On January 6, 2021, the headquarters of the United States Congress was stormed by a group of rioters loyal to former President Donald Trump, who intended to block the ratification process of newly elected President Joe Biden by claiming that his victory was the result of electoral fraud. The incident went down as an unprecedented event in U.S. history, resulting in the death of five people and in a threat to the stability of American democracy: however, what really made this occurrence historic was the fact that the rioters were instigated to act by the President in office himself, through a false narrative honed over months, spread primarily on Twitter, and culminating in the "Save America" rally speech. This thesis attempts to understand to what extent a certain type of communication, aimed solely at achieving consensus and maintaining power, often used by an unscrupulous political class, heedless of its danger, can have disruptive effects in society. It does so by analyzing several issues, such as populism, the characteristics of a charismatic and narcissistic leader such as Donald Trump and the rhetorical architects of his language, within the conceptual framework of post-truth, where fake news proliferates and disinformation is rampant, and where what is true no longer corresponds to what is rationally demonstrated, but rather to what it is comfortable to believe and validates one's previous convictions. It is therefore necessary, now more than ever, to reflect on the interconnections between the online and offline world, which are more deeply rooted than one might think, and to what extent communicating in the former can cause consequences to the latter. To ponder on the dangerousness of certain languages, nowadays tacitly accepted, has become an unavoidable task to protect the stability of democratic institutions.
Il 6 gennaio 2021 la sede del Congresso degli Stati Uniti è stata presa d’assalto da un gruppo di rivoltosi seguaci dell’ex Presidente Donald Trump, intenzionati a bloccare il processo di ratifica del neoeletto Presidente Joe Biden, sostenendo che la sua vittoria fosse frutto di brogli elettorali. È una vicenda senza precedenti nella storia degli Stati Uniti, che ha causato la morte di cinque persone e minacciato la stabilità della democrazia americana, reso epocale dal fatto che sia stato il Presidente ancora in carica ad istigare i rivoltosi, attraverso una narrazione falsa affinata nei mesi, diffusa principalmente su Twitter e culminata nel discorso del raduno “Save America”. Questa tesi si propone di comprendere in quale misura un certo tipo di comunicazione, improntata unicamente al raggiungimento del consenso, al mantenimento del potere, usata spesso da un ceto politico spregiudicato, incurante della sua pericolosità, possa avere effetti dirompenti nella vita reale. Lo fa analizzando le tematiche populiste, le caratteristiche di un personaggio carismatico e narcisista come Donald Trump e gli artefici retorici del suo linguaggio, nella cornice della post-verità, dove proliferano fake news e dilaga la disinformazione, nella quale non è più vero ciò che trova una dimostrazione razionale nel mondo ma piuttosto quello che è comodo credere, che conferma le proprie pregresse convinzioni. È necessario, oggi più che mai, riflettere su quanto i mondi online e offline siano vicini e interconnessi, molto più di quanto si possa credere: comunicare nei primi non limita ad essi le sue conseguenze. Riflettere sulla pericolosità di certi linguaggi, ad oggi tacitamente accettati, è diventato un compito imprescindibile per tutelare la stabilità delle istituzioni democratiche.
"So let's walk down Pennsylvania Avenue": la potenza distruttiva del linguaggio di Trump
COLOMBO, ARIANNA
2020/2021
Abstract
On January 6, 2021, the headquarters of the United States Congress was stormed by a group of rioters loyal to former President Donald Trump, who intended to block the ratification process of newly elected President Joe Biden by claiming that his victory was the result of electoral fraud. The incident went down as an unprecedented event in U.S. history, resulting in the death of five people and in a threat to the stability of American democracy: however, what really made this occurrence historic was the fact that the rioters were instigated to act by the President in office himself, through a false narrative honed over months, spread primarily on Twitter, and culminating in the "Save America" rally speech. This thesis attempts to understand to what extent a certain type of communication, aimed solely at achieving consensus and maintaining power, often used by an unscrupulous political class, heedless of its danger, can have disruptive effects in society. It does so by analyzing several issues, such as populism, the characteristics of a charismatic and narcissistic leader such as Donald Trump and the rhetorical architects of his language, within the conceptual framework of post-truth, where fake news proliferates and disinformation is rampant, and where what is true no longer corresponds to what is rationally demonstrated, but rather to what it is comfortable to believe and validates one's previous convictions. It is therefore necessary, now more than ever, to reflect on the interconnections between the online and offline world, which are more deeply rooted than one might think, and to what extent communicating in the former can cause consequences to the latter. To ponder on the dangerousness of certain languages, nowadays tacitly accepted, has become an unavoidable task to protect the stability of democratic institutions.È consentito all'utente scaricare e condividere i documenti disponibili a testo pieno in UNITESI UNIPV nel rispetto della licenza Creative Commons del tipo CC BY NC ND.
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https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14239/1687