Populism and hate speech: an avoidable marriage (in theory)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3989/isegoria.2022.67.06Keywords:
Populism, Hate speech, Populist discourse, Political speech, Laclau, Mouffe, DiscriminationAbstract
This essay addresses the relation between populism and hate speech. Drawing from the sympathetic view of populism theorized by Laclau and Mouffe, I develop a concept of populist discourse consisting in three subtypes of discourse, namely agonistic, solidary, and mobilizing discourses. After contrasting this concept with that of hate speech, I conclude that they are independent and therefore that populism does not need recurring to hate speech, at least in theory. However, I warn, due to its own nature populism is prone to slip towards hate speech, which in turn suggests that populist praxis could hardly avoid hate speech. Given the immorality of hate speech, such affinity offers a pro tanto reason to refrain from engaging in populist practice.
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