Enunciative operations of the far-right discourse

Abstract

Enunciative operations used to construct a discourse accord it a particular appearance. The far-right discourse utilizes the following enunciative operations: abstract universalization; identification between nation and government and the overlapping of nationalist and religious isotopy. The first operation yields the idea of an undivided nation, with no internal separations, an idea which leads to: the naturalization of national values; the worship of tradition; the refusal of modernity; anti-intellectualism, the rejection of disagreement; the creation of internal enemies; disdain for those seen as weak (e.g. through machismo and homophobia), fealty and so on. This discourse is conveyed through a rhetoric characterized by hyperbole, euphemisms, oxymoron and salient examples. The characteristics of such discourse are features of what Umberto Eco has called “eternal fascism”.