Page 236 - 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. 236
What Do We Know about the World?
ka zajednica je stvorena da oslobodi hrvatski narod, a ne da se cjenka sa cincarima!
(2/4, 4. studeni 1992.)
Đ. Š. (CDU): I propose to abolish the ridiculous Amnesty Act for Chetniks!
This law is ridiculous! Gentlemen, the whole of Europe is laughing at Croa-
tia for forgiving so called forces which perform genocide, ethnocide, memorycide
against the Croatian people, equally those of Catholic and Muslim faith,
and that this Parliament has not had the courage, and I would say neither
the brains, to say who is it that Croatia is in war with. I wonder who is negoti-
ating with the state that has agreed not even to a treaty?! Well, what are we,
are we a nursery school or Croatian Parliament? [...] And, do not get mad at me,
you, my party colleagues, because I believe that Croatian Democratic Union
was created to liberate Croatian people, not to bargain with cheapskates! (2/4, No-
vember 4, 1992)
Almost 20 year later, MPs in the Sixth Term (2008–2011) made
a radical shift and started using strategies closer to their Swedish col-
leagues, having much more “ethos-oriented logos “ (Ilie, 2004: 56), espe-
cially since the debates in the 24th session preceded election time. These
insults are based on the argumentation that lies on the common pre-
sumption “that the quality of an act reveals the quality of the person re-
sponsible for it“ (Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca, 2008: 70). Insults di-
rected towards the target’s ethos try to discredit the MP’s personal qual-
ities, gaining the attention of a multiple audience (Ilie, 2010b) and stir-
ring an emotional reaction out of the political adversary (Ilie, 2004).
These insults try to show that as a public person, an MP represents a par-
ticular party and ideology, and is also responsible for implementing its
policies in a particular constituency and for promoting and acting in ac-
cordance with particular moral values and social norms. “At the same
time, an MP is also a citizen and a private person. On account of these
multiple roles, all of which can be made public to a certain extent, the in-
stitutional targets of insults are often more vulnerable, and consequently
much easier to harm“ (Ilie, 2001: 348).
The following example covers exactly these two roles of one MP, his
multiple roles, taken as possible grounds for insulting his incompetence
in entrepreneurial and managerial skills as an ex and future Minister.
(5) S. Đ. (HDZ): O čemu se radi, gospodine ministre Popijač vas ću pita-
ti. Naime, radi se o jednom bivšem ministru iz hvala Bogu bivše koalicijske vlas-
ti od 2000. do 2003. koji se obilato koristio svojim ministarskim mandatom
i sklapao poslove u vrijednosti od 132 milijuna. No nije pitanje vezano uz to,
pitanje je vezano nedavno on na radiju, televiziji grmi, grmi, grmi, borit ćemo se,
ka zajednica je stvorena da oslobodi hrvatski narod, a ne da se cjenka sa cincarima!
(2/4, 4. studeni 1992.)
Đ. Š. (CDU): I propose to abolish the ridiculous Amnesty Act for Chetniks!
This law is ridiculous! Gentlemen, the whole of Europe is laughing at Croa-
tia for forgiving so called forces which perform genocide, ethnocide, memorycide
against the Croatian people, equally those of Catholic and Muslim faith,
and that this Parliament has not had the courage, and I would say neither
the brains, to say who is it that Croatia is in war with. I wonder who is negoti-
ating with the state that has agreed not even to a treaty?! Well, what are we,
are we a nursery school or Croatian Parliament? [...] And, do not get mad at me,
you, my party colleagues, because I believe that Croatian Democratic Union
was created to liberate Croatian people, not to bargain with cheapskates! (2/4, No-
vember 4, 1992)
Almost 20 year later, MPs in the Sixth Term (2008–2011) made
a radical shift and started using strategies closer to their Swedish col-
leagues, having much more “ethos-oriented logos “ (Ilie, 2004: 56), espe-
cially since the debates in the 24th session preceded election time. These
insults are based on the argumentation that lies on the common pre-
sumption “that the quality of an act reveals the quality of the person re-
sponsible for it“ (Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca, 2008: 70). Insults di-
rected towards the target’s ethos try to discredit the MP’s personal qual-
ities, gaining the attention of a multiple audience (Ilie, 2010b) and stir-
ring an emotional reaction out of the political adversary (Ilie, 2004).
These insults try to show that as a public person, an MP represents a par-
ticular party and ideology, and is also responsible for implementing its
policies in a particular constituency and for promoting and acting in ac-
cordance with particular moral values and social norms. “At the same
time, an MP is also a citizen and a private person. On account of these
multiple roles, all of which can be made public to a certain extent, the in-
stitutional targets of insults are often more vulnerable, and consequently
much easier to harm“ (Ilie, 2001: 348).
The following example covers exactly these two roles of one MP, his
multiple roles, taken as possible grounds for insulting his incompetence
in entrepreneurial and managerial skills as an ex and future Minister.
(5) S. Đ. (HDZ): O čemu se radi, gospodine ministre Popijač vas ću pita-
ti. Naime, radi se o jednom bivšem ministru iz hvala Bogu bivše koalicijske vlas-
ti od 2000. do 2003. koji se obilato koristio svojim ministarskim mandatom
i sklapao poslove u vrijednosti od 132 milijuna. No nije pitanje vezano uz to,
pitanje je vezano nedavno on na radiju, televiziji grmi, grmi, grmi, borit ćemo se,
