Defying Out-group Impoliteness: An Analysis of Users’ Defensive Strategies in Disputing Online Criticisms

Abstract

Online social networking sites have become an integral platform in the development of relationships among Internet users around the world. The Internet has made connectivity faster and stronger than the old days. However, studies have shown that many have misused this platform to incite hatred and animosity when expressing themselves. Online derogatory expressions include the usage of slurs, pejoratives, hate-speech, flaming, and trolling, among others. The present study aims to analyse defensive strategies employed by Facebook commenters on the issue of 1MDB. Three threads of comments and responses towards the political scandal of 1MDB were identified and extracted from Facebook newspaper page. The data was then analysed using the summary of response options and the list of defensive counterstrategies offered by Bousfield (2007). The findings demonstrated the use of defensive strategies by the participants in disputing criticisms of 1MDB issues, particularly comments affecting the reputation of their social group and ethnicity. Most of the participants chose to contradict the opposition directly; and some of them included statements of clarification, explanation or details about the issue together with the arguments. The discussion of the findings offers some novel insights into the field of impoliteness by drawing attention to online users' defensive linguistic behaviour in dealing with out-group impoliteness strategies in online communication.

Persuasion or Insulting? Unpacking Discursive Strategies of Gender Debate in Everyday Feminism in China

“…Discursive strategies are of great importance in online debate, given their potential to influence persuasive arguments [114], impact how users evaluate and respond to content on social media [9,22,27,55] and reveal social identities and perspectives [8,97].…”

“…Conversely, overgeneralization strategy was associated with contrasting perspectives and probably engaged individuals with dissenting opinions, might appealing to out-group members. Although this strategy was possible to provide different viewpoints and challenges biases for other stakeholders in gender-related issues, it might also intensify conflicts such as incivility and misunderstandings [55]. Further research is warranted to investigate gender differences in in-group and out-group gatherings associated with these strategies, including variations in gathering female and male users and group transformations during discussions.…”

Face-threatening and Face-saving Speech Acts of Teachers: A Discourse Analysis of Classroom Interactions

“…Similarly, Tracy et al (as cited in Al Kayed and Al-Ghoweri, 2019) contend that criticism entails a negative evaluation of a person or an action for which they are held accountable. Criticism occurs when words or expressions that contain critical remarks are used to criticize (Ismail & Shanmuganathan, 2020).…”

“…The impoliteness strategy includes the act of making direct criticism. Impoliteness, especially in particular the act of giving direct criticism, is viewed as an insulting action that could result in problems and disagreements (Ismail et al, 2020). Here, the teacher disapproved of the student's question, damaging her positive face or her desire to be liked and approved by others.…”

Hate Speech on Social Media in Malaysia - A Thematic Review

“…The results of the study have shown that the proposed mobile application records a higher accuracy in detecting cyberbully than other available applications. Ismail et al (2020) offers some novel insights into the field of impoliteness by drawing attention to online users' defensive linguistic behaviour in dealing with out-group impoliteness strategies in online communication. Zawawi et al (2021) study show how the interpretations and reactions of Malaysian audiences on LGBT issues in turn provide a preliminary picture of how the effects of media exposure indirectly influence the psychology of individuals.…”