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The shadow drama

Metaphor, affect, and discursive polarization in Norwegian extreme-right representations

ORCiD logo with link | UiT, Arctic University of Norway, Norway
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with UiT The Arctic University of Norway.

Published online: 5 August 2024
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlac.00117.and
Abstract
This study examines how discursive polarization between majority populations and so-called non-Western immigrant identities is enabled via verbal and visual metaphors in outputs by the Human Rights Service (HRS), a prominent Norwegian extreme-right media outlet. Focusing especially on the HRS’s use of visual primary metaphors of cold and darkness, a contribution is made to the existing literature regarding how right-wing outlets construct an image of immigrants and Muslims as threatening Others. As such, the potential polarizing outcomes of the HRS’s visual primary metaphors are theorized to arise from a capacity to invite certain forms of embodied cognition and implicitly associate the target identities with a range of negative emotions. Ultimately, the HRS’s visual primary metaphors of cold and darkness are best understood as polarization vehicles that tacitly support anti-social biases by leveraging the rapidity and efficiency with which subjects can respond emotionally to visual information—especially fear triggers.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background
    • 2.1Human Rights Service
  • 3.Metaphors, affect, and discursive polarization
  • 4.Method
  • 5.Results
    • 5.1Primary visual metaphors of cold and darkness
    • 5.2Verbal metaphors of violent conflict and the ‘big’ enemy
    • 5.3Visual metaphors of dirt and pollution danger
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Declaration of interest statement
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Data sources
  • References
References (70)
Data sources
HRS. 2017, October 3. “Rights dokumenterer den kulturelle revolusjonen (2) [Rights documents the cultural revolution].” Rights.no. [URL]
. 2018a, November 12. “Ny bok: Eksperimentet som slo feil [New book: The experiment that failed].” Rights.no. [URL]
. 2018b, October 2. “Bokbombe: -Om to generasjoner er Vesten utslettet av islam, sier tysk økonom. [Bookbomb: -In two generations the West will be eradicated by Islam says German economist].” Rigths.no. [URL]
. 2018c, March 12. “Priviligerte innvandrere [privileged immigrants]”. Rights.no. Privilegerte innvandrere | Human Rights ServiceGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2019a, March 26. ”Bergens tidende serverer « rasisme, nazisme og hat” fra “hvite” mot muslimer [Bergens Tidende is serving “racism, Nazism, and hate” from “whites” against Muslims].” Rights.no. [URL]
. 2019b, September 27. “Islamiseringen ruller taktfast videre [The Islamification is rolling tactfully onwards].” Rights.no. [URL]
. 2019c, January 25. “Regjeringen vil strupe økonomisk støtte til moskeer I Norge [The government will strangle economic support for mosques in Norway].” Rights.no. [URL]
. 2019d, April 29. “Et slag i ansiktet på islam og apologetene: terrrorister på Sri Lanka er styrtrike [A punch in the face of Islam and the apologists: The terrorists in Sri Lanka].” Rights.no. [URL]
. 2019e, December 2. Fullt juleoppgjør i Seljord [Full Christmas clash in Seljord]. Rights.no. [URL]
. 2019f, February 28. Ingen IS-kvinner angrer. Tvert om, forteller reporter [No IS-women regrets. Quite the opposite says reporter].” Rights.no. [URL]
. 2019g, May 25. “Barn av IS-krigere: Sverige betaler [Children of IS-warriors: Sweden pays].” Rights.no. [URL]
. 2019h, January 30. “Endelig! Erna til fullt angrep på moskeene i Norge [Finally! Erna in full attack against mosques in Norway].” Rights.no. [URL]
. 2019i, May 9. Oppsiktsvekkende: Sverige til fullt angrep på ekstrem islam [Sensational: Sweden in full attack against extreme Islam]. Rights.no. [URL]
. 2019j, February 11. Til frontalangrep på islams nedrige kvinnesyn. – Fjern hijaben fra offentlig ansate [Frontal assault on Islam’s wicked view of women – Remove the Hijab from public employees]. Rights.no. [URL]
. 2020a, April 3. “Regjeringen til fullt angrep på shariaekteskap og foreldre som lemlester døtre. [The government in full attack on sharia marriages and parents who mutilate their daughters].” Rights.no. [URL]
. 2020b, May 5. Nådestøtet: Dere kan dra hjem igjen [The final blow: You can go home again]. Rights.no. [URL]
. 2020c, April 28. Toppolitikere i strupen på islam: – En hatefull og onskapsfull ideologi [Top politicians go for Islam’s throat: A hateful and evil ideology]. Rights.no. [URL]
. 2020d, January 2. “En villet utskiftning av eget folk. [A deliberate replacement of own people].” Rights.no. [URL]
. 2023, May 2. “Om HRS [About HRS].” Rights.no. [URL]
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