). Na wydźwięk emocjonalny analizowanych tekstów wskazują też najczęściej używane leksemy nacechowane emocjonalnie. Spalenie książek przez ks. Jarosiewicza nazywano najczęściej „akcją” (185 wystąpień), „wydarzeniem” (116), „zdarzeniem” (45), „happeningiem” (16), „incydentem” (16), „żartem” (15), „spektaklem” (8), „procederem” (7), a także „eventem” (5). Przedstawiano je jako „niefortunne” (87), „nieodpowiednie” (59), odnoszono się do niego „krytycznie” (50), opisywano je jako „kontrowersyjne” (46), „oburzające” (40), „głupie” (30), „dziwne” (24), „skandaliczne” (22), „rytualne” (20), „bulwersujące” (16), „szokujące” (16), godne „potępienia” (16), „absurdalne” (14), „poruszające” (13), „kompromitujące” (11), „barbarzyństwo” (10), „kuriozalne” (9), „niepokojące” (9), „negatywne” (8), „zaskakujące” (7), „prymitywne” (5), „smutne” (5), „spektakularne” (5), „śmieszne” (5), „żałosne” (3) i „bezmyślne” (2). Najczęściej kojarzono je z paleniem książek w Trzeciej Rzeszy (35), „średniowieczem” (26), „inkwizycją” (15) i „ZSRR” (7) (opracowanie własne na podstawie: Anthony 2019). 8.4. Studium przypadku Pierwsza informacja medialna o tym zdarzeniu ukazała się tuż przed północą, w niedzielę 31 marca 2019, w Wirtualnej Polsce (Czuma 2019). Już nad ranem, 1 kwietnia, wywołało to ostrą reakcję w mediach społecznościowych (Magdziak 2019). W krytycznym tonie wypowiedzieli się też duchowni katoliccy, między innymi jezuita o. Grzegorz Kramer (2019) i ks. Artur Stopka (2019). Ksiądz Jarosiewicz początkowo nie przyjmował tej krytyki, a jego zachowania miały charakter ofensywny. Rano 1 kwietnia na swoim facebookowym profilu zamieścił plik graficzny z tekstem, stylizowanym na cytat z jego własnej wypowiedzi: „»Marzy mi się taki czas, kiedy | ludzie w proteście przeciw | zabijaniu nienarodzonych dzieci, | będą reagować choć w połowie | tak gorliwie, jak na spalenie | książek o magii…« | Ks. Rafał Jarosiewicz” (Jarosiewicz 2019a). W ciągu dnia informacje o tym zdarzeniu wywołały ogromną krytykę w polskich i zagranicznych mediach. Materiały na ten temat pojawiły się w głównych 122 Harry Potter na stosie. Skandal jako dyskursywny proces społecznego negocjowania znaczeń wydaniach telewizyjnych programów informacyjnych (między innymi w Polsacie i TVN — Cenker 2019; Zalewska 2019). W odróżnieniu jednak od innych analizowanych przeze mnie wcześniej spraw, tym razem nie nastąpiła polaryzacja polityczno-religijna, w ramach której pokrywałyby się linie podziału między przynależnością religijną a polityczną. Chodzi o podziały typu: konserwatyści vs liberałowie, PiS vs PO, kato-prawica vs kato-lewica, Kościół toruński vs Kościół łagiewnicki itp. (zob. studia przypadków dotyczące Adama Darskiego „Nergala”, ks. Adama Bonieckiego i Piotra Szczęsnego — Warzecha 2017, 2018, 2019b). W krytycznym tonie wypowiadali się aktorzy społeczni i komentatorzy związani ze środowiskami lewicowymi, centrowymi i prawicowymi, osoby wierzące i niewierzące, duchowni i świeccy (zob. m.in. Nowiński 2019). Wydarzenie wywoływało najczęściej skojarzenia z paleniem książek w latach trzydziestych w nazistowskich Niemczech, Związku Radzieckim, inkwizycją i czasami średniowiecza (wPolityce.pl 2019). W 19 tekstach przywołano także słowa z tragedii Heinricha Heinego Almansor z 1821 roku „Tam gdzie pali się książki, palić się będzie w końcu także ludzi” („Das war ein Vorspiel nur, dort wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man auch am Ende Menschen” — Heine 1823, s. 148), wskazując na ich proroczy literacki i historyczny wydźwięk („to było tylko preludium”). Internauci zwrócili również uwagę, że wśród palonych przedmiotów znalazły się też symbole religijne innych religii, co może stanowić naruszenie art. 196 k.k., dotyczącego obrazy uczuć religijnych (Polsat News 2019). Jednak to Rybnicki Alarm Smogowy i Fundacja Jarosława Pilca dla Czystego Powietrza, niezależnie od siebie, 2 kwietnia zawiadomiły prokuraturę, podejrzewając, że doszło do przestępstwa z art. 182 i 183 k.k., dotyczącego między innymi usuwania odpadów lub substancji „w taki sposób, że może to zagrozić życiu lub zdrowiu człowieka” (Nowiny 2019; Tok.fm 2019). Kilka dni później, 10 kwietnia, Prokuratura Rejonowa Gdańsk-Oliwa, wobec braku znamion czynu zabronionego, wydała postanowienie o umorzeniu pierwszego z tych postępowań (Ruszkiewicz 2019). Popołudniu we wtorek 2 kwietnia gdańska straż miejska poinformowała, że „osoba podejrzewana o popełnienie wykroczenia” sama zgłosiła się do straży miejskiej, gdzie złożyła wyjaśnienia, przyznała się do winy i została ukarana mandatem za naruszenie art. 191 ustawy o odpadach (Korolczuk 2019). Wieczorem tego samego dnia ks. Jarosiewicz opublikował przeprosiny i usunął ze strony fundacji kontrowersyjny wpis. „Fakt spalenia książek i innych przedmiotów”, a także publikację „fotografii ukazujących zniszczenie książek […] zwłaszcza że nie zawierała żadnych wyjaśnień” określił jako niefortunną. Zastrzegł też, że fakt spalenia książek nie miał „charakteru prześmiewczego wobec jakiejkolwiek grupy społecznej czy religii, nie był też wymierzony w książki jako takie czy kulturę” (Jarosiewicz 2019b). W związku z tym, że przeprosiny ukazały się stosunkowo późno, bo o godzinie 18:46, media interesowały się tą sprawą jeszcze następnego dnia. Później zainteresowanie nią gwałtownie zmalało, a sam temat pojawiał się jeszcze w większych Wnioski 123 formach publicystycznych i doraźnych wypowiedziach polityków w toku będącej w pełnym toku kampanii wyborczej do Parlamentu Europejskiego. 8.5. Wnioski Zorientowane procesowo studium przypadku pozwoliło na sformułowanie następujących wniosków: 1. komunikacja instytucjonalna Kościoła w Polsce w trakcie analizowanych wydarzeń miała charakter jednokierunkowy i asymetryczny; 2. analizowane zdarzenie miało charakter skandalu, w przekazach medialnych wykorzystywano również mechanizmy skandalizacji; 3. kontrowersje w procesie społecznego negocjowania znaczeń miały charakter zmagań interdyskursywnych; ujawniły one istnienie wewnątrz Kościoła w Polsce rywalizacji między dwoma dyskursami religijnymi; 4. analizowany skandal jako społeczny proces negocjowania znaczenia dotyczył wyboru właściwego kontekstu. 8.5.1. Komunikacja jednokierunkowa i asymetryczna Instytucjonalna komunikacja Kościoła w ramach analizowanego kryzysu miała charakter jednokierunkowy i asymetryczny (press agentry/publicity; a one-way asymmetric model) (zob. Grunig 1984; Grunig, Hunt 1984, s. 21–46). Przepływ komunikacji był jednokierunkowy, celem komunikacji było przedstawienie stanowiska organizacji, a działania komunikacyjne miały charakter reaktywny, nieplanowy i chaotyczny (por. Grunig 1984, s. 9; Grunig, Hunt 1984, s. 22). Wybór tego modelu może wynikać z tego, że Kościół w Polsce najczęściej pojmuje swoją działalność i prowadzoną przez siebie komunikację jako krzewienie, promocję wiary. Przyjęto strategię łączącą opór i unik, to znaczy — skoncentrowano się na problemie, a nie na oponentach (por. Oliver 1991). Pierwszą oficjalną reakcją na zainteresowanie opinii publicznej był przytoczony już wcześniej wpis, który ks. Jarosiewicz opublikował na Facebooku w poniedziałek 1 kwietnia o godzinie 9:55 (Jarosiewicz 2019a). Zastosowane w nim środki stylistyczne wskazują na przyjęcie ofensywnej strategii komunikacyjnej. Przede wszystkim chodzi o deprecjonujące porównanie hipotetycznej reakcji społecznej „w proteście” („przeciw zabijaniu nienarodzonych dzieci”) i faktycznej „na spalenie” („książek o magii”), lecz także gatunkowe wyznaczniki stylu memicznego, takie jak (auto)cytat, cudzysłów, podpis, a także wybranie graficznej, a nie tekstowej, formy komunikatu. Autor, konstruując pozorny paradoks, wytwarza niesymetryczną relację komunikacyjną. Ogólnie pojmowana obrona życia nie- 124 Harry Potter na stosie. Skandal jako dyskursywny proces społecznego negocjowania znaczeń narodzonych nie ma przecież niczego wspólnego z paleniem książek, komunikując niezrozumienie czy wręcz lekceważenie osób krytykujących spalenie książek. Konstruowany w ten sposób sylogizm miał na celu określenie opozycji: „jestem za życiem, przeciwko śmierci, a więc także magii; jeśli ktoś protestuje przeciw paleniu książek, jest przeciwny życiu”. Wskazane przesunięcia znaczeniowe mają na celu uruchomienie mechanizmów wpływu perswazyjnego i pozyskanie wsparcia. Poza oczywistą (1) emo c jona l i z ac ją o dbior u chodzi tutaj o (2) o dbiór b e za lter nat y w ny, (3) s y mpl i f i k ac ję roz k ł adu w a r to ś c i, a przede wszystkim o budowanie (4) w s p ól not y ś w i at a i ję z y k a (zob. Barańczak 1975). I rzeczywiście, analizowany wpis wywołał kilkaset pozytywnych reakcji i udostępnień. Przedstawiciele Kościoła początkowo, tak jak i sam ks. Jarosiewicz, unikali kontaktu z mediami. Jeszcze przed południem 1 kwietnia dziennikarze nie mogli się skontaktować ani z nim, ani z kierowaną przez niego fundacją (ich telefony nie odpowiadały), a proboszcz parafii, w której doszło do zdarzenia, odmówił rozmowy TVN24 (Olejarczyk 2019b; TVN24 2019). Kuria archidiecezji gdańskiej, do której jurysdykcji należy parafia, odpowiedziała natomiast dziennikarzom, że „nie ma żadnych informacji w tej sprawie” (Polsat News 2019). Popołudniu sytuacja uległa zmianie. W pierwszych rozmowach z mediami przedstawiciele parafii i diecezji starali się bronić sytuacji. Ksiądz Jan Kucharski, proboszcz parafii NMP Matki Kościoła i św. Katarzyny Szwedzkiej, w której zdarzenie miało miejsce, i jednocześnie egzorcysta diecezjalny, w rozmowie z dziennikarzami stwierdził między innymi: My wiemy, co szkodzi, wiemy, co nie jest dobre dla wierzących, i dlatego taka forma tego wydarzenia, powiedziałbym nawet, że ewangeliczna. Owszem dla jednych może być szokująca, ale ludzie, którzy mają bożego ducha — zrozumieją to. Nie myśleliśmy, że wokół tego zrobi się taki szum. To miało mieć wymiar stricte parafialny. Na razie nie planujemy kolejnych takich akcji. (Nowiński 2019) Natomiast ks. Piotr Przyborek, wikary z tej parafii, powiedział dziennikarzom, że „wydarzenie zostało wyjęte z kontekstu całych misji parafialnych. […] Parafianie mieli znaleźć to, co im zasłania Boga” (Lewicka 2019). W nieco innym tonie na pytania dziennikarzy odpowiadał ks. Wojciech Parfianowicz, rzecznik diecezji koszalińsko-kołobrzeskiej, w której pracuje ks. Rafał Jarosiewicz. Pytany o zdarzenie odpowiadał, że tego rodzaju forma działalności duszpasterskiej jest „dyskusyjna”, „nieodpowiednia” i „kontrowersyjna”, a „w odbiorze medialnym mogła nawet odwrócić uwagę od realnych zagrożeń duchowych” („są takie publikacje dotyczące okultyzmu, które szkodzą ludziom i czynią zło […] walka z okultyzmem, z tymi zagrożeniami duchowymi, o których Kościół mówi od zawsze, oczywiście jest”) (Polsat News 2019; Ponikiewska 2019; TVN24 2019). Stwierdził też, że „ludzie sami przynieśli różne rzeczy do spalenia, sami wybrali to, co jest według nich szkodliwe i na to kapłan nie miał już wpływu” (Ponikiewska 2019). Podobnie, jak ks. Przyborek, stwierdził, że zdarzenie zostało wyjęte z kontekstu: Wnioski 125 Inaczej jest, jak odbiorcy zobaczą w mediach społecznościowych tylko zdjęcie ze zdarzenia z odpowiednim nagłówkiem bez znajomości całego kontekstu, a inaczej, kiedy uczestniczą w zdarzeniu […] rozmawiamy o zdjęciach, które pojawiły się w internecie, natomiast trzeba byłoby być tam, przeżyć to, usłyszeć ten komentarz i być może mielibyśmy inne zdanie. (Polsat News 2019) Czym innym jest być na rekolekcjach, na których mówi się o zagrożeniach duchowych związanych z magią. Uczestnicy takich rekolekcji słyszą odpowiedni komentarz, konferencję. A czym innym jest tylko zobaczyć zdjęcia, które są wyrwane z kontekstu. Ludzie byli przygotowani na to, co się wydarzy i wiedzieli, dlaczego to się dzieje. (Ponikiewska 2019) Należy jednak zwrócić uwagę, że w tej konkretnej sytuacji głos zabrać powinien rzecznik archidiecezji gdańskiej, ponieważ to w obrębie jej jurysdykcji doszło do zdarzenia, ta jednak — nawiasem mówiąc, w bardzo nieprofesjonalny sposób — odmówiła odpowiedzi na pytania dziennikarzy. W imieniu instytucji Kościoła wypowiadał się rzecznik diecezji koszalińsko-kołobrzeskiej, w której pracuje ks. Jarosiewicz. Doprowadziło to do pewnych nieścisłości. Ksiądz Parfianowicz stwierdził na przykład, że do spalenia książek doszło w trakcie rekolekcji, podczas gdy de facto były to misje święte. Po publikacji przeprosin, pytany o stanowisko Konferencji Episkopatu Polski, jej rzecznik ks. Paweł Rytel-Adrianik, w wypowiedzi dla Katolickiej Agencji Informacyjnej z 3 kwietnia, stwierdził krótko: „Sprawa nie powinna się wydarzyć, a opinię na ten temat wyraził wczoraj rzecznik diecezji koszalińsko-kołobrzeskiej, ksiądz zaś, który to zrobił, przeprosił” (Rytel-Andrianik 2019). Natomiast Prymas Polski, abp Wojciech Polak, polemizując z ks. Jarosiewiczem, napisał, że spalenie książek było „nie tylko niefortunne, ale wręcz gorszące. […] Książek się nie pali, książki się czyta i z ich treścią, także w sposób krytyczny, dyskutuje się” (Polak 2019). Analiza tekstów prasowych dotyczących tej sprawy wykazała też, że dla dziennikarzy nie jest jasny status Fundacji SMS z Nieba, której prezesem zarządu jest ks. Rafał Jarosiewicz, a która określana jest w niektórych tekstach jako „katolicka” (zob. m.in. Gostkiewicz 2019; Nałęcz 2019; Redaktor Sobociński 2019; Wojciechowska 2019). Fundacja ta wymieniona jest w stopce strony diecezji koszalińsko-kołobrzeskiej w sekcji „Ruchy i stowarzyszenia”, a na swojej stronie dziękuje ks. bp. Edwardowi Dajczakowi za „błogosławieństwo, zaangażowanie oraz nieustanne wspieranie dzieł i inicjatyw podejmowanych przez Fundację” (Diecezja Koszalińsko-Kołobrzeska 2019; Fundacja SMS z Nieba 2016a). Tymczasem organizacja ta działa na podstawie prawa państwowego, a nie kościelnego, mianowicie na podstawie przepisów ustawy z dnia 6 kwietnia 1984 roku o fundacjach, ustawy z dnia 24 kwietnia 2003 roku o działalności pożytku publicznego i wolontariacie (Fundacja SMS z Nieba 2012, § 1; Dz.U. z 2003 r. Nr 96, poz. 873 z późn. zm.). Organizacja została zarejestrowana w Krajowym Rejestrze Sądowym pod numerem 0000475218 (Krajowy Rejestr Sądowy 2019). Jej fundatorem nie jest kościelna osoba prawna, lecz osoba fizyczna. Nie jest to zatem fundacja kościelna. Ponieważ równocześnie fundacja ta nie działa za zgodą kompetentnych władz kościelnych, 126 Harry Potter na stosie. Skandal jako dyskursywny proces społecznego negocjowania znaczeń nie można jej uznać za katolicką. Zgodnie bowiem z kan. 216 KPK „żadna […] inicjatywa nie może sobie przypisywać miana katolickiej, jeśli nie otrzyma zgody kompetentnej władzy kościelnej” (Kodeks Prawa Kanonicznego 1984, kan. 216). Informacje prasowe o „katolickości” fundacji nie zostały w żaden sposób oficjalnie sprostowane, co zaciemnia obraz sytuacji. 8.5.2. Skandal i mechanizmy skandalizacji Spalenie książek wywołało społeczne zgorszenie i skandal, co oznacza sposób komunikacji w społeczeństwie „w sytuacjach dużej niepewności” (Kepplinger 2008, s. 16). W przekazach medialnych zidentyfikowano ponadto występowanie mechanizmów skandalizacyjnych. Są one charakterystyczne dla dyskursu faktycznego, którego celem jest podtrzymywanie uwagi odbiorcy. Kontrowersyjne dla opinii społecznej fakty i ich interpretacje są w nim zacierane, czego celem jest wpływanie na afekty odbiorcy, sterowanie jego emocjami i wywoływanie zaniepokojenia, strachu, przerażenia, śmiechu lub złości itp. (Kepplinger 2008, s. 50; Kościańczuk 2012, s. 101). Osoby o tych samych zapatrywaniach orientują się na siebie i podejmują oceny na podstawie normy zbiorowej (konsensusu), a media i aktorzy publiczni nawzajem się cytują (zob. np. Hołownia 2019; Nosowski 2019; Sowa 2019). W ten sposób dochodzi do ich konsolidacji i jednocześnie wykluczenia tych, którzy znajdują się poza wspólnotą dyskursu. Sceptycy i osoby, które nie zgadzają się z zaprezentowaną perspektywą, przedstawiane są jako outsiderzy i wyłączane. Było to widoczne na przykład w konsolidacji środowisk ultraprawicowych (między innymi pch24.pl, Fronda.pl i nczas.pl) oraz w reakcjach autorów tekstów prasowych na wypowiedź Mai „Frytki” Frykowskiej, popierającej ks. Jarosiewicza (Plotek.pl 2019). W trakcie skandalizacji dochodzi również do przesadnego dramatyzowania i wyolbrzymiania przedstawianych wydarzeń. Stosuje się w tym celu figury retoryczne, najczęściej antonomazje, neologizmy i pytania retoryczne. Mają one emocjonalizować przekaz i przekonać odbiorców, że przedstawiane zdarzenie jest szczególnie niegodziwe (por. Kepplinger 2008, s. 61; 2017). W analizowanym wypadku służyły temu celowi nacechowane emocjonalnie leksemy (na przykład „kontrowersyjne”, „oburzające”, „głupie”, „dziwne”, „skandaliczne”, „rytualne”, „bulwersujące”, „szokujące”), a także chociażby porównania do Trzeciej Rzeszy, inkwizycji i średniowiecza. Pytania retoryczne zadał natomiast między innymi Szymon Hołownia, kiedy z sarkazmem odniósł się do deklaracji fundacji: „Jesteśmy posłuszni Słowu!”: Tacy jesteście posłuszni? A oczy już sobie wyłupiliście, skoro zdarzyło Wam się nimi (a na pewno się zdarzyło) grzeszyć? A nakaz zakopywania odchodów łopatką (Pwt 23,14) już spełniony? A kamienowanko dziewcząt współżyjących przed ślubem (ta sama księga, rozdział 22) kiedy i w jakiej parafii po Mszy się w ramach „nowej ewangelizacji” odbędzie? (Hołownia 2019) Wnioski 127 Jednocześnie w trakcie skandalizacji pomija się te elementy, które zaburzają zamierzoną spójność przekazu. Zwracali na to uwagę między innymi księża Kucharski, Przyborek i Parfianowicz, którzy mówili o pominięciu kontekstu misji parafialnych, co ich zdaniem zmieniłoby znaczenie i wydźwięk analizowanego zdarzenia (zob. Lewicka 2019; Nowiński 2019; Parfianowicz 2019; Polsat News 2019; Ponikiewska 2019). 