Emotionalization of mass discourse as compensation for the crisis of reference

Lobanova Yuliya Vladimirovna ORCID: 0000-0003-2970-7520 PhD in Philosophy Associate Professor of the Departments of "Humanities", Moscow Polytechnic University 107023, Russia, Moscow, Bolshaya Semenovskaya str., 38, of. Moscow lobanova_diss@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Communication within the framework of modern mass discourse, among its main distinguishing features, is marked by a clear overabundance of emotions and extremely limited possibilities of the parties in relation to the reference of the information messages they receive. In the vast majority of discursive practices, the former turns out to be not only a consequence of the latter, but also its mask, screen, curtain, decoration, against which this reference is imitated – that is, what does not exist ^[19]. It is impossible to list all the reasons for this insincerity, reaching the degree of manipulation, but the main ones, of course, are subject to research and comprehensive, thorough analysis.

In late modernity, information is introduced into the space of mass discourse mainly through mass media – the media and the Internet, which are positioned as censorship-free and propagandizing complete, unrestricted freedom of dissemination and exchange of information ^[8]. Starting with these initial declarations, we note that in the process of studying the real state of affairs, it turns out that in fact, digital control is being formed, in certain properties even more total and rigid than the traditional socio-political one. Modern mass media in digital existence have no less opportunities not to convey all information to the audience, to replace facts with interpretations or even staged events ^[20]. The expression "independent journalism" in this context is perceived as an oxymoron.

However, the real problem is that, along with unscrupulous media, some politicians are beginning to adhere to this approach, despite the fact that in the criminal and administrative codes of most states that consider themselves democratic, there are relevant articles providing for the imposition of sanctions for the dissemination of deliberately unreliable information ^{[6; 7; 9; 10; 11]}.

The arguments for maintaining this unnatural situation of mass "half-truths" unchanged instead of mass information are the same arguments: the presentation of information is carried out in such a way that it fully corresponds to the ideas, expectations and emotions of the mass audience ^[13], in other words, everyone sees, hears, reads what they themselves would like to see, to hear, to read. Sex and war (Eros and Thanatos) continue to be the most desirable informational occasions that evoke strong emotions ^[5]. It can be stated that there are a number of special techniques aimed at creating an emotional effect by an information message, planned in advance, expected, and purposefully formed as a result of influencing the perception and consciousness of potential recipients. This, in fact, determined the relevance of this study.

The purpose of the study is related to its relevance, and was defined as identifying, fixing and analyzing the features of the main special techniques and mechanisms for forcibly shifting the attention of a potential audience from the reliability of broadcast information messages to the emotional impact they generate, which inevitably reduces not only the overall level of rationalization of the content side of these messages, but also the very public need for it.

Research methodology: the article uses methods of text analysis and content analysis, as well as cross-factor analysis of a number of analytical materials on related topics according to parameters with their own significant content suitable for achieving the purpose of this study.

In the vast majority of cases, at least two censors are found behind the back of each "independent journalist" – an external one in the person of his editorial management and an internal one in the mind of the journalist himself – a "censor" with memory and constantly relying on the experience of his own professional activity. This alone is enough to ensure that information about the nominal totality of facts formally combined into the concept of the "real state of affairs" is limited in scope. Thus, any narrative or plot turns into an image of its own, which fully corresponds to the ideas of those who determine the editorial policy of the entire journalistic team, or those who are the secret sponsor or owner of an "independent" publication. Any story that was previously considered as factual, having passed the crucible of editorial censorship, thereby turns into its own interpretation. That is, one that properly affects the right emotions of its potential audience ^{[23, p. 601]}.

If we talk about the axiology of information activities, then the ideals of truth or objectivity are not relevant, because in the situation of emotional capitalism and the society of impressions ^[21] they are replaced by other values – effectiveness, the power of emotional impact, the impression produced.

The simultaneous activation of formally different media about what is happening fills the mass discourse being formed with emotions, but these scalable emotions must be repeatedly and carefully controlled. Those who, contrary to the described atmosphere of censorship and coercion, try to convey to society forcibly suppressed information, are subjected to systemic ostracism in the form of a so-called "culture of cancellation" or are subjected to external pressure or physical destruction ^[18].

In this regard, a number of researchers of the media space of modern media put forward the concept of "Insincere Discourse" ("insincere discourse"), which, on the one hand, is opposed to the concept of "sincerity", which in M. Foucault's lecture on discourse is associated with truth, objectivity and transparency ^[15], on the other hand, in sociolinguistic studies is identified with a lie. The clarification of this phenomenon should include the absolute clarity of its teleology – it is the manipulation of the interlocutor and the extraction of benefits. For example, a sales floor employee who describes the numerous advantages of a "fundamentally new ultramodern modification" of something to a potential buyer is engaged in this type of discursive practice. He does all this mainly through influencing the emotions of the buyer, who, fascinated by what has been said, does not even ask the seller to confirm the information expressed. This means that the goal of insincere discourse has been achieved and the passive consumption of a product or service took place through a purchase.

What is included in the mandatory scheme of "insincere discourse"? Exaggeration and embellishment, omission, distortion, in addition, traditional demagogy, which fills the monologue as much as possible with euphemisms, metaphors and superlatives that have a charming and lulling effect on the rational part of perception ^[14].

The potential victim of manipulation is either completely deprived of the opportunity to refer to the content of the information message, or the time required to carry out this procedure. The real scale of manipulation in the information mass culture of modern society is such that this phenomenon has also received its own name – the crisis of reference.

