“A pandemic of disbelief”: coronavirus-related criticism of the government in forensic linguistic analysis
The article explores various types of conflict discourse about coronavirus, vaccination and vaccines, which focuses on the criticism of the authorities and the government's actions to cope with the spread of the infection. The issue is analyzed on a broad historical background as a manifestation of the general tendency towards social polarization in times of uncertainty. In this socio-linguistic context, the study characterizes the specific features of the language of hate. The article features Father Sergiy (Romanov) and his radical ideas, which form a peculiar type of marginal linguistic personality combining the features of Orthodox Christianity and criminal subculture. His aggressive anti-vaccination speeches turned out to resonate with a number of people opposed to vaccination. The study investigates the techniques of linguistic manipulation of the audience employed by him. The article also analyzes fake information about coronavirus and vaccination, discovers the topics of fake news messages and characterizes the peculiarities of anti-vaccination discourse. Special attention is paid to the legal consequences of the spread of false information, brought about by changes in the Russian legislation. The language of hate shapes the discourse of anti-vaccinationists, in which medical issues closely interact with political ones, and vaccination appears only to be a good reason to criticize the authorities. Anti-COVID measures taken on the government level are seen by anti-vaccinationists as an attempt to establish total control over the citizens. The article tries to discover the diagnostic criteria critical for identifying the communicative purpose of the authors of the texts which disseminate criticism of the government's decisions in the situation of the coronavirus pandemic. The study of the anti-vaccination discourse clarifies some theoretical concepts regarding the language of hate.