8.5.3. Społeczne kontrowersje jako zmaganie między dyskursami Zasadnicza opozycja, zarysowana w trakcie analizowanej publicznej debaty, dotyczyła w ogólności palenia książek. Nie była ona jednak w takim samym stopniu reprezentowana po obu stronach sporu. Liczba, ranga i charakter wypowiedzi zdecydowanie wskazują na dyskursywną przewagę przeciwników tego rodzaju inicjatyw. Również wycofanie się gdańskiej kurii z komentowania tej sprawy już na samym początku medialnej burzy i przerzucenie jej medialnej obsługi na kurię koszalińską może świadczyć nie tylko o próbie zażegnania „dyplomatycznego” kryzysu między biskupami, lecz także o definitywnie negatywnej ocenie tego zdarzenia. Włączenie palenia książek w celebrację liturgiczną nie spotkało się ze zrozumieniem w zasadzie nigdzie — ani wśród osób wierzących, ani wśród niewierzących. Konflikt ten i związane z nim kontrowersje ujawniły jednak napięcie między dyskursami. Z jednej strony zdarzenie to natychmiast stało się mocnym argumentem wykorzystywanym przez środowiska przeciwne Kościołowi w ramach stałej publicznej debaty na temat jego roli we współczesnej Polsce. Z drugiej — ujawniło opinii publicznej występujące wewnątrz Kościoła, także nierównoważne, napięcia w zakresie praktykowanej religijności, a co za tym idzie — też kościelnej doktryny i dyscypliny. Oprócz dominującej odmiany religijnego dyskursu (którą określmy jako ortodoksyjną i ortopraktyczną) ujawniła się jego odmiana „niszowa” lub „alternatywna” (Fairclough 2003, s. 206). Hegemonia tej pierwszej widoczna jest w sposobie działania kościelnej hierarchii, która zdominowała odmianę „niszową” dyskursu i „schowała” reprezentującego ją księdza przed opinią publiczną, po to, aby w jej imieniu wypowiadali się oficjalni rzecznicy prasowi. Zhegemonizowanie dyskursu niszowego wewnątrz Kościoła umożliwiło wyciszenie tego wątku w debacie publicznej na temat roli Kościoła w Polsce. Odmianę „niszową” religijności w wypowiedziach publicystycznych określano jako „magiczną”, „szamańską”, „manichejską” czy „idolatryczną” oraz krytykowano leżącą u jej podstaw synkretyczną quasi-katolicką doktrynę religijną. Ksiądz prof. Andrzej Kobyliński z Uniwersytetu Kardynała Stefana Wyszyńskiego przedstawia to następująco: To jest przejaw bardzo poważnego procesu religijnego. […] Chodzi o przenikanie do naszej polskiej religijności magicznego, szamańskiego rozumienia szatana i złych duchów oraz i ich działania w życiu człowieka. […] Sprawa dotyczy możliwości przenikania, poprzez 128 Harry Potter na stosie. Skandal jako dyskursywny proces społecznego negocjowania znaczeń określone przedmioty, mocy złych duchów do życia człowieka. Bardzo ostry spór doktrynalny o tę kwestię toczy się w Polsce od kilkunastu lat. […] Mamy pewien pakiet nowych synkretycznych zjawisk o charakterze religijnym. Niszczenie przedmiotów, spowiedź furtkowa, rachunki sumienia furtkowe, furtki złego ducha — to są elementy pewnej większej całości. […] Furtkami są m.in. przedmioty, które spalono w Gdańsku. Organizatorzy tego spektakularnego wydarzenia byli przekonani, że czynią dobrze, bo niszczyli w ogniu furtki złego ducha. (Olejarczyk 2019a) Na ten temat wypowiadali się także między innymi ks. Grzegorz Kramer (2019), ks. prof. Andrzej Draguła (2019), o. Paweł Krupa (Czupryn 2019), ks. Kazimierz Sowa (2019) i Szymon Hołownia (2019). 8.6. Kontekst a negocjowanie znaczeń Skandal określiliśmy wcześniej jako sposób komunikacji „w sytuacjach dużej niepewności” (Kepplinger 2008, s. 16). Analizowany przypadek wykazał, że celem tego społecznego procesu jest uzgodnienie (współ)wytworzonych znaczeń, interpretacji i celów (Botan, Taylor 2004, s. 652). Nastąpiło to po przyjęciu przez ks. Jarosiewicza mandatu karnego, publikacji przeprosin i zdecydowanych zdystansowanych wypowiedziach przedstawicieli Kościoła i katolickich publicystów, którzy potępili palenie książek. W początkowych wypowiedziach duchowni starali się wyjaśniać spalenie książek istnieniem realnych zagrożeń o charakterze duchowym. Towarzyszące temu kontrowersje i skandal tłumaczyli kontekstem biblijnym, nieznajomością kontekstu (nauki podczas misji parafialnych) albo nawet niemożnością znajomości kontekstu, a także jego zmianą w publikacjach prasowych (Polsat News 2019; Ponikiewska 2019). Na przykład ks. proboszcz Kucharski stwierdził, że tylko „ludzie, którzy mają bożego ducha — zrozumieją to” (Nowiński 2019). Tymczasem dominującym kontekstem zdecydowanej większości publikacji na ten temat było przekonanie, że palenie książek, niezależnie od ich treści, jest barbarzyństwem. I to ten kontekst jest w naszym kręgu kulturowym właściwy, nadrzędny i bliski. Zasadniczy wpływ ma na to historia cywilizacji europejskiej, w której palenie książek, lecz także wielkich bibliotek, w tym Biblioteki Narodowej w Warszawie w trakcie okupacji, wiązało się z eksterminacją całych narodów i kultur (Biblioteka Narodowa 2019; Sowa 2019). Publikując zdjęcia na Facebooku, inicjatorzy jako kontekst wskazali natomiast arbitralnie wybrane cytaty z Pisma Świętego, traktując go w ten sposób jako właściwy i nadrzędny, pomijając zupełnie rodzime doświadczenie i historię (por. Nogaś 2019). Tymczasem jedną z naczelnych zasad współczesnej katolickiej działalności misyjnej i ewangelizacji jest poszanowanie rodzimej kultury (szerzej na temat inkulturacji zob. Różański 2008, s. 53–55, 208–209). Z tych względów proponowa- Kontekst a negocjowanie znaczeń 129 ny przez inicjatorów palenia książek kontekst „biblijny” należy zatem ocenić jako niewłaściwy i nieaktualny, co zresztą znalazło wyraz w powszechnym zgorszeniu, które to zdarzenie wywołało. Z perspektywy rozumienia skandalu jako procesu społecznego uzgadniania znaczenia analizowany przypadek można więc rozumieć jako negocjowanie znaczenia, co dokonało się nie przez negocjowanie znaczenia samego tekstu, lecz przez negocjowanie jego kontekstu. 9. Verbal Aggression as a Communication Strategy 9.1. Politeness as a Pragmalinguistic Phenomenon Pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic research is a linguistic field which has been developing extensively over the last half century. An analysis of language in its current use often involves research into non/politeness strategies and their contribution to successful communication. The concept of politeness also carries two different meanings: a concept studied by linguists at the theoretical level, and a tool employed by lay language users in evaluation of communication partners. Communicants relate the assessment of their speeches as polite or impolite, in relation to their own experience context and perception of politeness. The very same utterance, evaluated by some of the parties to the speech act as polite may, nevertheless, be rejected by others as manipulative, insincere, or too formal. The emphasis on evaluating speech as im/polite with regard to the communication effect achieved demonstrates, according to Wolfram Bublitz (2009, p. 259 ff.), that a linguistic means of expression cannot be assessed as polite or impolite in and of itself, hence inherently, although it is obvious that some, such as diminutives, modal verbs or conditionals, are typical for politeness strategies and perceived as more appropriate to achieve the desired communication intent (Oh wait! Could you please let him know that… etc.). Operating with ‘conventional politeness’, Gabriele Kasper (2009) argues that its instruments involve standardised routine phrases used in greetings, praises, or requests, and means of social deixis, including the use of different forms of address reflecting social standards and hierarchy. The pragmatic turn in linguistics and interest in language in its current use have led to a growing interest in research into language interaction, the relationship of communicants, and the circumstances of achieving communication goals since the 1970s. Language interaction was perceived as purposeful and strategic conduct (concept of Max Weber), and classical definitions regarded politeness primarily as a way to avoid conflict, to reduce tension and aggression between communicants and minimise manifestations of mutual antagonism. According to Geoffrey Leech (1980, p. 19), Politeness is a strategic conflict avoidance, while Kasper (1990, p. 194) Politeness as a Pragmalinguistic Phenomenon 131 defines it as The strategies available to interactants to defuse the danger and to minimalise the antagonism, and Robin Lakoff (1975, p. 64) as Politeness is developed by societies in order to reduce friction in personal interaction. The purposefulness of politeness strategies is highlighted in particular by Penelope Brown and Stephen Levinson (1978 and 1987): Politeness is a complex system for softening face-threatening acts. The above concepts conceived of interpersonal interaction as a potentially threatening or offensive act and politeness as an aggression management strategy. Viewed from the opposite perspective, politeness is a way of developing and maintaining good relationships and a friendly atmosphere. Politeness strategies can also be viewed positively as a way of expressing mutual support, efforts to show mutual respect and meet cultural and situational expectations. Politeness can thus be defined both negatively as efforts to avoid conflicts and reduce aggressive communication potential, and positively as a means of strengthening good relations between communicants (see Zítková 2008, p. 47). Linguistic research on politeness in the second half of the last century therefore stemmed primarily from this purpose-based concept. The cornerstone for the majority of researchers was the cooperative principle, the essence of which was defined by Paul Grice (1975, pp. 45–46) as follows: Make your conversational contributions such as is required, at the stage in which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged. Grice used this principle to derive four cooperation maxims (quality, quantity, relevance, and manner), devised as imperatives: 1) Maxim of quality – Try to make your contribution one that is true. a) Do not say what you believe is false. b) Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence. 2) Maxim of quantity a) Make your contribution as informative as is required (for the current purposes of the exchange). b) Do not make your contribution more informative than is required. 3) Maxim of relevance a) Be relevant. 4) Maxim of manner – Be perspicuous. a) Avoid obscurity of expression. b) Avoid ambiguity. c) Avoid unnecessary prolixity. d) Be orderly. This principle, however, is more acceptable as a philosophical concept, and would be difficult to observe unconditionally in everyday communication. Communication is never interpreted at the level of comprehension of literal meanings. As Dan Sperber and Deride Wilson (1986, p. 66) point out, communicants enrich the interpretation with their own interference from earlier communication 132 Verbal Aggression as a Communication Strategy interactions, and inferential comprehension is one of the key thought processes. The authors highlight the significance of context, which aids full comprehension. Their theory of relevance is grounded on the following maxim: Every act of ostensive communication communicates the presumption of its own optimal relevance (1986, p. 158). In analogy with Grice’s cooperative principle and conversational maxims, Leech (1983) defined the politeness principle, based on which communication is expected to minimise the expression of impolite beliefs and maximise the expression of polite beliefs. This politeness principle regulates the relational aspect of language interaction, and Leech places it above the cooperative principle. Similarly to Grice, Leech (1983) draws the following politeness maxims from the principle: Maxim of Tact, Generosity, Approbation, Modesty, Agreement, and Sympathy. All the maxims were once again formulated as imperatives, calling on minimising disagreements, discord or benefits and the self-praise of the speaker, and maximising agreement, compliance, and the benefit and praise of the recipient. Leech’s concept was later criticised, particularly for being anglocentric, although Leech himself never claimed the principle to be universal. Only the Grand Strategy of Politeness was deemed universal – in order to be polite, a speaker should, according to this strategy, maximise the importance of the communication partner while minimising the importance of themselves. Pragmalinguistic research, inspired by Leech’s politeness principle, led to a series of studies focused primarily on the means of expression used to implement maximisation and minimisation strategies. The approach ultimately led to generalisation and absolutisation, and politeness was perceived as an inherent and stable part of a specific linguistic means. Depending on the context and existing relational network, however, the means perceived as typically “polite” (e.g. diminutives) may become a tool of verbal aggression (Do I have to repeat myself, Missy? We’re closed). The politeness principle of Robin Lakoff (1975, p. 64) appears more universal. It advocates the following principles: Do not impose, Give options, Make the addressee feel good – be friendly. An inspiring combination is Grice’s conversation principle summarised in the request ‘Be clear!’ and Robin Lakoff’s politeness principle summarised as ‘Be polite!’, which Lakoff defined as “pragmatic competence” (Lakoff 1975). The concept of Penelope Brown and Stephen Levinson (1978, 1987) shares a number of characteristics with Leech’s theory. Their concept does not take into account the social dimension of the communication act and interprets politeness as the strategic conduct of the speaker aimed at saving the face of the addressee and ultimately the speaker themselves. Face is understood as a context-independent self-value. The concept also considers politeness an inherent part of the meaning of selected means of expression. It is not the result of discursive negotiations. A key factor in assessing a communication activity as im/polite is the intention of the speakers, who reflect on the possible impact of their opinion of the addressee. Impoliteness and Verbal Aggression in Political Discourse Communication 133 The use of politeness strategies is only motivated by the efforts of the speaker to prevent, mitigate or offset conflict-triggering threats to the addressee’s face. The speaker saves the addressee’s face in order not to jeopardise the status quo. This concept of face is currently being rejected, and critics are reverting to the original concept of Erving Goffman, who characterises face as a dynamic social construct which changes depending on the context of interaction. Face as a claimed self-evaluation is negotiated and assigned during each social interaction with regard to the context. Goffman’s “sociocentric” perspective involved the recognition of the role of the participant in the social hierarchy and thus their social identity (the concept of face is discussed in more detail in the section analysing specific communication interactions). Recent studies of politeness, sometimes referred to as discursive or postmodern, emphasise in particular the relational and contextual aspect of politeness. They indicate that the assessment of an utterance as im/polite always depends on context and stems, from the perspective of all participants, from a particular language interaction. As Richard J. Watts (2003) points out, it would be simplistic to focus research solely on producers and their intent, as it would neglect the fact that the assessment of an utterance as acceptable or unacceptable is subject to negotiation between all the parties to a communication act (the analysis includes their verbal as well as nonverbal activities). 9.2. Impoliteness and Verbal Aggression in Political Discourse Communication The next section concentrates on a specific type of communication behaviour taking place regardless of the interests and intentions of the communication partner, while focusing primarily (exclusively, in our case) on promoting the producer’s own agenda. The strategies used in these types of communication situations may be openly aggressive, although the producer may also be achieving their goals in secret. Communication always involves, however, a threat to the face of the communication partner and a clear disregard for the positive values the partner claims for themselves. The present paper looks into a selected communication event of political discourse, which typically entails unscrupulous enforcement of one’s own interests, carried out at the expense of the communication partner. It could be said that the ability to engage, convince, win, and even manipulate the addressee, a de facto potential voter, is actually one of the aspects of political dexterity and success. As reported by Jiří Kraus (2003, p. 21), part of the manipulating political discourse involves creating the impression that the addressee to whom the politician is turning has the potential to help steer political development in the right direction, apart 134 Verbal Aggression as a Communication Strategy from the fact that there is an enemy in society striving to impede this positive development. The producer needs to convince the addressee that they have a common interest, that their concerns are the same as the concerns of “ordinary humans”, and that they clearly share the same views. The positive acceptance of a particular politician depends directly on their ability to convince the recipient that the politician will not hesitate to publicly defend and protect common interests in a decisive and uncompromising manner. A face-attack on a political opponent, associated with impolite behaviour and verbal aggression, is thus a common and, in fact, logical part of much of the communication events of political discourse. It is difficult to apply the politeness standard typical for ordinary communication to political communication. As mentioned above, Robin Lakoff (1990, p. 34) defines politeness as a system of interpersonal relationships, developed to minimise conflicts and confrontations potentially present in every human interaction. While this sociopragmatic concept views politeness as a phenomenon facilitating or enabling effective communication, in politics, impoliteness is not evaluated as an interaction disorder. A successful speaker is one who ruthlessly asserts their own (and, demonstratively, the voter’s) interests. 