Re:Zuckerberg defends not suspending ex-Trump aide Bannon fr...
by dragonwriter on Thursday November 12, 2020 @10:32PM
(#25078512)
> Do we all really believe that Bannon was actually, literally saying he would be-head these people and put their heads on spikes...
I believe Bannon was genuinely attempting to fuel the escalation of both disorganized and, through normalization, top-down political violence and intimidation against people insufficiently adherent to his vision; I don't think the statement had either literal or figurative, hyperbolic or otherwise, meaning beyond that intended effect.
Discussing “meaning” of a speech act assumes that the acts intended to operate on a certain rational level, which I don't think actually applies here. But, inasmuch as an interpretation of the intended effect centered around meaning is appropriate at all, I think the literal meaning is the closest.
> How many times have you said something along the lines of "I will kill you if you put that picture of me on Instagram!"
That's not even remotely analogous to what Bannon did here. He wasn't personally and privately addressing the person who was the subject in a context (whether immediate or through a preexisting relationship) that undermined the literal meaning of the expression. His act differed on literally every meaningful aspect from that.
I believe Bannon was genuinely attempting to fuel the escalation of both disorganized and, through normalization, top-down political violence and intimidation against people insufficiently adherent to his vision; I don't think the statement had either literal or figurative, hyperbolic or otherwise, meaning beyond that intended effect.
Discussing “meaning” of a speech act assumes that the acts intended to operate on a certain rational level, which I don't think actually applies here. But, inasmuch as an interpretation of the intended effect centered around meaning is appropriate at all, I think the literal meaning is the closest.
> How many times have you said something along the lines of "I will kill you if you put that picture of me on Instagram!"
That's not even remotely analogous to what Bannon did here. He wasn't personally and privately addressing the person who was the subject in a context (whether immediate or through a preexisting relationship) that undermined the literal meaning of the expression. His act differed on literally every meaningful aspect from that.