In this paper, we identify and examine an overlooked strategy to counter bigoted speech on the spot. Such a strategy we call 'bending'. To 'bend', in our sense, is to deliberately give a distorted response to a speaker's harmful move - precisely, an ameliorative response, which may turn that move into a different, less harmful, contribution. To substantiate our proposal, we distinguish two ideas of uptake - interpretation and response - and argue for the general claim that a distorted response on the hearer's part may end up transforming a speaker's contribution. Patterns of distortion have been analyzed in the literature as unjustly undermining speakers' agency and exacerbating oppression. Our analysis shows that, under certain circumstances, distortion can be employed to derail bigoted speech and thus serve the purposes of social justice. We close by discussing the virtues and limits of bending vis-a-vis a different, much-discussed, counterspeech strategy, i.e. 'blocking' (Langton 2018).

Bending as Counterspeech / Caponetto, Laura; Cepollaro, Biancamaria. - In: ETHICAL THEORY AND MORAL PRACTICE. - ISSN 1386-2820. - (2022). [10.1007/s10677-022-10334-4]

Bending as Counterspeech

Caponetto Laura
Co-primo
;
Cepollaro Biancamaria
Co-primo
2022-01-01

Abstract

In this paper, we identify and examine an overlooked strategy to counter bigoted speech on the spot. Such a strategy we call 'bending'. To 'bend', in our sense, is to deliberately give a distorted response to a speaker's harmful move - precisely, an ameliorative response, which may turn that move into a different, less harmful, contribution. To substantiate our proposal, we distinguish two ideas of uptake - interpretation and response - and argue for the general claim that a distorted response on the hearer's part may end up transforming a speaker's contribution. Patterns of distortion have been analyzed in the literature as unjustly undermining speakers' agency and exacerbating oppression. Our analysis shows that, under certain circumstances, distortion can be employed to derail bigoted speech and thus serve the purposes of social justice. We close by discussing the virtues and limits of bending vis-a-vis a different, much-discussed, counterspeech strategy, i.e. 'blocking' (Langton 2018).
2022
Counterspeech
Blocking
Hate Speech
Discursive Injustice
Uptake
Amelioration
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11768/135372
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