9.2.1. Impoliteness as a Communication Strategy Offensive and addressee-harming communication behaviour is usually monitored as part of impoliteness research. This phenomenon is difficult to describe, however, as it covers an extremely wide area of communication behaviour, ranging from a simple (and very often unintentional) lack of politeness to consciously offensive, deliberately disparaging, behaviour. The evaluation of communication as polite or impolite changes over time and is largely dependent on the individual assessment of each communicant. Leech’s distinction of politeness in a pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic sense also plays an essential role (Leech 2014, p. 217). Although the utterance can be rated in both cases by its position on the value scale, different points are used for the two types of politeness. The pragmalinguistic scale starts at zero and is unidirectional. The utterance may be rated as non-polite => more polite => even more polite => …, with zero being an utterance without means of expression whose use would signal an attempt to express a polite assessment or attitude, according to Leech (Leech 2014, p. 18). Such an utterance is marked non-polite in the original text, and is at variance with an im-polite utterance. The different terms denote cases in which politeness is not demonstrated through verbal means (zero politeness) and cases in which the presence of elements indicating impoliteness is evident. Sociopragmatic politeness scale is bidirectional. The zero point is in the middle, and the utterances are rated as polite and impolite according to context-dependent factors, which include a complex relational network reflecting the proximity of Impoliteness and Verbal Aggression in Political Discourse Communication 135 communication partners, their age, gender, social status, social asymmetry, etc. The “zero” politeness zone is represented here by utterances referred to as “appropriate”, “normal” or “standard” (always considering the circumstances and the context of the communication). Given the communication standard, the utterances can be assessed as underpoliteness or, in contrast, overpoliteness (Leech 2014, p. 218).84 As the following example demonstrates, even a statement free of any elements of coarseness or vulgarity, one which could be considered non-symptomatic from the pragmalinguistic perspective, may be intended in sociopragmatic terms as a face-attack on communication partners, and thus assessed as unequivocally impolite: AB: We spoke to the bark beetle and it told us that if we gain a vote of confidence, it’d stop eating our woods. We rang up heaven and were told that if we gain the vote of confidence, it’d start raining.85 Before evaluating the utterance as polite or impolite we need to know the context it was set. An important role in this specific case is played by the institutional framework for the communication and the social role of the participants in the communication act. This statement was made in the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic during negotiations on approval of military deployments. By making such a nonsensical statement, this leading politician demonstrated both his relation to the weightiness of the ongoing negotiations and the importance he ascribed to them and particularly to the other participants in the communication event (the need to evaluate judgements in a wider context is evident here: the politician referred to the Chamber of Deputies as a “babblespot” and proposed, for example, reducing the number of deputies of both Chambers of the Parliament of the Czech Republic). Although the statement is non-symptomatic in terms of the means of expression used, it has a highly negative impact on the face of the communication partners, damaging them through the obvious disrespect for the importance of their social role and disregard for the work they do in the Senate. The assessment of a speech as polite or impolite is time-dependent, changing with regard to the communication context. The interpretation of the participants in the communication act also naturally plays an important role, and thus the perception of an identical speech as polite or impolite may differ for each communicant. Miriam A. Locher and Richard J. Watts introduce “relational work” as an umbrella term for impoliteness. It is a mechanism which covers an entire range of the interpersonal aspects of communication interaction. Locher and Watts (2005, p. 11) also point out that the range of verbal means used to implement communication strategies is very broad – from openly impolite, rude and aggressive com84 M.A. Locher and J.R. Watts (Locher, Watts 2005, p. 12) argue that it is extremely problematic to evaluate the absolute rate of im/politeness. They underline the importance of the context of the communication situation and the relationships between the communicants. 85 The extract is from a politician’s address in the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament on 1st June 2018 (cited from www.novinky.cz). 136 Verbal Aggression as a Communication Strategy munication through neutral communication to polite communication expressing recognition and respect. The evaluation of speeches is, however, always affected by the aspect of appropriateness, and the communication behaviour is assessed in relation to established social standards and adopted communication frameworks. Impoliteness is usually associated with violating existing social or communication standards and threatening the addressee’s face. 9.2.1.1. Impoliteness as a Face-Threatening Act Face has a long tradition in pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic research (Goffman 1967). Several different concepts are currently adopted, but in essence the theory is based on the fact that each of the communication participants enters social interaction with a certain self-evaluation, expecting the other participants in the communication act to be perceived adequately to this self-image. In addition to this positive face, participants also have a negative face, associated with the fact that the communicants do not wish to be restricted in their expression, interrupted or forced into what might be unpleasant or potentially harmful – in other words they claim personal freedom and space for themselves. Goffman (1967, p. 31) assesses face as a result of social interaction, as a positive social value which the speaker demands from the partners of the current communication event. It is basically the way the speaker wants to be perceived and valued. Face develops over the course of communication interaction and, in a broader sense, social interaction. It is a self-image for which certain social attributes are essential. It is therefore a “relational value”, which also means that each individual can potentially claim a different number of faces depending on the circumstances of the communication event. It is basically the mask the speaker changes depending on the role they are playing (Locher, Watts 2005, p. 12). A similar assessment of face can be found, for example, in a study by Helen Spencer-Oatey (2007, p. 640), who argues that the connection between face and identity is essential for defining this concept. The concept of identity encompasses a very wide range of qualities and characteristics, such as personality traits, abilities and skills, external traits, typical behaviour, accepted ideology and belief, social roles and group membership. The aforementioned personality traits are given different meanings depending on the context, alternating between being seen as positive, negative, fundamental, and marginal. A factor to be always considered, however, are relations to a certain social group and the social role the communicant is currently playing. Purposeful impoliteness, so typical for political communication, is not motivated so much by the personal relations of the communicants (although this is naturally also possible) as it is by their affiliation to various political parties and entities. Attacks mainly target characteristics which destroy the image of “a good politician”, such as corruption and a questionable past, an inability to honour one’s Impoliteness and Verbal Aggression in Political Discourse Communication 137 word and enforce citizen-friendly laws, a lack of social feeling and empathy with “common people”, efforts to abuse public funds or protectionism and clientelism. As suggested further in the text, face attacks are directed at those components of the communication partner’s identity which are not related to their social role in the public space and which relate to their private life, personal traits or behaviour and are more likely to be carried out in extreme situations. Impolite behaviour is therefore typically accompanied by face threats and occurs when other communication participants prevent their communication partner from presenting themselves the way they want, and refusing to accept the positive social or personal attributes with which the partner wanted to present themselves; in other words, they reject the “mask” the partner wanted to put on in the particular role. 9.2.2. Impoliteness or Verbal Aggression? Impoliteness need not be (and often is not) the result of the intentional behaviour of the producer. The speaker may not intend to be impolite, but the addressee who decodes the speech sets it in their own interpretative frameworks, engaging their past experience and expectations, ultimately designating the statement as impolite, for example because of (unintended) underpoliteness. A distinction needs to be made between this type of non-intentional impoliteness and intentional attacks on the identity and face of the communication partner, which are part of the offensive communication aimed at the ruthless enforcement of the producer’s intentions and goals. We suggest that this type of communication behaviour be referred to as verbal aggressiveness. As a communication strategy, it can be implemented directly (insults, threats, ridicule, etc.) or indirectly (e.g. defamation and laughter behind the partner’s back). Aggressiveness stems from the instinctive need to protect oneself, one’s territory and resources, and possibly other individuals (usually close to the person under attack). As human society developed, these instincts were channelled by standards of rational morality and moral responsibility, and the ability to control aggressive impulses became part of socialisation. These standards are, however, violated and circumvented by force of circumstances (see Lorenz 1969, pp. 247–262). Verbal aggressiveness is part of a broader understanding of aggressive behaviour (Nakonečný 1999, pp. 121–124) and in terms of motivation a distinction is made between impulsive aggressiveness (the primary goal is to damage or destroy a potentially threatening object) and instrumental aggressiveness (goes beyond the current situation, is aimed at acquiring advantages in the future). Although aggressive behaviour is often caused by anger and exasperation, the communicant is usually able to assess the important aspects of social interaction based on previous experience, and, influenced by other cognitive factors, may opt for an immediate impulsive reaction or may reconsider the entire situation. The result may 138 Verbal Aggression as a Communication Strategy be deliberate retribution (a typical manifestation of instrumental aggression) or a non-aggressive reaction. The producer may behave aggressively in order to either immediately damage the addressee and threaten their self-esteem or gain an advantage for the future, e.g. strengthen the producer’s position in the group, win respect, enforce what the speaker wants from the addressee or use aggression so that the speaker does not have to provide the addressee with what is currently required of the speaker. In both cases, however, it is a deliberately realised communication strategy, whose tools certainly do not need to include expressive (particularly vulgar) or otherwise symptomatic verbal means. Verbal aggressiveness damages the target symbolically and often appears in conflicts as a tactic, where ruthlessness on the part of the communicants is tolerated or even expected. The character of the communication or social situation is also the basis of the relativisation of the degree of the damage incurred. In political communication, where aggressiveness is basically expected, it can be used, for example, primarily as a tool for creating the desired image of a politician (as a determined, brave, and quick advocate of proclaimed values). 9.2.3. Verbal Aggression in Political Communication The triggers of verbal aggression in political communication are related to the nature of the communication situation. Aggressiveness becomes part of a communication strategy when politicians enter an interaction with the objective of realising their goals, regardless of the communication partners, and decide to demonstrate their superiority to them or, on the contrary, find themselves under pressure, in a situation which they assess as disadvantageous for them. Aggressiveness is connected in this case to the factor of the exercise of power, among other things, and aggressive communication is conducted by either someone who feels superior in power, or vice versa, someone who is forced by circumstances to defend themselves from a superior partner. Intentional aggression in political communication is a manifestation of power or an attempt to achieve a position of power, especially at the expense of the communication partner and by deliberately damaging the partner: SW: Mr President / what is your greatest concern about JD / if you were to pick one specific thing / what would it be? MZ: the fact he doesn’t have a clue about politics / because politics is a craft / one you need to practise for a long time // I myself have been learning the craft for twenty-five years and cannot say I’d be excellent in it / but it takes some guts to run for the highest office in the country and not know ANYTHING about politics.86 86 While working with text, we do not focus primarily on describing the suprasegmental component of communication, but we monitor transcripts for only the most important sound characteristics, which play their part in the fulfilment of pragmalinguistic functions. In the text we try Impoliteness and Verbal Aggression in Political Discourse Communication 139 The attack in this particular case is directed at the positive face of the communication partner. The speaker discredits him in the voters’ eyes by highlighting the partner’s political inexperience and thereby threatens the very aspect of his or her face which is critical to the communication situation. The analysis data were obtained by transcribing and excerpting the final duel of the presidential candidates, which was held by Czech Public Television on the eve of the presidential election (specifically 25th January 2018) and was attended by the two most successful candidates, Miloš Zeman and Jiří Drahoš. We will monitor in particular the conversational exchanges in which the communicants try to confirm or strengthen their position and gain appreciation from the anticipated recipients by employing aggressive strategies. 9.2.3.1. The Communication Situation The communication event under study is a public, institutional, and political debate. An important factor influencing its course in this case is its stratification. On the first level, there is interpersonal communication taking place face to face, and yet the main objective is to convey this communication to another recipient, to whom it is ultimately addressed, namely the viewer, and thus, the potential voter.87 The aggressive potential of the conversational exchanges ensues from this very communication factor, because, as mentioned above, the participants in the debate need not a priori feel mutual hostility personally. The intentional offensive strategies here are predominantly instrumental in nature. This means that they are usually not completely spontaneous and their use is related to the planned and long-term building of the face of a politician who wants to demonstrate to the voter their fearlessness and willingness to engage in political struggles, as well as their quick and biting wit (qualities appreciated specifically during elections). to respect the original altered form of the words. Overlapping replies are underlined and the text is indented. List of abbreviations: JD speaker (presidential candidate Jiří Drahoš) MZ speaker (Czech President Miloš Zeman) SW speaker (host Světlana Witowská) / a short pause // a much longer pause ? interrogative intonation @ sound of hesitation, reflective pause Said with and EMPHASIS (( )) comment … unfinished sentence 87 The individual communication of the guests is therefore integrated into the superior constellation, which has three planes in this case. The dialogue of the politicians is also watched by an audience, who are unable to ask direct questions here. 140 Verbal Aggression as a Communication Strategy A regular participant in public political debates is the moderator, who represents the media institution in the dialogue, by whom the moderator is tasked to run and lead the debate. The moderator plays a substantial role as the resulting effect of the communication is significantly influenced by how much time the moderator gives to individual politicians, whether the moderator insists on answering the questions raised or whether the moderator themselves decides to attack the positive face of the politicians present. This phenomenon occurred quite often in the debate under study, and the host, probably in order to preserve the required balance, asked both the politicians questions attacking their desired self-image: SW: Mr President, you’ve said for TV Barrandov / that you’d prefer to aim north // how many times have you, over the five years for which you’ve held the office, been to Scandinavia? MZ: you’ll be surprised to hear that / but if… SW: _________________________ as President of the country MZ: as President of the country / if I remember correctly / not once SW: isn’t it a shame, since it’s a region you look up to / Scandinavian countries / do you even get invited? MZ: ((looking for his glasses and opening a folded piece of paper)) I apologize to Mr Drahoš for putting on my glasses / as I am / -2.00, as everyone knows SW: let me help you look / you won’t find any Scandinavian country in there MZ: sixty-two international trips and a hundred and five state visits received SW: yes, Mr President / but there isn’t a single one of the kind MZ: well, I’m not absolutely certain there were no Scandinavian leaders in those hundred and five visits SW: there aren’t // the closest northern country or place you’ve been to is Riga. One of the ways of measuring the recognition and respect the President earned while in office is based on which of the president’s foreign partners accepted the invitation to visit the Czech Republic and who invited the President to visit their country. In order to create a positive image and gain respect, it is important to maintain contacts with representatives of major European and world powers. Their neglect of the President, on the other hand, poses a significant threat to the President’s positive face. The question the moderator asks is a direct attack on the President’s positive face, and her highlighting the fact that his contacts are limited to the countries of the former Soviet Union seems almost aggressive in this context. The exchange is, however, also interesting in another respect in terms of the strategies used. The speaker addressed used the situational context to make an aggressive lunge at the other participant of the debate, without directly addressing him in the communication or being asked by the moderator to evaluate the partner’s previous activities. In order to interpret the statement as aggressive, there is a need to know the situational context, as the speaker hinted at information disseminated by some media while the campaign had been culminating. The information had claimed that the rival did not actually have poor eyesight and wore non-prescription frames only to strengthen the desired image of an intellectual. By drawing attention to the fact that the speaker himself wears glasses only for visual correc- Impoliteness and Verbal Aggression in Political Discourse Communication 141 tion, not for aesthetic or other reasons, he manages both to temporarily shift the audience’s attention from the essence of the question, and aggressively face-attack the opponent and point at his e.g. insincerity, vanity, or conceit. The tendency of the speaker to confirm his own power position in the interview is therefore obvious and permanently present and does not have to manifest only in direct exchanges with the political opponent. As we will see, the other presidential candidate chose a similar strategy when he was threatened by the moderator’s question attacking his own positive face: SW: Professor Drahoš / on one hand, you’re calling for transparency