Nicholas Grove

Eugene Riordan Jr.

Writing 2

7 December 2022

Writing Project 2: Discord Debacle

Key

nick = me

slartzell = Stephanie Hartzell – communications professor at CSU Long Beach

Manchez = James Chase Sanchez – assistant professor of writing and rhetoric at Middlebury

College

shinshin = Jamie Moshin – professor of Communication Studies at the University of Michigan

grifter__ = made up character, used as a foil to further the discussion

ChuckyM_02 = Charles E. Morris – professor at Boston College who teaches about rhetorical

criticism, public memory, and social protest

Allen_18 = Ira Allen - assistant professor of writing, rhetoric, and digital media studies at

Northern Arizona University

friskyFiske86 = John Fiske – cultural theorist and media scholar, taught as a lecturer

Leah98 = Leah Ceccarelli – Professor at the University of Washington, rhetorical critic/theorist

#politics-text-channel
_______________________________November 13th_______________________________

nick Yesterday at 12:13 AM

ayo thoughts on trump’s rhetoric?
im curious about how he appeals to different audiences and how he subtly encourages
prejudice
ive also heard the word polysemy being tossed around recently and idk what that
means

slartzell Yesterday at 12:15 AM

✅
dog water
4

✅
man is racist af
3

Manchez Yesterday at 12:16 AM

he knows what hes doing

slartzell Yesterday at 12:16 AM

I didnt say he didnt

shinshin Yesterday at 12:17 AM

@nick he uses rhetorical silence to convey antisemitism

grifter__ Yesterday at 12:17 AM

????

shinshin Yesterday at 12:18 AM

while I can’t say its causal, antisemitism has rose by 86% since he was elected
id bet that he enabled and encouraged this rise, albeit without being outwardly
antisemitic
you have to look at what he doesn't say
for example, trump is the only president in history to have not mentioned the jews in a
statement on International Holucast Remembrance Day since its inception
hes saying a lot with what he chooses not to say

grifter__ Yesterday at 12:18 AM

okay nerd

ChuckyM_02 Yesterday at 12:20 AM

nah I completely agree with @shinshin here
“To succeed in veiling one's identity, i.e., convincing certain audiences of an
‘acceptable’ persona, these rhetors-with-secrets employ tactics of impersonation,
deflection, and silence in the public sphere”
by avoiding saying that he supports the jews, he is implying that he doesnt…
and im quoting myself babes

nick Yesterday at 12:21 AM

menace

Allen_18 Yesterday at 12:21 AM

yeah exactly
its like when trump failed to condemn the violent neo-nazis that rioted in charlottesville,
in august of 2017

Manchez Yesterday at 12:21 AM

I read that article! @ChuckyM_8 @ChuckyM_8 @ChuckyM_8 @ChuckyM_8
I liked your creation of the term “textual winking”
I love it when people make up new words or phrases

ChuckyM_8 Yesterday at 12:22 AM

yeah its like winking while your talking to hint at an alternative meaning for what your
saying, except the wink is hidden in the words instead of a facial expression
its a form of passing rhetoric

nick Yesterday at 12:23 AM

wait whats passing rhetoric?

ChuckyM_8 Yesterday at 12:24 AM

passing rhetoric implies two ideological positions at the same time
one is surface level
the other is conveyed through the wink

Manchez Yesterday at 12:25 AM

and trump definitely uses that to his advantage
he speaks implicitly about a topic, but still claims allegiance to a cause without using
using overt language
he codes his language in a way that supports a rhetorical climate for white
supremacists
this is rhetorical versatility, which describes “the way polysomic language can be used
for different audiences while creating subtext via textual winks”
also quoting myself
grifter__ Yesterday at 12:25 AM

😂
weird flex but okay
2

friskyFiske86 Yesterday at 12:26 AM

interesting you bring up polysemy @Manchez

Leah98 Yesterday at 12:26 AM

fascinating, even

nick Yesterday at 12:27 AM

thats a big word
I asked once but ill ask again
whats polysemy??

Leah98 Yesterday at 12:28 AM

polysemy is the “existence of determinant but nonsingular denotational meanings” in
my own words

nick Yesterday at 12:28 AM

????

