The Language of Hate: A Corpus Linguistic Analysis of White Supremacist Language

Abstract

In this book, Andrew Brindle analyzes a corpus of texts taken from a white supremacist web forum which refer to the subject of homosexuality, drawing conclusions about the discourses of extremism and the dissemination of far-right hate speech online. The website from which Brindle’s corpus is drawn, Stormfront, has been described as the most powerful active influence in the White Nationalist movement (Kim 2005). Through a linguistic analysis of the data combining corpus linguistic methodologies and a critical discourse analysis approach, Brindle examines the language used to construct heterosexual, white masculinities, as well as posters’ representations of gay men, racial minorities and other out-groups, and how such groups are associated by the in-group. Brindle applies three types of analysis to the corpus: a corpus-driven approach centered on the study of frequency, keywords, collocation and concordance analyses; a detailed qualitative study of posts from the forum and the threads in which they are located; and a corpus-based approach which combines the corpus linguistic and qualitative analyses. The analysis of the data demonstrates a convergence of reactionary responses to not only women, gay men and lesbians, but also to racial minorities. Brindle’s findings suggest that due to the forum format of the data, topics are discussed and negotiated rather than dictated unilaterally as would be the case in a hierarchical organization. This research-based study of white supremacist discourse on the Internet facilitates understanding of hate speech and the behavior of extremist groups, with the aim of providing tools to combat elements of extremism and intolerance in society.