and yet you still haven’t told us who you’re going to take with you to the Prague Castle as your closest team / as your chief of staff / advisers / press secretary // these are the people our taxes will be paying for and these are people / you as the president will consult // I believe voters have the right to have the names before they vote for you because it could be a major thing for them who these will be the chief of staff / head of advisors / press secretary JD: I understand what you’re asking about / this is also because MZ once, after being elected, said he’d only bring his driver and secretary to the Prague Castle / but things turned out to be quite different in the end / so I understand why you ask but I naturally have a few options in mind / but if you didn’t mind SW: _____________________________ I do JD: now after the first round of the election a number of people from my venerable rival candidates’ teams have reached out to me and I’m considering all the options SW: you aren’t telling us, then JD: no, I’m not, no no no I haven’t decided / but I’m considering all the offers SW: despite the fact you demand transparency you won’t tell us JD: but this has nothing to do with being transparent SW: how come? these are the people our taxes will be paying for JD: as I said after being elected MZ said he’d only bring the secretary and driver to Prague Castle SW: please / stop talking about the President // I’m asking you. The moderator in this case attacks both the positive and negative face of the guest. She repeatedly emphasises the contradiction between his proclamations and actual practice (or unwillingness to keep his promises), and insists on him answering the question, thus forcing him to do what is unpleasant to him. The presidential candidate addressed tries to avoid giving the moderator a clear answer. Part of his strategy is to praise the moderator and attack the other participant of the debate. Similarly to excerpt (3), this is also an escape strategy – highlighting the deficiencies of the communication partner serves to avoid the topic which is unpleasant to the speaker, defame the partner and strengthen the speaker’s own position. The moderator’s attacks on the participants in the debate are directed not only at face aspects related to their professional skills and presidential competence, but also at their personality characteristics and behaviour: SW: Professor Drahoš / you as a sixty-eight year old man of retirement age / just like the President / do you think this is the right time to start a whole new discipline, namely politics, 142 Verbal Aggression as a Communication Strategy and directly in the most senior post? Can you guarantee that you won’t make rudimentary mistakes? JD: as the President of the Academy of Sciences, I have dealt with politicians / negotiated with them / fought with them / prime ministers / ministers of finance / the Senate / heads of the Senate / of the Parliament / I’m not new to politics // I have never been a member of any party / I never did any crooked political deals/ did not make any party agreements, but did deal with politicians and am well-respected by them / I’m not a political rookie SW: politics is a craft one needs to learn to master / as the President said / I myself often deal with politicians as well and wouldn’t dare to say I’m a politician JD: we may be different in this / but I’m going to run / yes, you need to learn / I’ll admit / none of the politicians graduated from a political school / there’s no university degree in presidency / it’s… The candidate, throughout the campaign, often drew attention to the fact that he was healthy and fit, and thus, the reference to his age threatens the image he claimed for himself. He therefore left this part of the question unanswered and focused exclusively on the other half. He refuted the possibility of his performance in the office suffering from rudimentary mistakes by pointing to his professional past. An essential factor in this context is that while building his positive image, he emphasised not only the position he had earned in his career (former President of the Czech Academy of Sciences) and the courage he had demonstrated in office, measured by the social importance of the opponents he had had to “fight”, but above all the fact that he had not been politically discredited. This personality trait is implicitly contrasted with the past of the communication partner, who is thus attributed the negative traits of “a political dinosaur” (secret party alliances, party agreements, etc.). This only reconfirms the theory of the tendencies to employ an aggressive strategy when the politician feels threatened. Attacking the face of another communication participant enables him not only to damage the partner’s image, but also to strengthen his own positive face. SW: Mr President / there used to be, even after 1989 / a picture of the President of the Czech Republic hanging on the wall of every classroom, as a kind of moral authority / why do you swear in public? MZ: well / to be honest / first, it is my fault / second, I’ve apologized for the mistake a few times already / third, in one case it was a translation of the name of an US / sorry, Russian rock band SW: _________________ please don’t say it again MZ: in other words, THREE swearwords have been generalized as if I swore every time at every public meeting with citizens / which is obviously not true SW: but I said you used strong language in public and these were not the only cases, let me remind you of for example / the time you criticized the government due to the civil service act / no doubt you’ll remember that one. This excerpt also sees the moderator targeting one of the personality characteristics of the presidential candidate. The image he had been building during his office also included the “courage” to blast representatives of public and political life Impoliteness and Verbal Aggression in Political Discourse Communication 143 and comment harshly on their activities. The use of coarse or vulgar means of expression could have served to strengthen the face of a resolute, direct, and perhaps “populist” politician. Yet such behaviour is not entirely compatible with the image of a serious statesman. By using strong and vulgar language in public, the speaker undergoes the risk of negative evaluation and own stigmatisation (for more on the social value of politeness, see e.g. Leech 2014, p. 27). 9.2.3.2. Face Negotiation The institutional character of the communication event analysed is also reflected in its model capacity. Political debates are broadcast by public and private television as a regular part of political combat. A specific political-media genre with certain common features has developed over time, despite the fact that the formats may vary in selected technical aspects (such as the number of moderators and guests, their organisation around the studio, the method of asking questions, the size and selection of the audience). The broadcasts are often referred to as debates, and therefore dialogue should be one of their basic style-forming factors. As mentioned above, the hierarchical aspect of the ongoing communication plays a vital role. The primary aim of politicians is not to convince the present ‘active’ communication partner of their opinion, but the viewer – the actual addressee of the debate. Instead of the communicants engaging in a real dialogue, where exchanges would form a coherent whole, they deliver parallel monologues focused primarily on reaching, convincing, and winning voters. Their strategy thus includes building one’s own positive image and negotiating a face they claim in public. The candidates therefore accentuate and reinforce specifically the aspect of their positive face through which they want to engage a group of potential voters. This particular case sees a clash between a political ‘vet’ and a ‘rookie’, with both seeking to make the most of this social role in building their own faces: SW: Professor Drahoš, tomorrow I cast my vote / why should I vote for JD, and not President MZ? JD: @ because for me MZ represents the past political era and the time of ‘opposition agreements’ / defectors / Mafia godfathers’ alliances in politics / and of the bigwig times at the Prague Castle / the bigwig behaviour of his team @ he’s the symbol of dividing / denigrating people // I as the President would like to focus on something completely different / instead of newspaper articles written by Peroutka I would like to deal with the actual problems that burden this society / not its elites. JD builds his positive face by confronting his own inexperience with the practices of political “vets” and their typical negative attributes. In contrast, it is very important for him to show that he is able to succeed in the world of politics and that he has the qualities of a good politician (see also Excerpt 5), such as determination and courage: 144 Verbal Aggression as a Communication Strategy SW: could you please explain then why you sidelined Mr. K after the second / before the second round of the presidential election? Is this because you are concerned that this information, covered by media, could hurt you and that’s why you got rid of him? JD: I didn’t get rid of anybody / the first stage of the campaign, or the longest one was a logistical challenge // it’s collecting signatures / trips / planning / volunteers / a very demanding campaign for logistics and organization // now we’ve hit the final or after the first round we suddenly hit the final ten days, the very toughest phase in the campaign, and these things lose relevance SW: ________no need for a crisis manager anymore? JD: no need for a crisis manager now / what is needed now / what is needed / is, Ms W, clear guidance from a single person / and that’s ME / there’s just ten days between the first and the second ballot / so this is pretty normal // I’m used to, I’m used to leading others, I’m used to making decisions. The communication strategy involves deliberately violating the modesty maxim (a requirement defined by G. Leech: minimise the expression of self-praise and maximise the expression of self-dispraise, see above). The speaker does not push himself into the background, as expected, but explicitly emphasises those of his qualities which are essential for top political office and whose absence could harm him in the eyes of potential voters. MZ, in contrast, emphasises the risks arising from the opponent’s political inexperience (see also Excerpt 2), and contrasts them against his own experience and professionalism: SW: why the change? why have you decided to authorize AB to nominate, put together, a government? MZ: this isn’t a change / Ms W / I announced it at the press conference // this is a ‘conditional continuation algorithm’ that resides in the fact that I either win or lose // if I lose there’s a danger that Mr. D, as he’s said publicly, would not appoint the winner of the election prime minister, and such an AMATEUR decision would wreak havoc on our political structure, and that’s why I’ll give AB the chance to try one more time / if I win I’ll give AB more time for government negotiations. Here, by choosing the lexicon used (e.g. the conditional continuation algorithm), the presidential candidate MZ showcases his proficiency in the given area and does not hesitate to place it in contrast to the inexperience of his opponent, whose intentions he describes as “amateur”. The candidates’ discourse, aimed at meeting communication objectives, is marked most by efforts to prevent the opponent from positive self-presentation and twist the negotiated attributes of a positive face into the exact opposite. It is characterised by an emphasis on one’s own strengths (which defies, once again, Leech’s modesty maxim) and explicit references to the weaknesses of the communication partner: SW: Mr President / if you are re-elected / are your two closest members of your team going to continue working with you, I mean chief of staff VM and adviser MN? MZ: I’ve said this before, and I’m going to say it again / I’ll first consult them about this and only then will let the media know, not the other way round… I’d like to point out, Impoliteness and Verbal Aggression in Political Discourse Communication 145 though / that neither of them is being prosecuted, neither of them has been charged / neither of them has collaborated with DR and I, Ms W, am not going to get rid of them / because I’m not afraid of the media. Feeling under pressure when asked about the problematic members of his team, the presidential candidate turns the topic against his opponent, negotiating a positive assessment from anticipated addressees as a brave politician surrounded by a non-discredited team. The other candidate employs a similar strategy, for example when the opponent presents him with a list of donors and financial supporters of his own campaign: SW: okay, Mr President / thank you, and let me hand this over to Mr D / if he’s interested… no, so I’m going to have a look myself as I’m interested // thank you JD: I’m not interested / I have all the donors listed in the transparent account / I don’t need to have MZ over a list. Both the candidates thus use verbal aggression most often when at risk of losing face. Deliberately attacking the face of the communication partner and the positive values the partner claims serves as an escape strategy from topics which they may perceive as tricky. Conclusion The chapter focused on an example of instrumental offensive communication, in which the speaker attempts to show their communication partner in a very unfavourable light, and present themselves as someone who is not afraid to enter into conflict in public and defend their, and specifically the voters’ interests. The communication strategy sought to maximise the partner’s losses and damage their positive image; the denigration of the communication partner always used the means of verbal aggression, which needs to be, in our opinion, terminologically distinguished from simple impoliteness. Impoliteness as a pragmalinguistic phenomenon is always related to the interpretation of the addressee (who evaluates the speech for example as underpolite), while the speaker may have only deviated from the communication standard, not deliberately attacked. Aggression was always used in the utterances under study deliberately, very often in situations where the speaker found himself under pressure and used the attack on the partner as an escape strategy to distract from a topic which could damage his own positive face. The unwillingness to respect the face claimed by the communication partner, and the deliberate threats to it combined with intentional non-observation of politeness maxims in political communication are thus not a manifestation of mere impoliteness but become a typical part of the communication strategies used to build one’s professional identity. 146 Verbal Aggression as a Communication Strategy 9.3. Verbal Aggressiveness in Communication in Media and Online The structure of many private channels’ TV listings illustrates the continued popularity of programmes which can generally be classified in the genre of reality television. An essential ingredient of all these programmes is the communicative act by interlocutors, who are mostly unknown individuals without any training in public speaking or other kinds of public performances. The communicative act in these programmes has several levels: in Level 1 the contestants in the show interact face-to-face. It is noteworthy that a crucial criterion for selecting the contestants is their predisposition to get involved in verbal conflicts which are quite probable – and even expected – to happen as a part of the show. A level 1 Act is transmitted to the viewers in Level 2, who had been traditionally perceived as passive consumers unable to join in the communication; a boom in online technology, however, has allowed Level 2 Viewers to enter Level 3, i.e., internet forums for posting their feedback on the programme and giving their highly subjective, even expressive opinions. This chapter focuses on Level 1 and Level 3 Acts to discuss the speaker’s strategies which threaten the hearer’s face. The corpus of data includes records of ten episodes of the TV cooking competition Spread! (in Czech “Prostřeno”, an international version of the programme Come Dine with Me), which is broadcast by the commercial channel Prima in November 2018, as well as the contents of the related online discussion sites. The aim of the analysis is to describe the means of intentional impoliteness and verbal aggressiveness employed in either face-to-face communication, or in de facto anonymous comments in online discussions. 9.3.1. Communicative Acts in Spread! The genre of reality television made media open to topics which had been traditionally discussed in private settings only. Světla Čmejrková (Čmejrková and Hoffmannová 2011, p. 38), referring to research on communication of English and German provenance, highlights the importance of the methodological distinction between communicative immediacy and distance.88 Texts with high communicative immediacy, usually in the form of conversation, have a limited scope of influence and are used in non-public settings by communicative partners who are close one to another (friends, acquaintances); typically, these texts serve as tools for constructing social identity and discussing the topics of both personal and professional life. 88 Koch and Oesterreicher (1985) in their paper Sprache der Nähe – Sprache der Distanz suggest that communicative acts with a high degree of distance are carefully planned, elaborated, and can embrace more interlocutors (cf. Čmejrková and Hoffmannová 2011, p. 38). Verbal Aggressiveness in Communication in Media and Online 147 High communicative distance, on the contrary, is mostly related to topics beyond the interlocutors’ personal, intimate experience, i.e., political, cultural, and social issues. Present-day media – private TV channels in particular – have witnessed a distinct shift from communicative distance to acts previously restricted to private communication, that is, to communicative immediacy. Reflecting on the norms of communication, Wolfgang Raible (2002, online) points to the importance of conventions in society and the relation of specific communicative acts (small talk, jokes, or gossip vs. job interviews, sermons, or court verdicts) to the contexts defined by social conventions. Various text types represent a continuum which can be arranged as a scale with two end points: the interactive texts (conceptually oral, unplanned, not edited) and edited texts (conceptually oral, highly planned). Language is thus seen as either “an activity or process (involving present partners)”, or as “something created, produced, edited, for instance a book” Raible (2002, online). Present-day media, however, seems to ignore the fact that it is the edited texts which should aim at a wide, non-specific audience. Conceptually speaking, orality and literacy are thoroughly intertwined. The often postulated “great divide” between orality and literacy, between “oral” and “literate” societies, simply does and cannot exist (Raible 2002, p. 2). Instead of consuming the edited texts in the outer communicative circle, a viewer of reality TV is drawn into an interactive text within the inner circle, wherein the interlocutors act in their private settings and comment on elementary, even banal everyday activities. Thus, as the genre of reality TV publicises ordinary people, media becomes more accessible to communicative immediacy and its topics, including discussing private, practically trivial issues. As a result, Level 2 viewers listen to discussions about how to look better and lose weight, cook, do housework, etc. The form of the communicative acts is further modified by the format of the show: it can be controlled and regulated by presenters or remain independent of external influence, with commentaries added later. Since the topics discussed by the contestants are banal and trivial, the producers of such a programme usually must choose strategies other than content to attract the viewers’ attention; for this reason, reality TV accentuates the form and usage of specific linguistic means, in particular expressions used by contestants to evaluate their rivals and their activities. The contestants are encouraged to give overt criticism, so they do not feel limited by the common norms of smooth and effective communication which would prevent the speaker from threatening the hearer’s face, and use highly expressive words with negative connotations. 