Aggressive Communication in Political Contexts
Document Type
Contribution to Book
Journal/Book Title/Conference
Arguments, Aggression, and Conflict: New Directions in Theory and Research
Publisher
Routledge
Publication Date
2010
First Page
217
Last Page
240
Abstract
One of the delightfully niggling snags you encounter when writing a chapter about politically aggressive communication, especially close to an election, is that new examples of antagonistic political ploys keep flooding in, demanding to unseat those that have already found their way into introductory paragraphs.To be sure, there is no shortage of political aggression. In 2008, for example, potential voters saw the Republican presidential nominee, John McCain, ribbed on account of his age, his lack of computer literacy, his temper, his erratic behavior, and for the number of houses he owned (or did not know he owned).Meanwhile, his opponent, Barack Obama, was compared to celebrity tarts(Paris Hilton and Britney Spears), rumored to be a Muslim, accused of advocating sex education for kindergartners, palling around with domestic terrorists, attending a church with a radical anti-American minister, and insinuating thatSarah Palin, Alaska’s governor and McCainy’s running mate, was “a pig with lipstick.”
Recommended Citation
Seiter, J. S., & Gass, R. H. (2010). Aggressive Communication in Political Contexts. In T. A. Avtgis & A. S. Rancer (Eds.), Arguments, Aggression, and Conflict: New Directions in Theory and Research (pp. 217-240). New York: Routledge.