This crisis is artificial and deliberately provoked. The operational part of its creation can be reduced to purposefully imposed and tacit prohibitions, to the deliberate separation of information about the real and the concealment of its part, to the deformation of the concepts of true and false. We agree with the researchers who point to the emotionalization of discourse as a leading component of the crisis of reference: "As a result of modern media consumption based on the consumption of images, citizens develop a new – simplified – type of understanding and behavior: irresponsible and infantile. The oversaturation of the modern information space with images creates excellent opportunities for using the switching mechanism. Opinions based on emotions are simplified, easily changed, become mobile and manageable" ^{[1, p. 94]}. A literary illustration of the described procedure may be a latent, but extremely stable crisis of reference in the development of the plot of two outstanding novels by F. Kafka – "The Process" and "The Castle" ^{[3; 4]}, since the main character of both one and the other novel is forcibly placed by the author in a situation that is being meaningfully increasingly realized for an individual in the conditions of modern manipulation of the information transmitted to him as well as his emotions.

In early August 2023, several information attacks were carried out by Ukrainian and Western media and politicians aimed at weakening dialogue and cooperation between Russia and China. In most of the news texts and monologues, there are clear signs of a crisis of reference, in particular, there is a noticeable emphasis on images, emotional coloring, and metaphorization of meanings. Thus, the Ambassador of Ukraine to China, P. Ryabikin, called the relations between Moscow and Beijing a "marriage of convenience" in which Russia turns into a Chinese raw material appendage. The metaphor of marriage of convenience in this presentation is a strong concept with a negative connotation that distracts the recipient's attention, generating a whole range of emotions in the perceiver that displace the desire and the opportunity to analyze the actual facts.

Another information "stuffing" of the same period: reports that Russia allegedly plans to inform Beijing about the "undesirability" of the country's ambassador's stay in Moscow. Information about the "intentions" that the Russian Foreign Ministry allegedly has regarding the Chinese ambassador to the country was published by an anonymous Telegram channel. After the data was picked up by other resources, these unverified data were published to escalate the situation. The Russian Foreign Ministry noted that they were not surprised by such a provocation. They stressed that such publications serve to whip up a negative information background in order to undermine relations between the two countries. Note that in reality nothing happened, the fake news was also not about actions, but about intentions, after the spread of the fake, no action was taken against the Chinese diplomat. But in the absence of facts, the escalation of negative emotions of anger, suspicion and fear was still realized, which is a convincing argument for declaring the outbreak of the crisis of reference.

The reference procedure is implemented in a sign system (for example, in a natural language system) by checking the semantic correspondence of a sign to an object and the pragmatic correspondence in relation to the "subject – sign" in terms of using the rules of compliance by the subject with the semantic norm of the sign in the process of its use ^{[12, p. 239]}. In addition, the reference procedure can be attributed, for the same reasons, to checking the use of a syntactic norm as a correspondence in the "sign – sign" system in the process of using aggregates of different signs, which, in relation to language, represents such information models as speech or text ^[17]. Among such means of reference in relation to language are dictionaries, textbooks, grammatical reference books, however, it is extremely difficult to imagine an ordinary person watching on TV or listening to a news report on the radio with a stack of linguistic reference literature next to it. The layman begins to cope in the primary sources only when he feels that he is being deceived, and this leads to financial losses or other harm ^[22].

In a well–known book, Guy Debord called this situation a "performance", which in essence is nothing more than a simulation of being – and thus, simulating also the attributes of which - it appears to its viewer eternal, infinite, self-sufficient, and does not need anything other than itself for its justification ^{[2, c. 39]}. However, every performance requires not only presence, but also emotional involvement, "capturing" its audience in the action offered to their perception. Involvement to the point of complete indistinguishability between the scene and everything that is beyond it.

The real step–by-step instruction for replacing facts in the discourse with interpretations, assessments and emotions is B. Levinson's film "The Tail Wags the Dog" (1997) (in the domestic box office - "Cheating"). In order to distract the electorate's attention from the sexual scandal with the president, a "small war against terrorism in Albania" is being created in the broadcasting information space. The film demonstrates in detail that the main tool among manipulations (creation and use of the image of the enemy; enhanced personalized images; imaginary gain; the influence of a "strong" theme, constrained by an even more "strong" theme; weak information positioning; appeal to clip (kaleidoscopic) thinking; presentation of information within the framework of the spectacle (show); involvement in action; logical substitution; programming reactions through the submission of role models; contradictory information; authoritative anonymous; forgery of antiquity; writing a story) is an appeal to emotions, generating a strong emotional intensity. Therefore, a fake video is being painstakingly created with an Albanian girl running across a burning bridge, fleeing from the terrorists who seized her village. The selection of an animal for a video with a girl who is hiding from the bombing is very careful, since you need one that will cause the desired emotional reaction as much as possible. The recorded sensual video about an Albanian refugee, which affects the emotions of Americans and fixes their attention on the situation, continues the plot with the appearance of this girl at the airport and an appeal to the president, who gives her his coat from his shoulder, which completely warms up piercing human feelings ^[16] towards the president.

Conclusions:

1. In the vast majority of discursive practices, the emotions of the object of information today play the role of masks, screens, curtains, decorations, against which an imitation of a reference that is actually absent takes place.

2. In modern mass discourse, all information without notes is rarely conveyed to the audience, while facts are replaced by interpretations or turn out to be staged events.

3. The main reason for the emotionalization of mass discourse is allegedly following the ideas, expectations and emotions of a mass audience – information is presented in such a way that everyone sees, hears, reads what they themselves would like to see, hear, read.

4. The crisis of reference within mass discourse is artificial and deliberately provoked.

5. The crisis of reference imposed on society by the main moderators of mass discourse deforms the semantic, syntactic and pragmatic norms of natural language, which makes it possible to manipulate both the meanings of words and syntaxes themselves, as well as their mass perception.