9.3.2. Online Communication of Reality TV Viewers Participants of online communication have free access to forums where they can give their opinions on various issues without any external constraints, e.g., a pre- 148 Verbal Aggression as a Communication Strategy senter who selects a topic, gives the floor to speakers or stops their speech in media communication.89 Consequently, the public space starts to absorb more “speakers of the people” who may use online conversations (frequently senseless) to construct a new “virtual” identity without risk of threatening their face. Although these participants are not familiar one with another, nor maintain any close relationships, they are willing to discuss very private topics. Regarding online discussions about reality TV specifically, this level of communication (Level 3) consists of several layers: it is possible to distinguish active interlocutors (registered users of forums who usually post their messages under a username or pseudonym) and passive interlocutors, who only read the posts, but do not participate in the conversations actively. The sublevel of active interlocutors involves remarks on the content of the programme and the actions of contestants, as well as reactions to other posts. Consequently, Level 3 communicative acts are multiplied into the number of virtual exchanges of opinions. Besides the unlimited number of interlocutors, an important feature of online communication is the temporal separation of some posts (for the purposes of the present study the analysis was limited to posts preceding a deadline for viewers’ voting on Friday evenings). To sum up, Level 3 communicative acts are highly complex, as the number of interlocutors and the chronology of posts that can be followed in descending order, i.e. from the most recent messages to older ones. 9.4. Impoliteness and Aggressiveness in Reality TV Impoliteness and verbal conflict are not phenomena native to online communication, and both have always been a perpetual feature of human interaction (see Lehti et al. 2016). The online environment has given verbal attacks and conflicts a new form: since the authors of online comments cannot be threatened by the hearers’ reactions face-to-face, they feel free to use anonymous forums for direct, spontaneous, impetuous or harsh reactions to online content. Although these sudden and intense conflicts, “flames” (Lehti et al. 2016), are not an exclusively online phenomenon, they are less probable in real-life situations wherein an aggressor usually attempts to reduce the potential risk of a counter-attack.90 This does not mean, however, that a counter-attack cannot occur online, but due to the context of such a communicative act the aggressor’s face is threatened just minimally, in a symbolic way: 89 Moderators of the forums can delete rude and hateful posts, but the computer-assisted detection of unwanted content cannot prevent users from cyphering a message, e.g. separating the characters of a pejorative word with meta-textual signs. 90 Impulsiveness is not limited to negative reactions, it can be used to show support and solidarity, too. Face-Threatening Acts in Reality TV 149 (1) Jana: Slečna si koupí oloupanou zavakuovanou cibuli (ať žije životní prostředí, kéž by jí ty líne pracky uhnily)… a rozhodí ji když nenajde nůžky. Myslím, že by si měla vyzkoušet obstarávat domácnost a hospodářství a čtrnáct dětí před sto lety. Ráno zatopit v kamnech, nanosit vodu, pro zeleninu dojít na zahrádku… Jana: The young lady buys vacuum-packed onions (long live the Earth, I wish her lazy hands rot away)… and then she’s thrown off balance because she can’t find the scissors. I think she should try to manage a household and take care of fourteen children 100 years ago. Make a fire in a stove, bring water, pick vegetables in the garden… → Anonym: Ta Jana, nebude normální, vrať se do jeskyně. Jinak si myslíme, že to je jen provokace od vtipálka, který teď čeká na reakce. → Anonym: Jana’s not right in the head, go back to a cave yourself. Anyway, we think that it’s just a provocation from a joker who’s trying to get a reaction. → Wardi: Ale madam, nežijeme přece ve středověku…… → Wardi: But madam, this is not the Middle Ages….. → slana.marie: Vrať se na strom! → slana.marie: Climb down from the trees! → Iriiri: A Tys vykoukla z jeskyně, co??? → Iriiri: You’ve just left the cave, haven’t you?? The author of the first comment (Jana) might never read the reactions, and if she does, her face is not threatened because nobody recognises her true identity. 9.5. Face-Threatening Acts in Reality TV Culpeper (1996) elaborates on the previous theories of positive and negative face by introducing positive and negative impoliteness. Positive impoliteness is the use of strategies designed to redress the addressee’s positive face wants, for instance, to be disinterested in a topic chosen by the speaker, to select a sensitive topic which makes the hearer feel uncomfortable or embarrassed, use obscure or secretive language, use inappropriate identity markers or derogatory nominations (“call the other names”), etc. Negative impoliteness means to frighten, ridicule or trivialise the other, speak about information which is too intimate for the other, condescend, and so on (Culpeper 1996, pp. 357–358). In his later work, Culpeper (2011) uses the general term “face” which is, like for Spencer-Oatey, associated with various aspects of identity (relational identity, social identity, etc.). The speaker’s verbal acts which attack the hearer’s face are assessed as impolite or aggressive. The attacker breaks social norms and, as a result, harms, offends or belittles the hearer. These strategies might block rational and effective communication, which is conditioned by the cooperation of participants.91 91 The distribution of social roles can be so strict in some types of communicative acts, e.g. military drill, that the criteria above do not apply. The social context of reality TV shows corresponds closely to these specific situations. 150 Verbal Aggression as a Communication Strategy The reality TV cooking show Spread! exemplifies a complex, multi-layered interaction with several levels of communicative acts (see introduction). At Level 1, each episode is opened by one competitor who, while preparing a menu, not only remarks on the procedure of cooking, but also expresses their opinions about other contestants and their performance. The next part shows the contestants – guests as they arrive at the host’s house, inspect the house, comment on the furnishings, etc. Finally, the guests sit for dinner and evaluate the quality of the menu. The dinner is framed by “small talk” which, however, deviates from the norms of this genre, including typical role-making: as each contestant’s primary motivation is to win, they tend to violate the requirements of avoiding embarrassing, unpleasant or conflictual topics. These interactions are interrupted by scenes where the guests talk on camera, evaluating the menu. Most face-threatening acts (FTA) identified in the present corpus threatened the positive face of a host, i.e. depreciated the qualities of a perfect host and an excellent cook, which form the essence of cooking shows. For example, the hosts were criticised repeatedly for using artificial flavours; the criticism was projected into a verbal attack when a contestant was derogatorily called “a stock powder”. (2) I: jako když si to člověk přisolí tak ta polívka I: if you add a pinch of salt, the soup is fine […] fakt je dobrá […] honzík ji měl trošku silnější že? honzik’s was a bit stronger, wasn’t it? a bit better ji měl lepší R: měl ale on tam měl ten […] víš tam dal – R: well, but there was […] you know he added – J: to není tím. to tím není. silnější je tím když ji dýl taháš J: that’s not the reason. the longer you simmer, the stronger the broth is J (na kameru): to že já sem včera dal bujón do polévky to nemá nic společného s tím jestli polévka bude silná nebo nebude silná. ten bujón je k tomu jenom aby to ochutilo J (on camera): it makes no difference that I, added bouillon to the soup yesterday, I didn’t do it to make it stronger, I just did it to add more flavour to it R: no tak já sem to tahal čtyry hodiny […] jako tu polívku R: I was simmering it for four hours […] that broth J: mně připadá ta tvoje taková čirá J: this broth seems less thick to me R: jo: v pohodě. normálně názory říkejte […] v pohodě R: fine, put it frankly […] no problem J: no já sem měl silnější oka a to není jakože bujónem. bujón ti dodává jenom chuť to není tím že aby si měl silnou polívku J: there was more fat in my broth, but not due to the powder stock. the powder stock just makes a more intense flavour, not a thick soup Another type of FTA is related to the host’s inability to serve the meals on time, without delay. Other contestants, although they might face the same problem themselves, do not hesitate to seize the opportunity for an attack: Face-Threatening Acts in Reality TV 151 (3) A: si šla pro tu rýži do ázije? ((tj. Asie)) ((smích)) A: you went to Asia to get the rice, didn’t you? ((laugh)) R: na pole rýžové R: to a paddy field J (na kameru): tak sme čekali na ten hlavní chod skoro půlhodiny. to tam trošku prostě se mi nelíbilo J (on camera): we waited for the main course almost half an hour. it was a bit disappointing R: honza už je nervózní? R: honza, what troubles you? J: z toho čekání J: waiting for so long T ((přichází z kuchyně)): už to je T ((coming from the kitchen)): here we go A: už sem myslela že budu jak ve škole víš. my máme hlad! ((smích)) ne. děkujem A: felt like at school. we’re so hungry! ((laugh)) no, just kidding. thank you (4) I (na kameru): když už sme měli fakt strašný hlad na maso a už říkal asi desetkrát že za pět minut to bude tak přišel s tou zmrzlinou rozteklou […] která vypadala úplně otřesně I (on camera): we were terribly hungry, waiting for meat, he repeated ten times “five minutes left”, and then he brought that melted ice cream […] that looked horrible D: není to už použitý? D: haven’t you served this before? D + I + M: ((smích)) D + I + M: ((laugh)) T: já sem () nepoužil brčko T: I did not () take the straw M: kde máš ty frajere? ty na to ani nemáš chuť viď? M: and where’s your plate? you don’t feel like eating anymore, do you? T: já sem […] no já mám tamhle tekutej chleba. mně by to asi nešlo k chuti teď T: er […] well, I have my liquid bread ((beer)) here. I’m afraid I wouldn’t enjoy it now. ((všichni kromě E ses mějí)) ((everyone is laughing, except for E)) D: (<to není ani možný>) D: (<this is too much>) Thirdly, the guests belittle the host when they point out untidy rooms, stains on the tablecloth and the dishes, mistakes in setting the table, etc.: (5) A: mám zaťáplou lžičku […] aji skleničku A: this spoon is not clean […] nor the glass J: já též sklínku J: the same for my glass I: ty nemáš vidličku? I: you don’t have a fork? A: já nemám vidličku ty vole A: I don’t have any fork, dude T: ty nemáš vidličku? T: you don’t have a fork? A: nemám A: no T: tys jí snědla možná T: so, you swallowed it, maybe 152 Verbal Aggression as a Communication Strategy A: no tak já sem jedla ten ten […] A: well, I was eating that […] R: já sem neměl uklizeno? R: you mean my flat is not neat and tidy? ((chvíle ticha. R se usmívá a klepe prsty o stůl)) ((silence. R smiles and taps his fingers on the table)) A: no dobré. nic A: well, easy J ((usmívá se)): no naklizeno vypadá trošku jinak jako. popravdě. takže asi tak ňák J ((smiling)): honestly, “neat and tidy” is something else, putting it mildly R ((povzdech)): jéžišmarja R ((sighs)): oh my A: když si nám vykládal že to byl jakože velký úklid – A: when you said it was a big clean-up – J: no: a <do velkého úklidu to jako bylo hodně daleko> J: yep, this is kinda far from a big clean-up R: tak to ste neviděli ještě ten bordel před tím […] takže to byl velký úklid jako R: that’s because you didn’t see the mess before […] so it was a big clean-up Fourthly, FTA is caused by the lack of tact and the introduction of unpleasant, private issues. The guests showed their lack of tact by asking the hostess repeatedly when her daughter was born to learn how old the hostess is: (6) J: tam sem viděl fotku přítele a tvojí dcery. to je tvoje dcera? J: I saw a photo of your partner and your daughter over there. Is she your daughter? A: hmmm jo to je moje A: yes, she is J: kolik má roků? J: how old is she? A: jedenáct A: eleven R: ale ty si ale mladá maminka R: what a young mom you are ((všichni se smějí)) ((everyone is laughing)) A: no A: yes R: a kolik je tobě? R: and you, how old are you? A: dvacet sedm A: twenty-seven Decoding impoliteness always depends on the situational context, the participants’ individual experience, and especially the current social micro-network. The interlocutors, therefore, might interpret the situation as FTA just because they are not treated with respect, their social role is diminished, and their self-image not appreciated. Example (7) describes a situation where the hostess decided to be innovative with the after-dinner entertainment and offered her guests psychological coaching: Face-Threatening Acts in Reality TV 153 (7) E: ((jí porci, kterou si přidala. ostatní už mají prázdné talíře)) tak vlastně teď by měl bejt moučník mezi tím. teda vlastně mezi moučníkem by měla bejt zábava. tak sem si říkala že bysme si každej o sobě něco mohli říct. můžete se mě zeptat na co chcete. kde vás třeba tlačí bota E: ((eats the second portion, the others have finished)) so now we should have dessert. but, actually, first we should have some entertainment. so I thought that everybody could say something about themselves. you can ask me any question. like where your shoe pinches I: tak eliško tak jak to máme dělat s tím tlačením bot. mě tlačí boty jako hodně ale mám takový jako odlehčený téma aby to nebylo jako nudný […] tak poradíš? I: fine, eliška, so what are we supposed to do with pinching shoes? my shoes pinch a lot, but I’d rather talk about something less serious instead, nothing boring […] so what would you advise me? E: no jasně a v kterejch místech tě bolej ty nohy? jako prsty? E: and where do you feel pain on your feet? you mean your toes? I: já to myslím jako obrazně. já sem myslela že ti I: I mean it metaphorically. like that I could řeknu jako téma který – reveal to you what – E: já myslela že tě opravdu bolej E: I thought you are really suffering from some pain Ostatní: ((smích)) ((everyone is laughing)) I: ne ne ne. mě nebolej nohy I: nonono, my feet don’t hurt E: no tak ale pro srandu tady nejsem E: come on, I’m not here for your fun The hostess’ reaction shows that the joke was interpreted as a face attack.92 Similarly in (8) one of the guests gives a book to the hostess. As the recipient considers it a cookbook, she assumes that the guest alludes to her obesity and insinuates that she should improve her diet: (8) I: a já tady mám knížku. chtěla bych dneska rozvinout téma okolo tvýho zdraví abysme dotáhli tu diskuzi kterou sme minule nedotáhli a (potom) se ňák pobavili. tohleto není jako úplně jenom kuchařka ale není to jenom o vegetariánství. je to prostě o tom co jíst a […] člověk si pak sám může vybrat I: here is a book for you. I’d like to continue the talk about your health that we did not finish last time and (then) have a discussion. this is not just a cookbook, you know, and it is not about a vegetarian diet only. it’s simply about what to eat […] and you can make a choice of your own M: dobře. mockrát děkuju M: OK, thank you M: (na kameru)… nevím jestli mě chtěla urazit […] ale: […] nebylo mi to příjemné a […] trošičku si budu dávat na ivču pozor (on camera) I’m not sure if she wanted to offend me […] it made me feel uncomfortable and […] I will be a bit more careful with her 92 The hostess was the oldest of the contestants and promoted a healthy lifestyle actively in the programme. For this reason she could interpret the reaction as an act of disrespect and denial of her personal qualities. 