Master Narratives of Hate Speech. A Multimodal Analyis

Approaching hate speech from different perspectives for the purpose of exposing the diversity of domains in which this negative emotional response underhandedly imposes its presence is extremely relevant considering the current times. With specific reference to discursive behaviors that are not readily recognizable as expressions of hate, this book addresses the multi-layered notion of hate speech that is directed at anything tangible, such as people, animals, entire countries and cities, monuments and homes, but also at all that is intangible or abstract, such as ideologies, identity, values, lifestyles, religious and political beliefs. Often entrenched in the claims for ‘freedom of expression’, ‘freedom of information’, and the ‘right to protect one’s own’, hate-induced behaviors broadly span the hate spectrum from offensive speech to dangerous speech, thus shaping discourses of discrimination, hateful falsity and conspiracy. By selecting a large corpus of semiotic resources, including language, and visual data from a variety of online sources, and by adopting the tools afforded by Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis, this book reconfigures hate attitudes and behavioral patterns into three Master Narratives, or complex, persistent, and therefore representative stories of aggressors and victims of aggression. The exploration of these seed sources of hate is expected to contribute to raising awareness that hate can permeate any context, and set in motion a complex display of human emotions, some of which are lethal.