In Defense of a Good Cause. The Rhetoric of Violence

This study explores the rhetoric of violence, understood as the set of discursive practices that frame reality ̶ individuals, events, and experiences ̶ through references to coercion, aggression, and dominance by one group over another. Existing research has already highlighted the normalisation of such language in media, political, and social science discourse, particularly in discussions about social justice, human rights, environmental issues, and animal rights – where violence is broadly interpreted as anything obstructing inclusion, equality, and sustainability. The present analysis investigates how the notion of violence is exploited ̶ notably in academic discourse, media discourse, and social platform discourse ̶ as a representational resource (here referred to as the dominance paradigm), and examines how this framing produces or reflects a highly conventionalised vernacular (the rhetoric of violence) that simplifies the textualisation of complex socio-political phenomena, potentially leading to biased interpretations.