154 Verbal Aggression as a Communication Strategy The hostess’ interpretation of a friendly gesture as FTA is proved by her commentary on camera: (9) M: nelíbí se mi když mi někdo kecá v mejch letech do života. jestli to mám dělat tak nebo tak. jestli je to správný nebo není správný a […] asi tady trošičku narazíme M: regarding my age, I don’t like it when someone’s trying to run my life, what I should and should not do, she might find herself in hot water soon93 Damaging or attacking the hearer’s face directly poses a risk that the hearer will construct a counter-attack that will threaten the speaker’s face in return. Reality TV, however, allows contestants to share their opinions with the camera only, and hence instigates them to talk about the others behind their back: (10) J: ((bere do ruky díl modelu auta)) to asi skládá Radovan J (examines a model car): radovan probably builds them T: myslíš že to je jeho koníček? T: d’you think it is his hobby? J: asi jo J: probably T: a vidíš někde to slepené auto? T: and d’you see a finished car anywhere? J: ne J: no J (na kameru): to tam bylo spíš jak takové skladiště. každá stěna vymalovaná jinak. jedno s druhým […] takže nevím nelíbilo se mi to tam J (on camera): the flat looks like a warehouse. different paint on each wall, one thing and another […] I don’t know, I didn’t like the place T: má to vcelku tady pěkné. na ten malý prostor T: it’s not bad here, if you consider the limited space J: sice každou stěnu jinačí […] fialová. fialová tady. to je ňáká jiná fialová. asi mu nevyšla barva J: just that each wall is different […] violet. look at the violet colour here, it’s different from the rest. maybe he ran out of paint T (na kameru): má to tady radovan chaotické. T: it is so chaotic, nothing is in place. I couldn’t nemá tady nic na svojem místě. nevim nedovedu live like that si představit mít takové bydlení J: zatím jim to stačí no. tak jako fakt to tu mají jen na to přespání no. takže si myslím že v pohodě J: probably it’s all they need, just a place to sleep. so it’s fine to me Reluctance to enter the immediate conflict becomes evident when a contestant’s opinion given on camera differs from their acting in the company of the others: 93 The author is aware of minor differences in text register of both languages (there are marked features of the non-standard and expressive language in the Czech sentence). Verbal Aggressiveness in Online Discussions 155 (11) E (bokem): myslela sem že upeče svoji brusketu jako sama. no bylo to takový tvrdší ale neptala sem se proč neupekla svoje […] nechtěla sem ji přivádět do ňákýho rozpaku E (aside): I thought she could make the bruschetta herself. this one was quite tough, but I didn’t ask why she hadn’t baked them herself […] I didn’t want to embarrass her As the speakers are safe from negative reactions, slander is the most frequent strategy in this programme. 9.6. Verbal Aggressiveness in Online Discussions In contrast to face-to-face interaction, impoliteness constructed indirectly does not pose a risk of threatening the face of the speaker. Consequently, the speakers show a greater tendency to use verbal attacks and offence whenever they feel sure about their anonymity, typically in online discussions. (12) (a) Tato paní IVA to pojala jako inzerát na seznamení. Inteligence ji opravdu chybí a hraje si na roztomilého, přestárlého diblíka. Trapná. Který muž by si ji vybral, bude blázen. Je vidět, že je zvykláporoučet a děs, (a) This woman, Iva, considers this to be a dating show. She really does not have any intelligence, she just pretends to be a cutie, but an overage one. Painful. A man who would choose her is a fool. Evidently, she’s used to commanding everybody, terrible. NOBODY would like to live with anyone like this. (b) Tlustá paní, vy jste tak hnusná závistivá a hloupá osoba, že se z toho vašeho životního p.růse.ru stejně nikdy nevyhrabete. A to vám teda garantuji. Jste ošklivá jak z venčí, tak zevnitř. (b) You fatty, you’re so nasty, jealous and stupid that you’ll never dig yourself out of these shits, I guarantee. You’re ugly both on the inside and the outside. The authors of posts (12a, b) attacked the addressee by referring to the aspects of identity which are normally kept taboo – the contestant’s age and marital status, weight, appearance, low intelligence, etc. The following part of the paper focuses on online face-threatening acts. The examples were selected from online discussions which followed the analysed episodes of Spread!. Since the platform is open and users can both add and delete their posts, the corpus contains only the messages which remained accessible after the viewers’ voting had been closed. The original corpus contained 350 pages, but the analysis itself was based only on posts which commented on the show’s contestants. Moreover, we excluded repetitive messages with highly obscene content (evidently posted by one author with the same username/pseudonym) as well as posts in threads which concerned 156 Verbal Aggression as a Communication Strategy the participants only very loosely or not at all, e.g. discussions about dental care, health care, pensions, the performance of Olympic medallist Ester Ledecká, vegetarian and vegan diets, etc. Not unexpectedly, many posts were related to the programme directly; the users discussed contestants’ voting on the best dinner party (especially the cases when contestants intentionally awarded the rival an unfairly low score to secure their own victory), preparation of food, quality of meals, table manners, tidiness, and similar topics. (13) (a) Bože já ti fandila….mladá slečna, která umí dobře vařit a hlavně jak je fajn a příjemná. Odporná jsi ani nevíš jak každýho jen taktizuješ!! Zajímalo by mě jak by si taktizovala kdyby si vařila jako poslední. Jak už tu někdo psal: Jídlo jsi měla asi dorý, ale jako člověk jsi nechutná a odporná!!!! Češi totiž neumí nic jen taktizovat druhý….tohle by se jinde než v Česku nestalo!!!! (a) How I supported you at first…. A young lady who cooks well, is fine and nice. You don’t even know how disgusting you are, you can only use tactics on the others. I’d wish to see your tactics if you had been the last host. Somebody wrote it before: your cooking might be good, but you are a disgusting and nasty person!!!! Czechs cannot do anything but use tactics on the others…. This could happen only in Czechia!!!! (b) Jak jsi zakrs.la tak jsitrap.na.. Jeste, zes nic nevyhrala.. (b) You’re as shameless as you are scrawny.. Serves you right you didn’t win.. (c) Plešounovi jde nejvíc o výhru, nic mu nejede, na nic nemá chuť. Klasická trapná taktika, ale zřejmě vyhraje. (c) The baldy only cares about his victory, he doesn’t like anything, nothing is good enough. A classic, embarrassing strategy, but he might win. (d) Plešoun taktizuje až moc. Nic mu nechutná. Má rozežranou hubu. Všude byl všechno zná. Dávám mu na tento týden mííínus 10 (d) Baldy strategises too much. He doesn’t like anything. He’s a picky eater. He knows everything and everybody. I’m giving him miiinus 10 points this week. (e) Do doby než uvařil byl normální chlap, který se snažil být příjemný. Dovařil a je z něj h.vado. A to se děje v Prostřenu dost často. Co je to za povahy nechápu. (e) Before he hosted he’d been a normal kind of chap. Now he’s finished and turned into an a-hole. You can see this quite often in Spread. I don’t get it, these characters. The viewers in (13) revealed their negative emotions through expressive and damaging judgements. The contestants are referred to by negatively oriented metonymies (baldy), vulgarisms (asshole) and attributes which accentuate the negative features of their identities (nasty, disgusting, scrawny, shameless). Cooking and table manners (example [14]) are, similarly, evaluated negatively with expressive modifiers and interjections: Verbal Aggressiveness in Online Discussions 157 (14) (a)Měl jste to rozpatlané, nedala bych Vám ani 7 bodů. (a) It was all mushy, I wouldn’t give you more than 6 points. (b) Vařená vepřová kýta v kečupovo hořčičné omáčce je pro mne věc nepoživatelná. Ale myslím, že někdo chtěl dokonce recept nebo hodně chválil. Tady je vidět, jak se Češi stravují a jaké blafy jedí. Brrr. :( (b) Pork leg stewed in mustard and ketchup seems inedible to me. But I think someone wanted the recipe or praised it at least. This shows what crap Czechs consume. Ugh! :( (c) Však ono to bylo nechutné ! Vývar kalný a ta přesolená krůta se škrobovou omáčkou ? To bylo co? Nechutnost. (c) This was disgusting. The broth was cloudy, and the over-salted turkey with a starch-like sauce, what was that supposed to be? (d) Jako přijat hosty v trenkách a vytahaném triku? Přípitek likér?! !Polévka hustší než omáčka, rizoto místo krémové suché. Nevím nad čím tady vzdycháte. (d) To welcome the guests in boxers and a stretched shirt? A liqueur for a toast? !A soup thicker than a sauce, dry risotto, not creamy. I don’t know what you all appreciate. (e) Podravku v rozhudě nechápu. Vývar byl kalný, svítek nebyl svítek. Dušená roláda ve fólii bez výpeku, šťáva zahuštěná škrobem je šílenost. Rozňahňané knedlíky na talířku nevypadaly vůbec dobře, a byl to v celém menu velmi těžký, hutný dezert. Za mě bych dala 4 body. (e) I don’t understand artificial flavours in curd cheese spread. The broth was cloudy, pancake strips were not what they should be like. Pork roulade in the wrap with no juice, to add starch to the gravy is crazy. Mushy dumplings on a plate did not look good at all, the menu was finished with a very heavy dessert. I would give 4 points. Although critical evaluations prevailed in the corpus, some users of the forum reacted to contestants’ performance in a positive, supportive way. One of the Friday hosts, a viewer favourite, was given predominantly positive comments: (15) (a) Gratuluji, paní Ivanko k výhře od diváků. Jsem ráda, že jsem vám také mohla dát 10 bodů. i když jste měla vyhrát přímo vy. Ale celý národ vás miluje a to je super! No ne ? Mějte se krásně. (a) Congratulations to the viewers’ prize, Ivanka. I was happy to give you 10 points, though you did not win in the end. The whole nation loves you and it is awesome! Isn’t it ? Take care. (b) Dobře jste uvařila, byla pohodová, usměvavá, milá a tak to má být. Fandím vám. Za mě 10! (b) Your cooking was excellent, I like you’re an easy-going, nice person, always beaming. You’ve got my support. 10 points! (c) Libilo se mi moc, jak si Terezka vedla v kuchyni, jidlo mela opravdu krasne nachystane na taliri. Kdyby se vsichni krasne vyoblekali, dalo by se rict, ze to je jidlo jak v 5hvezdickove restauraci :) Dala bych ji 10 bodu kdyby mi chutnalo. (c) I liked the way Terezka handled the kitchen, the plates were set wonderfully. If everybody had had some fine clothes, it would have looked like a 5-star hotel dinner. I’d have given her 10 points if I’d liked the meal. 158 Verbal Aggression as a Communication Strategy The tables below indicate clearly that most of the posts were not related to the content of the show but aimed a contestants’ individual characteristics instead. Apart from attacks on physique and dress (see example [14d]), viewers criticised contestants’ intelligence or family relations: (16) (a) Nehezká, skrčená, hloupá a má obočí jak Marfuša a povahu taky. Hnus! (a) Ugly, cringing, stupid, with eyebrows and temper like Marfushka [from Jack Frost]. She sucks! (b) Jak jsi zakrs.la tak jsitrap.na.. Jeste, zes nic nevyhrala… (b) You’re as shameless as you’re scrawny.. Serves you right you didn’t win.. (c) taky nevíš jak se obléct na slavnostní večeři? :-) (c) Don’t you know what to wear for a dinner party? :-) (d) Škaredá, primitivní, malá tlustá a nestará se o dítě. To je snůška předností této osoby. No Fujtajxl. (d) Ugly, crude, short fatty and doesn’t look after her child. That’s a pack of strengths of this person. Phooey. (e) Ano, taková hodně jednoduchá osoba. Chápu, proč má dceru na střídačku. (e) Yes, she’s quite simple. It’s clear why she has shared custody of her child. The FTAs were not necessarily constructed as vulgar or expressive utterances; the addressee’s face could be damaged also by attacks on their identity and impolite addressing. The example of an overt attack on physique cited above was not unique; there were more contestants mocked with expressive names or original similes: (17) (a) To napište té sádelnici, ta taktizovala a dávala nejméně bodů. (a) Send this to the fatty bitch who only used tactics and was giving the lowest score. (b) Proc s tak nechutně odpornou chlapskou postavou odhaluje nedostatky - tluste paze? Sebevedomi ji tedy nechybi. V kuchyni si ale vedla zrucne. (b) Why is she showing the shortcomings of her gross, manly figure - her fat arms? She does not suffer from a lack of confidence at all. But she was dexterous in the kitchen. (c) Paní není při těle ale tlustá jako prase v trenkách! (c) Not that she is plump, but fat as a pig in shorts! (d) Marcelo, takhle z profilu, jak sedíte u stolu, je vidět, že nejste tlustá, ale už obézní! Měla byste s tím něco dělat. I s Vaší ukňouranou a ublíženou povahou, jinak zůstanete do konce života sama, se psem, který zabírá jednu stranu postele. Hodně smutný obrázek relativně mladé ženy…. (d) Marcela, when you sit at the table in profile, it’s clear that you’re not fat, but obese! You should change that as well as your whiny and hurt character. Otherwise you’re going to be alone for the rest of your life, except for the dog that occupies the other side of your bed. It’s a sad image of quite a young woman…. Other critical remarks applied to a contestant who suffered from alcoholism evidently (A few beers will turn him into a really nice guy ! :-) :-) I don’t like idiots Verbal Aggressiveness in Online Discussions 159 and alcoholics, that’s the matter), contestants’ ill humour (She could curdle new milk […]. He’s such a spoilsport. Negativism falls off her like autumn leaves. Away from her. Girl, it’s time for a change), etc. Some statuses showed little tolerance, even racism, as in the case of addressing a Roma contestant: (18) (a) Trapné chování po tom co už měl odvařeno. Je to odporný upocený cigo!! (a) After he hosted the party, he was embarrassing. He’s a stinky, sweaty gyppo. (b) Tihle „hnědočeši“ mají jak vidno silný žaludek. (b) These “brown Czechs” have strong stomachs, apparently. (c) Ze Slovenska k nám může přijít medvěd, nebo tahle temná rasa. Já beru medvěda. (c) Only two things can come from Slovakia – bears, or these dark people. I prefer the bears. (d) vyhraje ulhaný k.i.k.á.n, Terezy zábava se mu zdála průměrná, za to lézt na komín je terno. Copak měl tenhle člověk za neštěstí v rodině a nepodělil se s námi o něj? (d) The cheating g.y.p.p.o is going to win. He found the after-dinner entertainment at Tereza’s average, and now he thinks it’s great fun to climb a chimney. Perhaps he was stricken by some family tragedy he did not reveal to us. Furthermore, there was aversion aimed at a contestant who revealed her homosexuality (She’s a lesbian for sure […] looks like a c.u.n.t […] in these manly shorts […] she doesn’t know how to dress for dinner! Tereza is a lesbian who can neither treat people, nor animals. She considers herself to be awesome but she’s a fat and very simple girl in fact. As far as I know, she doesn’t do anything for a living and she’s always eaten meat) or vegetarianism (When I look at that dried mummy, I see clearly why I can never be vegetarian). These statements indicate viewers’ reluctance to accept differences. Many negative comments were addressed to a contestant talking openly about her poor health, which had been the reason she ended her stay in USA. The negative opinion in (19) is expressed as stylised astonishment with a sequence of rhetorical questions, the diminutive (owie, in Czech “bebínko”), and the simile (as cunning as a fox): (19) Hmmm, zajímavé…. Do Ameriky jít vydělávat, ale jak máme bebínko, tak honem honem domů k doktorovi… Pročpak si nejde k doktorovi v Americe? Tady to má zdarma, že? Nebojí to zaplatíme my… A pak honem honem do USA… Vyčuraná jako díra do sněhu… Well, interesting…. Moving to America to make money is fine, but as soon as she gets an owie, she hurries home to see the doctor… Why doesn’t she see him in the USA? But isn’t it for free at home? Or paid by us… And then hurry up! back to the USA… As cunning as a fox… The highest number of comments regarded a contestant who, apart from being vegetarian, confessed that she possesses a figurine of a small boy which she considers her real son (it kept her company on holiday, was supposed to go to uni- 160 Verbal Aggression as a Communication Strategy versity, etc.). The majority of viewers criticised the contestant’s identity by questioning her sanity: (20) (a) Bába asi nebude ani zlá, ale vypatlaná je těžce. (a) This old woman might not be mean, but she’s brainless for sure. (b) Myslím, že paní to má v hlavě poskládané trochu jinak. K panence se chová jak k dítěti, kdyby jí bylo o 70 let méně, tak mě to nepřekvapí, ale takhle? A její zábava mě opravdu pobavila, všichni z ní byli opravdu mimo. (b) I think the lady is not quite right in the head. She treats the doll as a child, if she were 70 years younger, it would be OK, but like this? I really enjoyed her party programme, everybody freaked out completely. (c) Ta pomatená ženská by se měla spíš hlásit k psychiatrickému sezení a ne do pořadu o vaření. No a neměla by zapomenout vzít sebou toho gumového panáka, co půjde studovat! To je fakt síla, co za sračky ta TV dokáže odvysílat. (c) This insane woman should register with a psychiatrist, not a cooking show. And she should not forget to bring with her the rubber guy that’s going to university. It’s ridiculous that such shit is broadcast on TV. The FTAs in (20) involve expressive vocabulary (old woman, insane woman) and references to the contestant’s age. Next, the evaluative posts were constructed as rude and vulgar comments, resulting probably from the unwanted outcome of the contest; there was an evident tendency to maximise the damage and mockery: (21) inkvizitor (Anonym) Co jste od ní čekali? Vymletá trubka se nechala zbouchnout 15 a vrhla spratka. To takhle bývá, u spodiny, že se množí jako králíci. Bohužel, je to tahle hloupá spodina, co by se vůbec množit neměla! Kdyby ta špína jednou za čas otevřela oči, myslela hlavou (a neprd.elí jak teď), tak mohla vyhrát ta pravá. Ne, výhru si vydyndal špek jen kvůli tomu, že mu zkapal synáček… inquisitor (anonymous) What did you expect? The stupid cunt got knocked up at 15 and littered a bastard. Scum like this normally breed like rabbits, unfortunately, but they should not breed at all! If she thought with her head (instead her ass) from time to time, she could have won justly. No, it is the fatass that managed to beg the prize, only because her son had died. The author, under the marked username inquisitor, used highly expressive and vulgar expressions to refer to the contestant’s social status (scum), elaborated on a stereotypical idea of the destitute person’s undesirable fertility (to breed like rabbits), and gave the addressees dysphemic names (stupid cunt, fatass). The tables below give the quantitative summary of viewers’ evaluating the individual contestants, and indicate the ratio of positively and negatively-oriented comments, as well as the aspects of identity which were attacked most frequently. 