Page 169 - Gabrijela Kišiček and Igor Ž. Žagar (eds.), What do we know about the world? Rhetorical and argumentative perspectives, Digital Library, Educational Research Institute, Ljubljana 2013
P. 169
rhetoric of crisis: polish parliamentarian
debates on the future of the eu 169
ier urban inhabitants. PSL is a traditional agrarian party. Law and Jus-
tice (PiS) the largest opposition party, a conservative rightist party, in
conventional wisdom (again not necessarily squared with the truth) rep-
resenting the interests of the losers in the Polish transformation, inhab-
itants of the poorer regions of the country. Democratic Left Alliance
(SLD) or the Palikot Movement (RP) did not play any significant role in
the analyzed debates, since they are pro-EU parties, supporting the Eu-
ropean policy of the government. The main line of contest runs between
PO and PiS. Both parties, sharing the same roots in the Solidarity move-
ment and formerly planning to form a coalition, at present are locked in
a dire conflict, both in the policy program areas as well as at the personal
level (Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of PiS, is a twin brother of the late
President, and he is accusing the government of the incompetent carry-
ing out of the investigation of the Smolensk plane crash). PiS, although
generally supportive of the EU, perceives Poland’s role in the EU differ-
ently than PO does.
From the parliamentarian enunciations metaphors referring direct-
ly to the crisis or the EU have been selected. In the analyzed material
metaphorical descriptions of the EU of an unequivocally positive kind
appeared only twice. The prime Minister spoke of “a great, beautiful Eu-
ropean adventure”, while Robert Biedroń, one of the opposition MPs (in
the pro-Union Palikot Movement), explained that “the European Un-
ion is a mutual dream not of 500 million Euro but it is a dream of 500
million Europeans”.
As far as depicting the crisis is concerned, metaphors presenting the
economic crisis as a natural catastrophe appear more frequently in the
government’s rhetoric. The opposition, however, focuses on the pres-
entation of the Euro zone crisis as a faulty edifice. It has, quite natural-
ly, a very simple justification. Presenting the crisis as a turmoil, a flood,
a storm or a quake the government explains that the events which the
European countries are battling now are as equally unexpected and un-
explainable as the climatic phenomena. The role of the authorities is to
counteract the negative effects of those conditions. It is worth remem-
bering, that the metaphor style concerning the wide range of natural dis-
asters or diseases is an important element of the political rhetoric, par-
ticularly in the cases of strong ideological contests – there is often talk
of the flood, fire, fever or pestilence. To a large extent it was used by
President Truman at the time of the Cold War (Ivie, 1999). The objec-
tive is always to build up the tension and the exploitation of emotions.
The threat perspective produces reactions different than the usual ones,
debates on the future of the eu 169
ier urban inhabitants. PSL is a traditional agrarian party. Law and Jus-
tice (PiS) the largest opposition party, a conservative rightist party, in
conventional wisdom (again not necessarily squared with the truth) rep-
resenting the interests of the losers in the Polish transformation, inhab-
itants of the poorer regions of the country. Democratic Left Alliance
(SLD) or the Palikot Movement (RP) did not play any significant role in
the analyzed debates, since they are pro-EU parties, supporting the Eu-
ropean policy of the government. The main line of contest runs between
PO and PiS. Both parties, sharing the same roots in the Solidarity move-
ment and formerly planning to form a coalition, at present are locked in
a dire conflict, both in the policy program areas as well as at the personal
level (Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of PiS, is a twin brother of the late
President, and he is accusing the government of the incompetent carry-
ing out of the investigation of the Smolensk plane crash). PiS, although
generally supportive of the EU, perceives Poland’s role in the EU differ-
ently than PO does.
From the parliamentarian enunciations metaphors referring direct-
ly to the crisis or the EU have been selected. In the analyzed material
metaphorical descriptions of the EU of an unequivocally positive kind
appeared only twice. The prime Minister spoke of “a great, beautiful Eu-
ropean adventure”, while Robert Biedroń, one of the opposition MPs (in
the pro-Union Palikot Movement), explained that “the European Un-
ion is a mutual dream not of 500 million Euro but it is a dream of 500
million Europeans”.
As far as depicting the crisis is concerned, metaphors presenting the
economic crisis as a natural catastrophe appear more frequently in the
government’s rhetoric. The opposition, however, focuses on the pres-
entation of the Euro zone crisis as a faulty edifice. It has, quite natural-
ly, a very simple justification. Presenting the crisis as a turmoil, a flood,
a storm or a quake the government explains that the events which the
European countries are battling now are as equally unexpected and un-
explainable as the climatic phenomena. The role of the authorities is to
counteract the negative effects of those conditions. It is worth remem-
bering, that the metaphor style concerning the wide range of natural dis-
asters or diseases is an important element of the political rhetoric, par-
ticularly in the cases of strong ideological contests – there is often talk
of the flood, fire, fever or pestilence. To a large extent it was used by
President Truman at the time of the Cold War (Ivie, 1999). The objec-
tive is always to build up the tension and the exploitation of emotions.
The threat perspective produces reactions different than the usual ones,
