{"id":30297,"date":"2021-02-12T07:37:25","date_gmt":"2021-02-12T03:37:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/?p=30297"},"modified":"2021-02-12T07:37:25","modified_gmt":"2021-02-12T03:37:25","slug":"impeachment-trial-research-spanning-decades-shows-language-can-incite-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/impeachment-trial-research-spanning-decades-shows-language-can-incite-violence\/","title":{"rendered":"Impeachment trial: Research spanning decades shows language can incite violence"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

By Kurt Braddock<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/strong><\/span>Members of Congress evacuating the House as it was being attacked by protesters.<\/span>\u00a0Drew Angerer\/Getty Images via Getty Images<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Senators, acting in the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump that begins on Feb. 9, will soon have to decide whether to convict the former president for inciting a deadly, violent insurrection at the Capitol building on Jan. 6.<\/span><\/p>\n

A majority of House members, including 10 Republicans, took the first step in the two-step impeachment process in January. They voted to impeach Trump, for \u201cincitement of insurrection.\u201d Their resolution states that he \u201cwillfully made statements that, in context, encourage \u2013 and foreseeably resulted in \u2013 lawless action at the Capitol, such as: \u2018if you don\u2019t fight like hell you\u2019re not going to have a country anymore.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Impeachment proceedings that consider incitement to insurrection are rare in American history. Yet dozens of legislators \u2013 including some Republicans \u2013 say that Trump\u2019s actions leading up to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol contributed to an attempted insurrection against American democracy itself.<\/span><\/p>\n

Such claims against Trump are complicated. Rather than wage direct war against sitting U.S. representatives, Trump is accused of using language to motivate others to do so. Some have countered that the connection between President Trump\u2019s words and the violence of Jan. 6 is too tenuous, too abstract, too indirect to be considered viable.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, decades of research on social influence, persuasion and psychology show that the messages that people encounter heavily influence their decisions to engage in certain behaviors.<\/span><\/p>\n

How it works<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The research shows that the messages people consume affect their behaviors in three ways.<\/span><\/p>\n

First, when a person encounters a message that advocates a behavior, that person is likely to believe that the behavior will have positive results. This is particularly true if the speaker of that message is liked or trusted by the target of the message.<\/span><\/p>\n

Second, when these messages communicate positive beliefs or attitudes about a behavior \u2013 as when our friends told us that smoking was \u201ccool\u201d when we were teenagers \u2013 message targets come to believe that those they care about would approve of their engaging in the behavior or would engage in the behavior themselves.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, when those messages contain language that highlights the target\u2019s ability to perform a behavior, as when a president tells raucous supporters that they have the power to overturn an election, they develop the belief that they can actually carry out that behavior.<\/span><\/p>\n

Consider something we have all encountered in a more lighthearted context \u2013 messages designed to motivate exercise. These messages often tell us one (or more) of three things. They tell us that exercise will lead to positive outcomes \u2013 \u201cYou will get physically fit!\u201d They tell us that others exercise or would approve of our taking part in exercise \u2013 \u201cWork out with a friend!\u201d And they tell us that it is within our power to begin an exercise program \u2013 \u201cAnybody can do it!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In this context, these messages are likely to increase the message target\u2019s likelihood of exercising.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, as we saw on Jan. 6, these principles of persuasion apply to less benign behaviors as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

How Trump did it<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Now let us return to what happened in Washington on Jan. 6.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even in the weeks before the election, Trump\u2019s rhetoric was belligerent. His campaign solicited supporters to \u201cenlist\u201d in the \u201cArmy for Trump\u201d to help reelect him. Following the election and in the lead-up to the attack on the Capitol, President Trump made repeated false claims of election fraud, arguing that something needed to be done to remedy the alleged fraud. His language often took an aggressive tone, suggesting that his supporters must \u201cfight\u201d to preserve the integrity of the election.<\/span><\/p>\n

By inundating his supporters with these lies, Trump made two key beliefs acceptable to his followers. First, that aggression against those accused of trying to undermine his \u201cvictory\u201d is an acceptable and useful means of political action. Second, that aggressive, possibly violent attitudes against Trump\u2019s political adversaries are common among all his supporters.<\/span><\/p>\n

Words have consequences<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

In the weeks following the election, allies of President Trump, including Rudy Giuliani, Republican U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, GOP Sens. Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley and others, only reinforced these beliefs among Trump supporters by perpetuating his lies.<\/span><\/p>\n

With these beliefs and attitudes in place, Trump\u2019s Jan. 6 speech outside the White House served as a key accelerant to the attack by sparking the raucous crowd to action.<\/span><\/p>\n

In his pre-attack speech, Trump said that he and his followers should \u201cfight like hell\u201d against \u201cbad people.\u201d He said that they would \u201cwalk down Pennsylvania Avenue\u201d to give Republican legislators the boldness they need to \u201ctake back the country.\u201d He said that \u201cthis is a time for strength\u201d and that the crowd was beholden to \u201cvery different rules\u201d than would normally be called for.<\/span><\/p>\n

Less than two hours after these words were spoken, violent insurrectionists and domestic terrorists breached the Capitol.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the case of Donald Trump, the relationship between words and actions never seems clear. But make no mistake, there is a scientifically valid case for incitement.<\/span><\/p>\n

Decades of research have demonstrated that language affects our behaviors \u2013 words have consequences. And when those words champion aggression, make violence acceptable and embolden audiences to action, incidents like the insurrection at the Capitol are the result.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kurt Braddock<\/strong><\/span>
\nAssistant Professor of Public Communication, <\/span>
\nAmerican University School of Communication<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

* Published in print edition on 12 February 2021<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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