161 Verbal Aggressiveness in Online Discussions Monday November 12th Hostess: Adriana Attacks on individual personal features (physique, low intelligence, family relations) Frequency 114 Harsh attacks and offence 25 Negative evaluation of the score given to rivals, behaviour, clothing 24 Negative evaluation of the menu and cooking 32 Positive evaluation of the menu and cooking 8 Tuesday November 13th Host: Ján Frequency Attacks on individual personal features (tendencies to demand rivals’ sympathy over the death of his son, pointing out his own health problems, obesity) 88 Harsh attacks and offence 37 Negative evaluation of the score given to rivals 10 Negative evaluation of the untidy house, inappropriate clothing 62 Negative evaluation of the menu and cooking 16 Positive evaluation of the menu and cooking 17 Racist attacks 11 Negative evaluation of an undeserved victory 19 Wednesday November 14th Host: Radovan Frequency Attacks on individual personal features (alcoholism) 36 Negative evaluation of cooking and table manners 36 Positive evaluation of the menu and cooking 35 Negative evaluation of the score given to rivals 12 Thursday November 15th Hostess: Tereza Attacks on individual personal features (obesity, inappropriate clothing, lesbian orientation, vegetarianism, returning from abroad due to health problems, “abusing” the healthcare system) Frequency 63 Harsh attacks and offence 2 Negative evaluation of the score given to rivals 5 Negative evaluation of the menu and cooking 8 Positive evaluation of the menu and cooking 29 Positive evaluation of individual personal features, supportive messages 32 162 Verbal Aggression as a Communication Strategy Friday November 16th Hostess: Ivana Frequency Positive evaluation of the menu and cooking 14 Belief that the contestant should have won 28 Generally positive evaluation Negative evaluation of the menu and cooking Monday November 19th Hostess: Eliška Negative evaluation of the menu and cooking Negative evaluation of the after-dinner entertainment 110 11 Frequency 18 4 Negative evaluation of the contestant’s relationship to Hugo (the doll) 58 Positive evaluation of the contestant’s relationship to Hugo (the doll) 10 Negative evaluation of vegetarianism 56 Positive evaluation of vegetarianism 4 Negative evaluation of the contestant’s mental state 58 Negative evaluation of the score given to rivals 23 Positive evaluation of individual personal features / supportive messages Tuesday November 20th Hostess: Daniela 33/40 Frequency Attacks on individual personal features (obesity) 95 Harsh attacks and offence 11 Negative evaluation of behaviour and the score given to rivals 56 Negative evaluation of the menu and cooking 17 Positive evaluation of the menu and cooking Positive evaluation of individual personal features / supportive messages Wednesday November 21st Hostess: Marcela Attacks on individual personal features (negativism, pessimism, sense of aggrievement) Harsh attacks and offence 29 71/35 Frequency 102 7 Negative evaluation of the score given to rivals 20 Negative evaluation of the menu and cooking 18 Positive evaluation of the menu and cooking 15 Positive evaluation of individual personal features / supportive messages 11/20 Verbal Aggressiveness in Online Discussions Thursday November 22nd Host: Tomáš 163 Frequency Attacks on individual personal features (alcoholism, exploitation of his parents) 33 Harsh attacks and offence 1 Negative evaluation of the score given to rivals 3 Negative evaluation of the menu and cooking 16 Positive evaluation of the menu and cooking 1 Positive evaluation of individual personal features / supportive messages Friday November 23rd Hostess: Iva 17/11 Frequency Attacks on individual personal features (untidy house, the debt of the house and risk of foreclosure) Harsh attacks and offence 103 5 Negative evaluation of the menu and cooking 19 Positive evaluation of the menu and cooking 28 Positive evaluation of individual personal features / supportive messages Negative evaluation of the results of the contest 92/19 13 9.6.1. Exchanges in Online Discussions As mentioned above, online communicative acts can be constructed either as comments on the shared content in the form of “monologues”, or virtual exchanges between multiple interlocutors. Interlocutors from this corpus followed similar patterns in both types of the acts – they expressed their negative viewpoints and attacked the addressee’s communicative competences and intellectual skills: (22) Souhlasím s: (Anonym) 21.11.2018 20:08: Marcela je zamindrákovaná, negativní, protivná paní, která se patlá jen ve své minulosti a chorobách. Evidentně ale bídou netrpí, viz barák a nejnovější vybavení, gelové nehty atd., tak proč si pořád stěžuje na hrozný život. I Agree With Anonymous (Nov 21st 2018 20:08): Marcela is a frustrated, negative, annoying person who only fiddles about the past and her diseases. But she’s not stricken by poverty obviously, see the house and brand-new furnishings, gel nails etc., so why does she keep complaining about her bad life. Anonym (Anonym) 21.11.2018 20:16: Jestli hodnotíte spokojený život jen podle baráku a gelových nehtů, tak to tedy od života moc nechcete, takovým lidem se říká chudý duchem, v hlavě nic. Anonymous (Nov 21st 2018 20:16): If you measure the happiness by houses and gel nails, you don’t want much from life. People like you are called the poor in spirit, empty minds. → → 164 Verbal Aggression as a Communication Strategy In contrast to the discussions on the content of the reality TV show, these exchanges showed a lower occurrence of damaging and aggressive posts; example (23) demonstrates mutual agreement among the interlocutors: (23) ehromasova 12.11.2018 18:28 …to je vrchol buranismu jít mezi lidi v maskáčovým tílku a šortkách.. nebo právě přišel z ryb ?! ehromasova (Nov 12th 2018 18:28): … it’s top hick manners to wear a camouflage T-shirt and shorts for dinner.. or has he just returned from fishing? → psenicamilan (Nov 12th 2018 18:45): Cooooool..!!!! → alena.sd 12.11.2018 18:30 Přesně to samé mě napadlo. Nechápu, že někdo vůbec může takhle přijít na večeři. A pak na druhou stranu chtějí netradiční nebo luxusní jídlo, ale oblečou se jak k táboráku. → alena.sd (Nov 12th 2018 18:30): That’s just what I thought. I don’t understand that someone can come dine like this. Dressed like for a camp fire, but they require the unusual or exclusive meal. → nohelovaiva 12.11.2018 18:35 ……už jen špekoňa do ruky…… → nohelovaiva (Nov 12th 2018 18:35): ……he only lacks a sausage in his hand…… → psenicamilan 12.11.2018 18:45 Supéééér….!!!! This type of online comment falls into the genre of gossip, which is normally used by friends or acquaintances to discuss everyday issues (Raible 2002). The genre traditionally related to high communicative immediacy therefore invades the public settings. Although the interlocutors do not know each other, they use linguistic expressions typical for communicative immediacy in private settings, e.g. a substandard code and sound symbolism. In the final category of posts, the authors react to the potential aggressiveness of other interlocutors and, reflecting the communicative distance of the public settings, urge them not to lose self-control: (23) Rituš (Anonym) 16.11.2018 16:45 Lidi ale proč jste tak zlý a vulgární ? Ano paní je závistivá atd . ale tolik urážek .. Rituš (Nov 16th 2018 16:45): Guys, why are you so mean and vulgar ? Yes the lady is jealous etc . but why so many insults .. lenka.plancarova 12.11.2018 22:38 Nechápu lidi když pisou komentáře co je spatne nebo co se jim nelíbilo a nedokážou se podepsat pořád jen anonymní tak tam běžte a zkuste si to frajeři lenka.plancarova (Nov 12th 2018 22:38): I dont get the people who post comments on what is wrong or what they didn’t like and they don’t say their name so go there and try it on your own, tough guys Conclusion olgadol (Anonym) 21.11.2018 20:05 Vždy, když si přečtu takový komentář, přemýšlím nad tím, proč jej autor vůbec napsal. Proč měl potřebu jej zveřejnit…. Kdo vám, UJJJ, dal právo někoho tak odporně škatulkovat? Ano, je to anonymita. Proč by měla být falešná? Znáte ji osobně? Jáne. Proč tlustá? Spoustě lidí je jistě sympatická - znáte to: někdo má rád holky, někdo zase…doplňte si sám/a. Prostě to shrnu: trapný jsi a zlý…tvé překlepy neřeším, ačkoliv bych se mohla vysmívat, proč si to po sobě alespoň nepřečteš, chudáku!!!! 165 olgadol (Nov 21st 2018 20:05): Any time I read a similar comment I think why the author wrote it and felt the need to post it…. Who gave you, UJJJ, the right to label people so nastily? Yes, it is anonymous. But why should she be false? Do you know her in person? I don’t. Why fat? Many people may like her, you know the proverb, o each to his own. To sum up: you’re ridiculous and mean…no comment on your typos, though I could mock that you cannot even revise what you wrote, loser!!!! The authors who intuitively identify the causes of aggressive and harmful strategies realise that the anonymous online environment and construction of a new identity may incite the interlocutors to flout the norms of polite interaction. Moreover, this criticism involves the assessment of spelling and style in the respective posts. Conclusion The analysis of the corpus confirmed the hypothesis that if the interlocutors can communicate anonymously, their verbal aggressiveness increases. TV media and the online environment make it possible for speakers to use the interactive texts, normally constructed as acts of private communication (here gossips and subjective evaluation of communicative partners), in public settings. The choice of expressions and communicative strategies, however, still depends on the particular type of medium and the situational context which it creates: Participants in reality TVs who construct communicative acts in face-to-face interaction with others react to the social context established by the show: each contestant is highly motivated by his/her wishes to win, and therefore is making an effort to convince all participants (Level 1 contestants as well as Level 2 viewers) of his/her positive face. Since the contestants might be threatened by the loss of face resulting from open confrontation (and, consequently, might run the risk of being awarded few points in return), they usually avoid direct attacks; instead, they prefer slander, which is a part of the show and an act that the contestants are incited to carry out. The online discussions, on the other hand, are a medium of anonymity which encourages interlocutors to evaluate and criticise openly. Since such an environment protects users from the potential loss of their own face, viewers of reality TV use 166 Verbal Aggression as a Communication Strategy it to threaten the face of the contestants with gossip or harsh and rude vocabulary. The most frequent attacks are aimed at various aspects of the positive face (e.g. a contestant’s cooking skills), and however different they are for each contestant, they mostly reflect viewers’ reluctance to accept the specifics of the individual. In addition to the evaluative comments and statuses, the online discussions include dialogues from the users. They often simulate the communicative acts characteristic for private settings where interlocutors construct gossip, a genre with high communicative immediacy, although they do not know each other. Some users, nevertheless, remain conscious of the public character of the online settings: they try to correct both the content and style of other authors’ posts and urge them to keep their judgements polite. The hypothesis about the high frequency of aggressive and harmful strategies on Level 3 was thus partly confirmed, but some comments suggested a continuous tendency to respect the principles of communicative appropriateness and politeness. Conclusions The analysis of authentic Czech and Polish public discourses was aimed at testing the hypothesis about the ongoing deterioration of language used for public communication. The authors’ concern was to fill the gap in the research on public communication with a systematic analysis of the tendencies and trends in usage of expressivity and speaker-oriented linguistic expressions, especially in the media discourse. The authors selected a representative sample of data from 1945 to the present to address the two research questions: (1) what are the trends and changes in negatively oriented expressivity? (2) to what extent is expressivity used as a face-threatening strategy (in other words, is expressivity the essential part of the communicative acts damaging the hearer’s face)? Evidently, the level of expressivity, persuasion, and manipulation (or even aggressiveness) as well as the distribution of linguistic expressions in use are determined by both intra- and extra-linguistic factors, i.e. a time period when a text was published, regional and cultural specifics, context, etc. The contrastive analysis of Czech media texts issued during the normalisation era (in the 1970s in particular) and present-day corpus suggests that the presentday texts tend to be more informal, spontaneous – and perhaps more subjective, therefore. On the other hand, present-day journalists employ more sophisticated communicative strategies of addressing the readership: they seem to be aware of readers’ familiarity with a topic, ability to seek further information and critical approach to the content. Last but not least, these authors, unlike their predecessors, are neither shielded by the authority of a totalitarian regime and its ideology, nor by the persuasive effect of an immense repressive apparatus. The cross-linguistic analysis of Czech and Polish texts revealed that the Polish media discourse is substantially more polarised; this is obvious in the speakers’ self-representation as well as in occurrences of expressivity. A salient feature of Polish media is linguistic creativity employed by journalists to introduce themselves as proponents of particular opinions in a concise and unambiguous manner. The same polarisation is apparent in the online discussions on various “hot” issues. Argumentation and choice of linguistic expressions in Czech media discourse, on the contrary, seems to be less inclined to such a strict differentiation. In chapter 1, the key theoretical concepts of text and discourse were defined in relation to research by M.A.K. Halliday, N. Fairclough, T.A. van Dijk, and R. Wo- 168 Conclusions dak. The qualitative analysis of the corpus followed the principles of Contrastive Discourse Analysis which, due to its multidisciplinary character, enabled to interpret the data in the historical, social, and cultural context and to highlight the significant expressions of ideology in political discourse (see Van Dijk’s polarisation, utilisation of pronouns, identification, activities, norms and values, interests, etc.). Ideology and the contemporary trends in verbal aggressiveness are discussed in chapters 2, 3, and 4, focusing on the public discourse during the Communist era in 1960s–1970s Czechoslovakia which outline the media image of various social phenomena, e.g. men’s long haircuts or continuing importance of religion and church. This field of discourse is characterised by the above-mentioned aggressiveness of communicative strategies lying in expressivity and, moreover, protected by the authority of the communist regime which could profit from social conformity and limited public awareness. The media texts, presenting the official standpoint of the Party and government, indicate that authorities were not willing to admit that some sociocultural matters were outside their control. Their criticism was, therefore, formulated in authoritarian, categorical, and confident statements anchored in the “scientific” grounds of Communism: men with long hair were said to offend against “taste and decency”, or even “ hygienic practice”, religion was “an anachronism in modern society”, and the church “was abusing the people”. All negative events in forward-looking and harmonious Czechoslovakia were presented as the influence of western capitalist countries that threatened socialism directly, or at least supported the local enemies of progress. Chapter 5 deals with the method of critical reading by A. Bell and its application regarding reading a present-day newspaper article that discusses a key social problem (“Tension in Czech Ghettos Increasing”). The normalisations texts are characterised by spontaneity and occasional primitiveness of argumentation imposed on the readership; readers of the present-day newspaper articles, on the other hand, are invited to consider the purpose of the text, its content, and the strategies of introducing the participants; next, they are asked to set the text into the political context and decide who might profit from the interpretation of the events and who, on the other hand, might be harmed (in other words, the What? Who? Where? When? questions are asked). Reading might be influenced, among others, by the position of the text: if the article appears on the title page (in this case even in the most prominent position right above the title of the daily) and has a banner headline, it is obvious that the editorial office attaches considerable importance to its content, and it may be presumed that the report will address crucial, far-reaching events. Chapter 6 discusses critical reading of news reports published within two years on the website of the internet daily iDNES which addressed the topic of assisted reproductive treatment. In order to set these reports into the wider socio-political context, it is necessary to note that Andrej Babiš, the former owner of iDNES daily and the current Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, had been involved in Conclusions 169 managing private reproductive centres and respective media house, as well as in politics. The analysis of reports related to this topic proved that the primary function of the news genre, i.e. to present current events objectively as facts, might turn into systematic and long-term manipulation of readers’ opinion, provided that the media’s owners or the establishment might profit from these misinterpretations. The careful choice of register, participants, and events that are mentioned in the story, and the experts who are quoted enable he particular communicative intentions and to control readers’ viewpoints and attitudes. The most efficient persuasive strategy is quoting speakers who represent common people; it typically involves unproblematic stories with “happy endings”, e.g. the story of a woman who underwent artificial insemination without any complications and gave birth to a healthy child. Chapters 7 and 8 focus on the online discourse in Poland, in particular the online discussions on the anti-government protest in Prague in 2019 and Polish priests burning books by J.K. Rowling and other authors. Both chapters document the high polarisation of Polish media discourse and the fact that expressivity and verbal aggressiveness has been arising out of the general aggressiveness in Polish society. Participants in the discussions (analysed in chapter 7) identified themselves with two opposing camps and adjusted their language to this bipolarity (exemplified, e.g. by the lexemes lewak, “leftist”, and prawak, “rightist”); this type of discourse is symmetrical and shows the tendency to see the world as the opposition of two extremes. At the same time, both camps seemed to be unwilling to exchange ideas; actually, their communication mostly consisted of insulting. The assumptions of increasing tendencies to make public discourse ideological are thus highly reasonable. Furthermore, the author of this chapter identified a decreasing cohesion in Polish media texts, which was influenced by extra-linguistic factors – cohesion is of a lower importance because the discourse is organised in the semantic fields defined by ideology. All participants, therefore, are familiar with the content of the discourse and can turn their attention to the attacks on their opponents. Referring to the research by B. Skowronek, the author concludes that the standard roles of text producers