What is it about?
One key aspect of threat in terrorists’ language is incitement to violence. Contributing to a fuller understanding of how terrorists use language to encourage people to join their cause, this article examines the role of evaluative language in incitement strategies used by a far-rightist to align with and alienate particular social groups. The article helps investigators to understand how values and social bonds are leveraged in the process of incitement.
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Why is it important?
Understanding of the language of incitement by terrorists remains a critical concern that is directly relevant to countering violent extremism through legal and security measures. This paper explores how this language attempts to forge particular kinds of community membership and to foster social bonds as shared values that are morally underpinned and should be defended. The article contributes to current linguistic tools and methods used in forensic contexts to better understand inciting texts, and to the scarce tools available for examining the moral motivations behind racially and religiously aggravated hate crimes.
Perspectives
I hope that this paper will help investigators to establish evidence of how the function of social affiliation is cultivated in far-right extremists’ incitement discourse to generate conflicts and influence inter-group relationships. More than ever, understanding the inherent appeal of terrorist organisations to potential followers is crucial for maintaining global peace and stability.
Dr Awni Etaywe
Charles Darwin University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The role of social affiliation in incitement: A social semiotic approach to far-right terrorists’ incitement to violence, Language in Society, May 2023, Cambridge University Press,
DOI: 10.1017/s0047404523000404.
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