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"Ridicule."
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Laughter and ridicule : towards a social critique of humour
This delightful, thought-provoking book tackles head-on the assumption that laughter and humour are necessarily good in themselves. The author proposes a social theory that places humour central to social life. Billig argues that all cultures use ridicule as a disciplinary means to uphold norms of conduct and conventions of meaning.
eBook
Ridicule Strategies in Donald Trump’s 2024 Election Campaign Speeches: A Shift in Political Speech — A Discourse Analytical Study
This study aims to investigate some of the main linguistic discourse strategies of ridicule employed by former and current President Donald Trump in his speeches during his 2024 election campaign. By analyzing specific examples from Trump’s speeches, the aim is to illuminate a range of linguistic tools, including rhetorical devices and linguistic techniques that are used to ridicule opponents shaping the narrative during the campaign and guiding the ideology of his base. Trump utilizes language strategically, purposefully, and, at many times, spontaneously to target opponents and create an atmosphere of mockery and derision. Findings reveal that Trump frequently utilizes techniques such as framing, hyperbole, and name-calling among many other strategies to create a sense of absurdity and inferiority around his targets to achieve his own goals. These tactics serve to reinforce Trump’s populist image and create an us-versus-them dichotomy among his supporters. This analysis highlights the significant role of ridicule in Donald Trump’s political discourse and its potential impact on public perception as well as the mechanisms through which linguistic ridicule was constructed and disseminated during this pivotal political event in the United States that eventually led to his re-election.
Journal Article
Discursive Deflection: Accusation of “Fake News” and the Spread of Mis- and Disinformation in the Tweets of President Trump
Twitter is increasingly being used within the sociopolitical domain as a channel through which to circulate information and opinions. Throughout the 2016 US Presidential primaries and general election campaign, a notable feature was the prolific Twitter use of Republican candidate and then nominee, Donald Trump. This use has continued since his election victory and inauguration as President. Trump’s use of Twitter has drawn criticism due to his rhetoric in relation to various issues, including Hillary Clinton, the size of the crowd in attendance at his inauguration, the policies of the former Obama administration, and immigration and foreign policy. One of the most notable features of Trump’s Twitter use has been his repeated ridicule of the mainstream media through pejorative labels such as “fake news” and “fake media.” These labels have been deployed in an attempt to deter the public from trusting media reports, many of which are critical of Trump’s presidency, and to position himself as the only reliable source of truth. However, given the contestable nature of objective truth, it can be argued that Trump himself is a serial offender in the propagation of mis- and disinformation in the same vein that he accuses the media. This article adopts a corpus analysis of Trump’s Twitter discourse to highlight his accusations of fake news and how he operates as a serial spreader of mis- and disinformation. Our data show that Trump uses these accusations to demonstrate allegiance and as a cover for his own spreading of mis- and disinformation that is framed as truth.
Journal Article
The Invention of Racism in Classical Antiquity
There was racism in the ancient world, after all. This
groundbreaking book refutes the common belief that the ancient
Greeks and Romans harbored \"ethnic and cultural,\" but not racial,
prejudice. It does so by comprehensively tracing the intellectual
origins of racism back to classical antiquity. Benjamin Isaac's
systematic analysis of ancient social prejudices and stereotypes
reveals that some of those represent prototypes of racism--or
proto-racism--which in turn inspired the early modern authors who
developed the more familiar racist ideas. He considers the
literature from classical Greece to late antiquity in a quest for
the various forms of the discriminatory stereotypes and social
hatred that have played such an important role in recent history
and continue to do so in modern society.
Magisterial in scope and scholarship, and engagingly written,
The Invention of Racism in Classical Antiquity further
suggests that an understanding of ancient attitudes toward other
peoples sheds light not only on Greco-Roman imperialism and the
ideology of enslavement (and the concomitant integration or
non-integration) of foreigners in those societies, but also on the
disintegration of the Roman Empire and on more recent imperialism
as well. The first part considers general themes in the history of
discrimination; the second provides a detailed analysis of
proto-racism and prejudices toward particular groups of foreigners
in the Greco-Roman world. The last chapter concerns Jews in the
ancient world, thus placing anti-Semitism in a broader context.
eBook
Assessing the Consequences of Stigma for Tuberculosis Patients in Urban Zambia
Stigma is one of the many factors hindering tuberculosis (TB) control by negatively affecting hospital delay and treatment compliance. In Zambia, the morbidity and mortality due to TB remains high, despite extended public health attempts to control the epidemic and to diminish stigma.
To enhance understanding of TB-related stigmatizing perceptions and to describe TB patients' experiences of stigma in order to point out recommendations to improve TB policy.
We conducted a mixed method study at Kanyama clinic and surrounding areas, in Lusaka, Zambia; structured interviews with 300 TB patients, multiple in-depth interviews with 30 TB patients and 10 biomedical health workers, 3 focus group discussions with TB patients and treatment supporters, complemented by participant observation and policy analysis of the TB control program. Predictors of stigma were identified by use of multivariate regression analyses; qualitative analysis of the in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and participant observation was used for triangulation of the study findings.