and recipients are not clearly distinguished in the online discourse. The pictures of the burning of books in Poland caused a scandal both in the media and on Facebook. The present study combined the methods of public relations (PR) and Fairclough’s CDA to analyse the Facebook posts; the results indicate that the institutional communication inside the Polish Church was unidirectional and asymmetrical during the affair and followed well-known mechanisms of scandalising. Supposing the speakers face highly uncertain and unpredictable situations, they might stir up scandal (i.e. a communicative strategy used in low-certitude situations) to agree on desirable meanings and interpretations that should be spread publicly. The analysis of this event identified the actual purpose of the media affair: to establish a set of stable meanings, interpretations, and communicative strategies 170 Conclusions shared by all participants of media communication. The early statements made by Polish priests had presented the burning of books as proof that society faces an actual spiritual crisis. The controversies and scandals had been associated to the ignorance or inability to recognise the wider context of the events; such tendencies can be exemplified by a quotation that “people endowed with God’s Spirit will understand”. On the other hand, the corpus contained a substantial number of texts which find the burning – regardless of the content of the books – barbarian. It is such an approach that fits (or, at least, can be identified with) the European cultural and historical framework where the destruction of books and great libraries, including e.g. the Warsaw National Library ruined during the German occupation, accompanied the extermination of whole nations and cultures. Chapter 9 studies a case of an offensive communicative act when a speaker-politician demonstrates his resolution to come into conflict and defend his electors’ (that is, implicitly, his own) interests. The aim of this strategy is to maximise the hearer’s losses and damage his face by means of verbal aggressiveness. It is worthy of note that aggressiveness is not synonymous to a simple lack of politeness, since the former is always used intentionally – namely in situations when a speaker finds himself under pressure and tries to repel a potential attack on his own positive face. The data suggest that refusal of an individual’s positive face and deliberate face-threatening acts that violate conversational maxims indicate something more than a lack of respect towards the hearer; they have been incorporated into the communicative strategies which shape the politician’s professional identity. The second part of this chapter discusses strategies used to threaten the face of communicative partners in the TV cooking show Prostřeno! (Spread!) and related online discussions. The analysis indicated that the contestants tended to employ face-threatening acts as a means to obtain positive evaluations and a high score in the contest. Contrarily, the interlocutors on TV show discussion forums attacked the contestants’ face by criticising their personal features unrelated to the performance itself. The main purpose of these offensive and belittling comments was thus to consolidate social relations among the authors of the online posts. 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Retrieved 9.08.2019 from: https://wiadomosci.onet.pl/kraj/palenieksiazek-przez-ksiezy-i-ministrantow-w-sieci-zawrzalo/xwhf3ns. Plotek.pl (2019, September 9th): Frytka tłumaczy zachowanie księży, którzy palili „Harry’ego Pottera”. Sama też pozbyła się książek o magii. Retrieved 10.08.2019 from: http://www.plotek.pl/ plotek/7,154063,24631724,maja-frykowska-o-akcji-palenia-ksiazek.html?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=plotek. Polak, W. (2019, April 4th): Spalenie książek w Gdańsku nie tylko niefortunne, ale wręcz gorszące. Retrieved 23.07.2019 from: https://ekai.pl/spalenie-ksiazek-w-gdansku-nie-tylko-niefortunneale-wrecz-gorszace/. Polsat News (2019, April 1st): Księża w Gdańsku spalili książki i symbole innych kultur. „Jesteśmy posłuszni Słowu”. Retrieved 20.07.2019 from: https://www.polsatnews.pl/wiadomosc/201904-01/ksieza-w-gdansku-spalili-ksiazki-i-symbole-innych-kultur-jestesmy-posluszni-slowu/. Ponikiewska, A. (2019, April 1st): TYLKO U NAS. Rzecznik diecezji odpowiada na spalenie książek: „To kontrowersyjna i nieodpowiednia forma działalności duszpasterskiej”. Retrieved 30.07.2019 from: https://wpolityce.pl/kosciol/440594-tylko-u-nas-odpowiedz-diecezji-naspalenie-ksiazek?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wPolitycepl+%28wPolityce.pl+-+Najnowsze%29. Redaktor Sobociński (2019, January 14th): Kogucia księga z nieba. Retrieved 20.07.2019 from: https://faktyimity.pl/kogucia-ksiega-z-nieba/. Ruszkiewicz, S. (2019, June 4th): Ksiądz palił książki z Harrym Potterem. Prokuratura umarza śledztwo. Retrieved 20.07.2019 from: https://wiadomosci.wp.pl/ksiadz-palil-ksiazki-z-harrympotterem-prokuratura-umarza-sledztwo-6388322874189441a. Rytel-Andrianik, P. (2019, April 3rd): Rzecznik KEP o spaleniu książek w Gdańsku: sprawa nie powinna się wydarzyć. Retrieved 23.07.2019 from: https://ekai.pl/rzecznik-kep-o-spaleniuksiazek-w-gdansku-sprawa-nie-powinna-sie-wydarzyc/. Sowa, K. (2019): Palił, ale się nie cieszył, czyli głupota na stosie. Retrieved 9.08.2019 from: https:// www.tvn24.pl/magazyn-tvn24/6-7-kwietnia,206. Stopka, A. (2019, April 1st): Hmmm… Palenie przez księdza w asyście… Retrieved 23.07.2019 from: https://www.facebook.com/artur.stopka/posts/10219169721375140. Tok.fm (2019): Jest zawiadomienie do prokuratury ws. ogniska księży. „Zagrożenia dla życia i zdrowia”. Retrieved 9.08.2019 from: http://www.tokfm.pl/Tokfm/7,103085,24607711,jest-zawiadomienia-do-prokuratury-ws-ogniska-ksiezy-zagrozenia.html. TVN24 (2019, April 1st): „Harry Potter”, „Zmierzch”, słoń i Hello Kitty spłonęły na stosie przed kościołem, bo „przynoszą złą moc”. Retrieved 30.07.2019 from: https://www.tvn24.pl/palenieksiazek-przed-kosciolem-w-gdansku-harry-potter-ma-zla-moc,923499,s.html. Wojciechowska, R. (2019): Jest reakcja na niedawne palenie książek przy gdańskim kościele. Będzie „Wymiana Ksiąg Zakazanych”. Ksiądz ukarany mandatem. Retrieved 20.07.2019 from: https:// dziennikbaltycki.pl/jest-reakcja-na-niedawne-palenie-ksiazek-przy-gdanskim-koscielebedzie-wymiana-ksiag-zakazanych-ksiadz-ukarany-mandatem/ar/c11-14017537. Sources 181 wPolityce.pl (2019, April 1st): Akcja znanego ewangelizatora wywołała kontrowersje. Spalił Harry’ego Pottera i pogańskie figurki. „Jesteśmy posłuszni Słowu”. Retrieved 16.07.2019 from: https:// wpolityce.pl/kosciol/440572-znany-ewangelizator-wywolal-burze-spalil-ksiazki-o-magii. Multimedia Cenker, M. (2019, April 1st): Harry Potter na stosie. Retrieved 10.08.2019 from: https://ipla-e2-21. pluscdn.pl/dituel/cppolska/4q/4qg188za2z1vz6vgnu48nu155wthb7mr.mp4. Jarosiewicz, R. (2017): Wypowiedź ks. Rafała Jarosiewicza o tatuażach. Retrieved 10.08.2019 from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wD2kouvI6VY. Jarosiewicz, R.; Olszański, M.; Zamachowska, M. (2018, May 28th): Tatuaże przyczyną niepłodności? Retrieved 10.08.2019 from: https://pytanienasniadanie.tvp.pl/37397922/tatuaze-przyczyna-nieplodnosci. Parfianowicz, W. (2019, April 1st): W całym tym wydarzeniu… Retrieved 10.08.2019 from: https:// ipla-e2-16.pluscdn.pl/dituel/cppolska/hc/hcjs12nxc58zokmvaovy2mtiba655ne1.mp4. Zalewska, A. (2019, April 1st): Książki na stosie. Retrieved 10.08.2019 from: https://n-22-4.dcs. redcdn.pl/file/o2/tvn/web-content/m/p107/v/07a4e20a7bbeeb7a736682b26b16ebe8/fc5b20d854a1-11e9-9a6f-0050569b018a-480p.mp4. Instruments Anthony, L. (2019): AntConc. Retrieved 10.08.2019 from: http://www.antlab.sci.waseda.ac.jp/. CLARIN-PL (2019): Sentemo. Retrieved 10.08.2019 from: https://ws.clarin-pl.eu/sentemo.shtml#. Google (2019): Google Chrome. Retrieved 10.08.2019 from: https://www.google.com/chrome/. Obserwatorium Żywej Kultury – Sieć Badawcza (2012): Słownik języka polskiego. Retrieved 10.08.2019 from: http://ozkultura.pl/sites/default/files/strona-archiwum/odm_polska.txt.zip. Obserwatorium Żywej Kultury – Sieć Badawcza (2014): Stoplista. Retrieved 10.08.2019 from: http:// ozkultura.pl/sites/default/files/strona-archiwum/stoplist.txt. Software Innovation Lab (2019): Data Miner. Retrieved 10.08.2019 from: https://data-miner.io/. Zygomatic (2019): Wordclouds.com. Retrieved 10.08.2019 from: https://www.wordclouds.com. The Power of Speech: A Critical Reading of Media and Political Texts Summary The present monograph documents and analyses contemporary trends in public communication in recent last decades which the general public, i.e. speakers outside the field of linguistics and cultural studies, has interpreted intuitively as the “worsening” and “lowering of standards”. It focuses on expressivity in public discourse in Czech and Polish, monitored for the period between the end of the Second World War and the present. The use of expressivity and vulgarisms in public communication has been studied in an extensive corpus of both written and spoken texts and analysed from a quantitative as well as qualitative perspective. The researchers’ main intention was to characterise the linguistic means of expressivity and to learn which linguistic planes are employed most frequently for these communicative purposes. The essential part of the monograph discusses the texts produced after 1989 during the restoration of democracy in Central Europe that record political discourse in the media. Besides, these studies examine the cases when media give the floor to non-professional speakers who do not have any contract to the particular medium. The research in political discourse points out to quite a strong tendency of the speakers in political debates to avoid relevant arguments (ad rem ideas) and replace them with false statements threatening or damaging the hearer’s face (ad hominem fallacies). Another typical feature of the political discourse (and public discourse in general) after 1989 is personalising. Politicians utilise social networking sites to create the illusion of intimacy by addressing every elector seemingly “in person”. Their communicative pseudo-strategies include discussing topics which are normally excluded from TV channels discourses (ostracisation of ethnic, religious, or sexual minorities, etc.) and typically associated with stylistically marked expressions. The use of expressivity and vulgarisms in present-day public discourse is confronted with recent history: in particular with Communist newspeak and 1960s/70s media discourse reflecting on some high-profile social and political issues, e.g. men’s long haircuts or the role of religion and church in society. The analyses of the newspaper texts, echoing the official ideology, indicate that the regime was reluctant to admit the lack of control over such social phenomena and, consequently, label them as an “import” from behind the Iron Curtain. Two studies on expressivity and verbal aggressiveness in present-day Polish public communication set the topic into the international frame. They primarily test the assumption that the intellectual horizons of interlocutors are limited by the medium, i.e. the online environment. The research focuses on two events: firstly, the burning of books by authors J.K. Rowling and S. Meyer and of other pop-culture items organised by Polish priests that was widely discussed on Facebook; secondly, the anti-government protest in Prague described in the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza in June 2019 that was commented on by over 500 readers on the newspaper’s website. The identification of specific communicative strategies confirmed that the mode of communication (the internet) influences the quality of discourse. Index Aggression 130, 131, 138, 145 — Verbal aggression 55, 132, 134, 138, 145 Appropriateness 136, 166 Argumentation 19–21, 47, 167, 168 — Argumentation strategies 10 Atheism 26, 50, 52, 62–64 Attribution 67–68 Bottom-up 12 Bourgeoisie 31, 36, 50 Charta 77 (an informal civic initiative) 32 Clergy 51, 53, 58 Communicant 10, 12, 14, 19, 21, 22, 130, 131, 134–139, 143 Communication 7–16, 18, 20–22, 25, 26, 37, 66, 79, 85, 95, 113, 130–149, 165, 167, 169, 170 — Communication act 79, 85, 132, 133, 135, 136 — Communication goal 130 — Communication strategy 12, 14, 15, 20, 21, 67, 69, 86, 135, 137, 138, 144, 145 Communism 7, 26–28, 30, 42, 48, 49, 62 Communist putsch 50, 51 Constitution of Czechoslovakia 52 Context 7, 10–15, 17–19, 21, 22, 24, 30, 35, 46, 54–56, 61, 64, 65, 69, 76–79, 85, 130, 132–136, 140, 142, 147–149, 152, 165, 167, 168, 170 — Global context 12 — Local context 12 — Socio-historical context 12, 15 Conversation 13, 14, 132, 139, 146, 148, 170 Cooperation maxims 131 — Manner 11, 16, 18–20, 23, 36, 41, 44, 47, 50, 57, 65, 66, 70, 131, 134, 156, 161, 164, 167 — Quality 9, 41, 83–85, 89, 94, 131, 150, 156, 183 — Quantity 25, 131 — Relevance 131 Cooperative principle 131, 132 Critical discourse analysis 7, 14, 17, 77, 113 — Dialectical-Relational Approach 14, 18 — Discursive-Historical Method 14, 19 — Socio-Cognitive Approach 14, 21, 23, 24 Criticism 19, 42, 53, 75, 147, 150, 165, 168 Description 8, 15, 16, 28, 32, 60, 61, 73 Discourse 7–9, 11–24, 77, 79, 144, 167–169 — Media discourse 8, 19, 23, 167, 169 — Political discourse 8, 14, 18, 133, 134, 168 Discrimination 14, 15, 17, 19–21, 23, 24 Dominance 14, 15, 17, 18, 21, 24, 30 Enemy 27, 31–33, 55, 134 Evaluation 19, 22–24, 41, 64, 65, 69, 70, 93–95, 130, 133, 134, 136, 143, 157, 161–163, 165, 170 Explanation 15, 20, 48, 69, 86 Expression 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16–19, 23, 27, 28, 30– 33, 37, 44, 56, 65, 74, 75, 77, 80, 93, 94, 130– 132, 134–136, 143, 147, 160, 164, 165, 167, 168 Extravagancy in clothing 33, 38 Face 8, 15, 37, 43, 81, 94, 132, 133, 135–137, 139, 141– 143, 145–150, 154, 155, 158, 165–167, 169, 170 — Face-attack 134, 135, 137, 141, 153 — Face-threatening acts 8, 131, 150, 155, 167, 170 — Negative face 136, 141, 149 — Positive face 136, 139–145, 149, 150, 165, 166, 170 Flame 37 Framework 9, 11, 19–22, 49, 67, 70, 85, 135, 170 Framing 69, 150 Gatekeeping 16, 66 Genre 7, 8, 13, 17, 65, 68, 70, 79, 95, 143, 146, 147, 150, 164, 166, 169 Grammatical categories 21, 28, 77 Great French Revolution 28 Harmful strategies 165, 166 Headline 67, 68, 70, 74, 75, 81, 85, 94, 168 Hero 27 Hygiene 44 186 Index Ideology 7, 17, 19, 21–23, 26, 36, 42, 48–51, 55, 57, 60, 61, 64, 66, 136, 167–169 — Ideology square 24 Influencing 49, 51, 57, 59, 63–69, 74, 75, 77, 80, 83, 84, 86, 93–95, 137, 139, 140, 146, 147, 168, 169, 183 Institution 10–17, 37, 49, 51, 52, 55, 57, 60, 64, 65, 68, 85, 86, 95, 140 Intensification 20, 23 Interaction 8, 10, 11, 13–15, 21, 130–138, 148, 150, 155, 165 Interpretation 10–13, 15, 19, 21, 22, 26, 34, 41, 61, 66, 67, 69, 76, 77, 131, 135, 145, 154, 168, 169 Lead 18, 22–24, 27, 28, 31, 34, 36, 37, 42, 50, 52, 57, 62, 65, 67, 70, 71, 74, 85, 86, 135, 140, 144, 170 Levels of discourse analysis 11 — Macro-level 12 — Micro-level 12 — Interactive level 11 — Social level 11 — Textual level 11 Local meanings 93 Loci 20 Macro-propositions 12, 79–81 Macro-structures 15, 80 Magical function of language 27 Manipulation 7–9, 19, 20, 25, 26, 48, 66, 76, 167, 169, 170 Marxism 25 Militarism 43 Mitigation 20 Mental models 12, 21, 22, 24 Multiverbisms 28, 37 Music groups 36, 38 Nazism 26, 27, 48, 60 Newspeak 8, 27, 36, 40, 41 News reports 16, 56, 61, 65–70, 72–77, 79, 81, 84, 86, 87, 93–95, 168 Nomination 20, 149 Non-verbal signals 14, 25 Opinion journalism 25, 30–32, 37, 39, 45, 53, 54, 56, 57, 59–61, 64 Para-verbal signals 25 Peace movement Perspectivisation 20 Persuading 19 Police 34, 36–38, 45, 71, 73, 74 Politeness 130–137, 143, 145, 146, 148, 149, 152, 155, 166, 170 Politeness maxims 132, 145 — Maxim of Agreement 132 — Maxim of Approbation 132 — Maxim of Generosity 132 — Maxim of Modesty 132, 144 — Maxim of Sympathy 132 — Maxim of Tact 132 Pope 59, 62, 63 Power 14–17, 19, 26, 27, 30, 31, 36, 60–62, 76, 138, 140, 141, 170 Pragmalinguistic 130, 132, 134–136, 138, 145 Pragmatic competence 132 Predication 20 President of Czechoslovakia 31 Producer 12, 23, 133, 134, 137, 138, 147, 169 Recipient 10, 12, 14–18, 22, 27, 40, 42, 52, 65–69, 74, 77, 80, 81, 93, 95, 132, 134, 139, 153, 169 Relational work 135 Religion 8, 48, 49, 51–62, 64, 168 Report 16, 34, 40, 46, 56, 61, 65–70, 72–77, 79–81, 84–87, 92–95, 168, 169 Repressions 34–36, 38, 45 Settings 8, 68, 146, 147, 164–166 Sociopragmatics 130, 134–136 Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia 32, 33, 36 Speech act 10, 13–15, 130 Story 35, 46, 65, 67–76, 81, 83, 169 Television 8, 37, 38, 40, 139, 143, 146 Text 7–31, 36, 39–42, 46, 53–57, 59, 60, 64, 65, 67–70, 72–77, 79, 80, 84, 86, 93, 94, 134, 137– 139, 146, 147, 154, 165, 167–170 — Text types 18, 22, 147 Theory of relevance 132 Top-down 12 Topic 8, 11–13, 16, 19–22, 24, 39, 51–53, 60, 61, 65–67, 70, 73, 77, 79, 80, 84–86, 93–95, 141, 145–150, 156, 167–169 Topoi 20 Transmitter 12, 15–17, 19, 20, 42, 66 “Us” versus “Them” 79 Utterance 10, 13, 15, 20–22, 68, 130, 133, 135, 145, 158 Verbal 8–11, 14, 18, 20, 25, 37, 55, 93, 132–135, 137, 138, 145, 146, 149, 165, 168–170 — Attack 148, 150, 155 — Conflict 146, 148 Indeks agresja językowa 97, 102, 105, 107, 110–112 analogie historyczne 109 diakrytyka 98 druga wojna światowa 106, 107, 109 dyskurs internetowy 96, 97, 103, 108 nacjonalizm 106, 107, 109 negocjowanie 123, 129 neologizmy 111, 126 normy grzecznościowe 96, 97 nowomowa 108 opinia społeczna 126 ekspresywność 101, 103, 104, 111 elementy pozajęzykowe 103, 105, 110 emocje 102, 103, 105, 111, 114, 120, 121, 124, 126 Facebook 115, 121, 123, 128 grzeczność językowa 112 ideologizacja dyskursu 107, 110, 112 instytucje 105, 106, 113, 114, 125 interdyskursywność 123 Internet 96, 97, 110, 111 Interpunkcja 97 komentatorzy 117, 122 komunikacja instytucjonalna 123 konotacja 103, 104, 109 kontekst 98, 103, 105–111, 123, 124, 127, 128, 129 kontrowersje 106, 107, 113, 115, 121–124, 126– 128 Kościół 105–107, 112, 114, 115, 117, 119, 122–125, 127, 128 kreatywność językowa 101, 102, 111 krytyczna analiza dyskursu 113 perswazja 108, 111, 114, 124 polaryzacja 106, 111, 120, 122 pole semantyczne 101, 103, 105–110 politycy 108, 117, 123 prawo państwowe 125 public relations 113 reguły spójnościowe 96 skandal 123, 126, 128, 129 skandalizacja 114, 123, 126, 127 SMS-y 113–115, 118, 125 spalenie książek 117, 119–126, 128 strategie dyskursywne 113, 123 struktura tematyczno-rematyczna 100, 101, 103, 105, 110 symetryczność 109, 112 tekst 97–101, 103, 110, 111, 114–117, 119–122, 125, 126, 129 toponimy 96 typografia 97 wulgarność 103, 104, 111 wykrzykniki 100 leksyka 96, 97 YouTube 115 magia 108, 115, 118, 119, 121, 123, 124, 127 Orders for the publications of Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego should be directed to Dział Sprzedaży Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego Sp. z o.o. 50-137 Wrocław, pl. 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