Leah98 Yesterday at 12:29 AM

its like when one phrase can be interpreted in many different ways
according to @friskyFiske86 “polysemy works through textual devices which admit a
variety of readings” but the polysemic text “is not anarchically open so that any
meaning can be ascribed from it”
theres more than one interpretation but not infinite if that makes sense

nick Yesterday at 12:29 AM

and what does that have to do with trump’s rhetoric?

shinshin Yesterday at 12:31 AM

well its like @Leah98 definition of strategic ambiguity
trump intentionally weaves in multiple layers of meanings in his words that are intended
for multiple audiences each for their own gain
its used to appeal to the powerful while pacifying the marginalized and to appeal to
conflicting groups

Manchez Yesterday at 12:31 AM

think about how trump uses the words patriotism, security, and heritage
grifter__ Yesterday at 12:32 AM

😳
all great things
3

Manchez Yesterday at 12:34 AM

not quite
trump uses patriotism in a way that allows white supremacists to claim patriotism as a
signifier of whiteness
for example, in response to learning that two of his supporters assaulted a homeless
Latino man in Boston, trump used patriotic appeals to imply that lovings one's country
supersedes committing hate crimes
furthermore, the heritage that trump speaks of is quite clearly a reference to white
supremacy
this is obvious if you have any knowledge of how the KKK or modern-day supporters of
the confederacy use the word
his use of the word security implies an anti-immigrant sentiment that encourages
whites to fear nonwhites

grifter__ has left the server

Allen_18 Yesterday at 12:35 AM

whats really scary is that most of these hate crimes arent even carried out by labeled
extremists or hate groups @Manchez
its just riled up trump supporters who have been fed enough radicalizing bs

Manchez Yesterday at 12:35 AM

geez I didnt even know that

friskyFiske86 Yesterday at 12:36 AM

its possible that Trump engages in polysemy simply to increase his popularity
@Manchez

Manchez Yesterday at 12:37 AM

i mean its true that he does want to be liked
but I truly believe he wants to advance a hateful ideology

slartzell Yesterday at 12:38 AM

no doubt
i mean he really doesnt even try to hide it
stats show that fear of racial diversity and racial resentment were strongly correlated to
supporting Trump in the 2016 election
he directly appeals to this kind of voter
look
https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/fear-of-diversity-made-people-more-likely-t
o-vote-trump/
https://www.salon.com/2016/05/16/anatomy_of_a_don-ald_trump_supporter_what_rea
lly_motivates_this_terrifying_political_movement/
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/donald-trump-us-elections-hillary-clinton-race-
hispanic-black-vote-white-americans-fear-minority-true-a7402296.html

shinshin Yesterday at 12:40 AM

he absolutely does
I mean he literally said “I don’t know” when a reporter asked him if he would reject the

😬 😳 👎
support of David Duke (the leader of the KKK)
4 3 4

slartzell Yesterday at 12:41 AM

dont even get me started on trump’s media presence
he legit radicalized the right by denouncing mainstream conservative media
its scary

Manchez Yesterday at 12:42 AM

no literally
trump straight up accused the media of “trying to take away our history and our
heritage”
and this goes back to what I was saying earlier
white supremacists believe that it is there heritage and their entitlement to be superior
to other races
and yeah the fact that trump constantly attacks the media pushes conservatives
toward more controversial sources for information

😭
and many of these are farther right than the mainstream
3

slartzell Yesterday at 12:43 AM

exactly
this rise in alt-right rhetoric “is positioned as a rhetorical bridge between white
nationalism and mainstream public discourse”
i wrote a whole paper about it if ur interested
http://contemporaryrhetoric.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Hartzell8_1_2_2.pdf

nick Yesterday at 12:45 AM

thanks for linking all your sources @slartzell
slartzell Yesterday at 12:45 AM
np <3
nick Yesterday at 12:45 AM

👍
and lots of good info, tysm everyone!!
6
I’d always heard people calling trump racist but had never really understood the
specifics of it
I really appreciate all the different examples you guys used
now I have a much better understanding of the implications of the certain
words/phrases that trump used and of those that he didnt use

🤔
I wonder if past presidents have used similar techniques in the past to support white

😟
supremacy

😟
I also wonder if this increase in prejudice will continue to increase
5
 Works Cited

Allen, Ira. (2018). Donald Trump's antisemitism--And ours [response]. Enculturation: A Journal

of Rhetoric, Writing, and Culture 26. http://enculturation.net/trumps_antisemitism

Ceccarelli, Leah. (1998). Polysemy: Multiple meanings in rhetorical criticism. Quarterly Journal

of Speech 84.4, 395-415.

Fiske, John. (1986). Television: Polysemy and popularity. Critical Studies in Mass

Communication 03.4, 391-408.

Hartzell, S. L. (2018). Alt-White: Conceptualizing the “Alt-Right” as a Rhetorical Bridge

between White Nationalism and Mainstream Public Discourse. Journal of Contemporary

Rhetoric, 8(1/2), 6-25.

Morris, Charles E. “Pink Herring & the Fourth Persona: J. Edgar Hoover’s Sex Crime Panic.”

The Quarterly journal of speech 88.2 (2002): 228–244. Web.

Moshin, J. Hello Darkness: Antisemitism and Rhetorical Silence in the “Trump Era.” Journal of

Contemporary Rhetoric, 8(1/2), 26-43.

Sanchez, J. C. (2018). Trump, the KKK, and the Versatility of White Supremacy Rhetoric.

Journal of Contemporary Rhetoric, 8(1/2), 44–56.