A Comparative Study of the Patterns of Hate Speeches During Presidential Campaigns in Nigeria and the United States of America
- November 14, 2019
- Posted by: RSIS
- Categories: IJRSI, Mass Communication
International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI) | Volume VI, Issue X, October 2019 | ISSN 2321–2705
Waya, David Tarhom Ph.D1, Ugwuanyi John Ph.D2, Ogbonna Alozie C.3*
1Department of Linguistics and Nigerian languages, University of Nigeria
2,3Department of Mass Communication, University of Nigeria
*Corresponding author
Abstract:This study compared the patterns of hate speeches uttered in the 2015 and 2016 presidential electioneering campaigns in Nigeria and USA. The total of 28 hate speeches was sourced from online posts and analyzed using the Dijk’s model of Critical Discourse Analysis. The narratives of the hate speeches were on the question of party affiliation, religion, ethnicity/racism, personality/trust, health, education, and gender/sexual orientations. The examined hate speeches are linked to socio, economic, cultural and political realities in the respective countries. The speeches uttered by Nigeria politicians portrayed the state of intolerance in political differences, question of personality/trust or health status while in the USA, the gladiators focused more on religious intolerance, gender/sexual orientations and personality/trust of the individual candidates. Meanwhile, no attack was recorded on gender, hence the candidates were of the same sex in the case of Nigeria. Comparatively, the candidates in USA recorded more hate speeches than their supporters unlike in Nigeria. The paper therefore recommends issue-based campaigns in order to avoid possible violence often associated with hate speeches in political contests and debates.
Keywords: Nigeria, United Sate of America, politics, hate speech, campaign and political language.
I. INTRODUCTION
Politics is concerned with power: the power to decide, control assets, control other individuals’ conduct, and control their qualities. In the law of certain countries, hate speech is depicted as discourse, motion or direct, composing, or show which is illegal in light of the fact that it actuates brutality or biased activity against or by a secured gathering or individual based on their enrollment of the gathering, or on the grounds that it criticizes or scares an ensured gathering, or individual based on their participation to a gathering. Essentially, such speeches rob others of their dignity.
