It is widely accepted that political discourse in recent years has become more openly racist and more accepting of wildly implausible conspiracy theories. In this event, Jennifer Saul will explore how such changes - both of which defied previously settled norms of political speech - have been brought about. She will show how linguistic devices, such as “dogwhistles” and “figleaves”, contribute to the transmission of norm-violating discourse more generally, exploited and widened existing divisions in society, and normalized racist and conspiracist speech. This event will offer an illuminating and disturbing view of the workings of contemporary political discourse.
Jennifer Saul is Waterloo Chair in Social and Political Philosophy of Language at the University of Waterloo. She works in social and political philosophy of language, with particular interests in deceptive, sexist, and racist language. Her new book, Dogwhistles and Figleaves: How Manipulative Language Spreads Racism and Falsehood, is published by Oxford University Press.
Twitter: / jennysaul1
Book: global.oup.com/academic/produ...
Ian Olasov is a public philosopher based in Brooklyn. His research is on changing people's stereotypes, moral discourse, the philosophy of journalism, and the theory and practice of public philosophy. He is the founder of Brooklyn Public Philosophers and the president of the Public Philosophy Network. He currently teaches philosophy at NYU and holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from the CUNY Graduate Center.
Website: ianolasov.com
Twitter: / ianolasov