Summary:
Following a Digital Discourse Analysis approach, this paper investigates a conflictive YouTube polylogue which was created under a Greek video-clip about Covid-19. The video-clip was released on May, 2020 but was immediately withdrawn by the General Secretariat for Civil Protection, following fierce reactions as to its sexist content. The video-clip that was posted on YouTube depicted the Greek actor, Christos Loulis, having a telephone conversation presumably with his girlfriend (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUVzB6Kn-0k).
The aim of the study is to analyse and discuss the impoliteness strategies that are employed by YouTube users based on Culpeper’s (2011) and Bousfield’s (2008) approaches to impoliteness. The comments that are analysed in this paper involve impoliteness towards the individuals who attribute sexism to the video-clip. The thesis takes a qualitative perspective to the analysis of the digital data.
Impoliteness has been found to be rampant in digitally-mediated communication, which allows the expression of impolite as well as insulting views, since people can conceal their true identity, thus finding it easier to insult others. The examination of the present YouTube polylogue suggests that the topic of sexism creates polarization as well as antagonism among YouTube users which also leads to the creation of an ingroup, consisting of individuals who claim that they see no sexism in the video-clip, and the outgroup, which consists of people who attribute sexism to the video-clip and become recipients of the ingroup’s insulting comments. Finally, the study shows that the majority of the commenters are unable to recognise the mansplaining and the indirect sexism that surround the actor’s words.
Keywords:
Keywords: impoliteness, indirect sexism, YouTube, online polylogues, asynchronous DMC, online conflict