Strategy of discrediting strangers in French social media discourse
The article is devoted to the study of the strategy of discrediting “strangers”, which is basic for the contemporary political media discourse. By “strangers” we mean people (politicians, users of a social network), groups (political parties, associations, companies, etc.), events, facts, and so on being the object of negative assessment or discrediting. The study is aimed at clarifying the typology of discrediting tactics and techniques in the discourse of French social media, in particular on the social network Twitter, which is one of the most effective platforms used to struggle for power. The empirical material of the study is a collection of messages extracted from the pages of French political parties on Twitter, which are discrediting the French government and the president, Emmanuel Macron. The aggravated socio-political and economic situation in France and the approaching new presidential elections intensify the activities of political opponents of the current government. The analysis of the material is carried out within the framework of the cognitive-semiotic approach: messages in a social network are considered as creolized (polycode) texts, combining units of two or more semiotic systems that enter into a complementary relationship providing a complex effect on the addressee. As the study has shown, the most popular tactics in the “game of downgrading” of the current president and his government are the following: turning neutral contexts into discrediting ones, using a conflict context, sticking labels, creating images of a dark present and future, exposing, aggressively attacking tactics, and protest, slogans, and appeal strategy. Tactical schemes and techniques that combine the potential of various semiotic systems are used to broadcast the opinion that the person in question does not deserve the position held for a number of reasons and plunges the country into an even greater crisis. The further prospects of research may consist in studying the effectiveness of using particular discrediting tactics based on user reactions and researching countermeasures against discrediting in social networks as well as in the official media.