Responsibility of the speech

Lina Sofia Gil Rodriguez

Professional Emphasis 1

Faculty of social and legal human sciences

Modern languages

May 12 2023

Bogota DC
 The responsibility of the speech

One of the great unknowns of human history is knowing how speeches have governed entire

nations. Thousands of leaders have managed to seed ideas in one way or another with the help of

speech. The story that will serve to illustrate this topic a bit is the allegorical fable written by George

Orwell called Animal Farm. This story takes place at Manor Farm, an estate in England that belongs to

Mr. Jones. chickens, pigeons, pigs, dogs, horses, goats, donkeys, sheep and cows are the main

characters in the story. In the fiction created by the English writer, animals have human characteristics:

they make dense questions about politics, philosophy and identity. They organize and try to create a

utopian society after harshly criticizing the man, in this case represented by the figure of Mr. Jones

(Fuks, 2018).

During the development, the utopia is run by the pigs, they propose to create a farm without

humans to control it, The pig that rises to power is Napoleon, he uses political discourse to convince

everyone that if he governed the change would happen. When it comes to believing in what someone

says, one must have the social responsibility to be critical, to inquire and not blindly believe. What

techniques can we use to be more responsible when believing in the word?

The best path is the ACD critical discourse analysis. This focuses especially on having a critical

attitude. His analysis is a reference to the role of discourse in the reproduction of domination by

different types of authorities (political, religious, or industrial elites). His critical attitude is evident in

the abuse of power and also the resistance against this . On the other hand, the ACD differs from the

others, in that it considers its own responsibility, a social responsibility with the dominated (society),

since its main objective is to use linguistic methods to help the language not become oneself with

control. (Van Dijk, 1999).

 Another very notorious fact is the dictatorship that Napoleon implanted, once he is governed he

breaks all the rules and ends up becoming what he wanted to destroy. He does not care about the

commandments that he himself wrote, he kills his opponents, expels whoever is with the competition,

he even goes so far as to ban music. It is there when three concepts are revealed: power, abuse of

power and discursive manipulation. Power is the ability of the individual to influence the behavior of

others, either in masses or individually. The aforementioned individuals or groups increase their

domination by accepting the power of the dominant individual.

Discursive power is when the elites from their position can manage life in society, for better or

worse. Including the management of scarce social resources, whether they are mental, such as being a

symbol for the masses (fame) or resources such as: housing, access to education or a good salary. The

word power is used in CDA as it is the protagonist in two important currents: The power of speech and

the power to control speech. Abuse of power: It is when changes are generated through manipulation

strategies, solely in order to obtain a non-common good, based on their own ideas and interests.

(Meana and Martínez, 2016).

In view of the fact that, according to the ACD, a sophisticated study is needed to substantiate when

it is abused and when it is not. Finally, not all power is abuse, since when power is equitable it is

considered benign. Discursive manipulation as a concept goes hand in hand with the influence or way

in which a discourse is understood. How it is stored in memory, how some properties of said mental

representation could influence the modal skills and critical opinions of the people who listen to the

speech.

Discursive manipulation also controls the way in which a discourse is used to build mental

models, influence preferences. In addition to indirectly changing the beliefs of society; it is about
explaining the activity through which the subject of discourse executes it, analyzing (what he wants-

what he knows- what he should do- and how he should act (Gazzera, 2001).

In conclusion, the author wants to show us the importance of not falling into idolatry. It gives us a clear

example of how massacres, creation of concentration camps, persecutions, exiles and even total control

of expression can occur with various manipulation techniques.

References

Fuks, R. (2018). Animal Farm novel by George Orwell. General culture.

https://www.culturagenial.com/es/novela-rebellion-en-la-granja-de-george-orwell/

Gazzera, D. (2001). Abuse and contemporary society, multidisciplinary reflections.

https://repositorio.comillas.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/11531/52778/Abuso%20de%20poder.
pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Orwell, O, 1898. Animal Farm. Harville Seker.

https://www.casadellibro.com.co/libro-animal-farm/9780141036137/1196264

Meana and Martínez, 2016. Manipulation and the construction of the other. National
University of
Córdobafile:///C:/Users/ALBERTO/Downloads/Dialnet-ManipulacionDiscursivaYConstrucci
onDelOtroEnLaCaid-6727367%20(2).pdf