We focused on the 138/300 patients that described TB-related perceptions and attitudes, of whom 113 (82%) reported stigma. Stigma provoking TB conceptions were associated with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infection, alleged immoral behaviour, (perceived) incurability, and (traditional) myths about TB aetiology. Consequences of stigma prevailed both among children and adults and included low self-esteem, insults, ridicule, discrimination, social exclusion, and isolation leading to a decreased quality of life and social status, non-disclosure, and/or difficulties with treatment compliance and adherence. Women had significantly more stigma-related problems than men.
The findings illustrate that many TB patients faced stigma-related issues, often hindering effective TB control and suggesting that current efforts to reduce stigma are not yet optimal. The content and implementation of sensitization programs should be improved and more emphasis needs to be placed on women and children.
Journal Article
Understanding the Intersection of Ageism and Dementia‐Related Stigma During the American Presidential Election: A Thematic Analysis of Social Media Discourse
Background When the United States (U.S.) Presidential Election was announced in 2024, Joe Biden and Donald Trump were two of the oldest candidates in election history. This circumstance contributed to sentiments of ageism and dementia‐related stigma. Although ageism and dementia‐related stigma frequently intersect, there is a paucity of research exploring these interconnected issues. This study used tweets from X (formerly Twitter) to understand the intersection of ageism and dementia‐related stigma on social media during the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election. Method We purchased a professional developer account to access the official Application Programming Interface (API) of the social media platform X. We collected relevant tweets from X using the Tweepy application in Python during the U.S. Presidential Election campaign from February 11‐25, 2024. Using filters, 1,254 relevant posts were analyzed using thematic analysis. Actions were taken to support trustworthiness and rigor such as inter‐rater reliability coding and the creation of a thematic map. Result Based on our thematic analysis, four main themes were identified: 1) dehumanization of older adults: “ancient fossils are running for office,” 2) dementia‐related ridicule: “demented addled candidate,” 3) old age as an inherent weakness: “they’re both too old; and 4) fear of perceived incompetence: “the fear is palpable.” Conclusion Our findings shed light on how social media discourse can threaten the credibility of older political leaders by shifting the focus from campaign policies to dementia‐related stigma and ageism. The persistent questioning of the candidates’ competence, coupled with ageist rhetoric, may undermine the credibility of older political leaders and public trust in the electoral system. Further research is needed to address the impact of ageism and dementia‐related stigma on political leaders’ credibility and the larger electoral system.
Journal Article
The ridiculed Impostor: Testing the associations between dispositions toward ridicule and being laughed at and the Impostor Phenomenon
Individual differences in how people experience and engage in laughter and ridicule can be described by three personality dispositions: gelotophobia (fear of being laughed at), gelotophilia (joy in being laughed at), and katagelasticism (joy in laughing at others). We study the correlates of how people deal with ridicule and being laughed at with the Impostor Phenomenon (IP; individual differences in the failure to internalize success and feelings of intellectual fraud). We tested our hypotheses in two independently collected samples of students and working professionals (
N
= 315/229;
M
= 22.7/37.1 years; 54.9/59.4% females). In line with previous studies, the IP was more pronounced in the students (
g
= 0.45). As expected, the fear of being laughed at best predicted the IP robustly positively (26–31% explained variance), and only numerically small effects (≤ 3% explained variance) existed for joy in being laughed at and laughing at others. Associations between the laughter-related dispositions and the IP did not differ between students and professionals. We discuss the findings with respect to expectations derived from theory, potential mediators, and future research directions.
Journal Article
Career Confidential: Should teacher tell principal his colleagues criticize him behind his back?
Phyllis Fagell gives advice to educators about their professional dilemmas. In this month’s column, a teacher wonders if she should tell a principal that his colleagues are making fun of him behind his back. A teacher wishes her new principal would offer feedback after impromptu classroom visits. And a principal has been lying to his staff to spare their feelings.
Journal Article
Reconstructing Society in the Light of Sūrat al-Ḥujurāt
Muslims are faced with many issues, including the malicious use of the tongue, that challenge their social cohesion. Considering the gravity of this matter, this work explores the path towards social reform by infusing the values of Sūrat al-Ḥujurāt into society leveraging the mechanisms of social reconstruction philosophy. In particular, it analyses verses 11 and 12 of Sūrat al-Ḥujurāt which primarily discuss tongue-related social ills such as backbiting, ridiculing, and name-calling; they also illustrate a process of self-development that can facilitate mutual respect and brotherhood thereby minimizing the likeliness of internal conflicts of the Muslims. This work utilizes a qualitative study, which demonstrates that Sūrat al-Ḥujurāt is instrumental in protecting society from the ills of the tongue.
Journal Article