Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is an interdisciplinary approach used in Communications and linguistics to analyse texts and the way language is employed to create particular meanings. Emphasis is placed on how speakers’ language choices are used to persuade people to think of events in a particular way.
In the aftermath of controversies like the #AmyCooper incident it’s always fascinating to me to observe how the very language used by these characters even after they’ve been caught red handed is employed to escape accountability. The statement “My life is being destroyed right now” is what is an example of ‘passivization’, one of the tools drawn from CDA. By using a passivated verb without an agent, the speaker can obscure who acts and who has responsibility. You may recognise this approach in some newspaper headlines – for example, “10 civilians were killed during a drone strike.” What’s missing is who carried out the action. Similarly, the Amy Coopers of the world who weaponise their privilege to cause harm to others press on after being caught in the wrong and attempt to use that very privilege to evoke sentiments of sympathy by appealing to ideas of white fragility, to shield them from the consequences of their own actions. Your "life being destroyed" really equates to losing your job, losing your adopted dog and widespread ostracisation. These are fair and natural consequences to breaking whatever HR clause that exists on your contract about bringing the company into disrepute for being revealed to be acting far from a decent human being, being caught on camera ill-treating your dog and generally being a racist *fill in the blanks* Amy, you literally did this to yourself. While actually living with the consequences of your own actions may seem like death to you, it has actually been a death sentence to many black men and kids who have been shot on sight by officers arriving on the scene after receiving similar ‘distress’ calls. By comparison, while it warmed the cockles of many a heart to see you relieved of your job within 24 hours of the incident, the reality is you have thus far actually received less than the bare minimum punishment for your actions, as you’ve not yet been charged for making a false report, which is a class A misdemeanour offense in New York. It’s easy to lose focus of what’s your just due when so often in this white supremacist world, privilege trumps justice.
