When is a speech "dangerous"?

A recent article in the Washington Post has taken aim at President Trump’s political rhetoric and in particular referenced the work of American University professor Susan Benesch.



Benesch has spent much of the the last decade of academic research developing a framework to identify what she calls “dangerous speech,” or speech that can lead to violence. To qualify at the level of dangerous speech, she suggests, at least two of these five indicators must be true:





A powerful speaker with a high degree of influence over the audience.


The audience has grievances and fears that the speaker can cultivate.


A speech act that is clearly understood as a call to violence.


A social or historical context that is propitious for violence, for a variety of reasons, including long-standing competition between groups for resources, lack of efforts to solve grievances or previous episodes of violence.


A means of dissemination that is influential in itself, for example because it is the sole or primary source of news for the relevant audience.




While these may well be very useful guides to understanding what might be an inflammatory speech, a number of these points would also cover some of the most famous speeches in history. Consider Shakespeare’s Henry V “St Crispin’s Day” speech:





“If we are mark'd to die, we are enough



To do our country loss; and if to live,



The fewer men, the greater share of honour.



God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.



By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,



Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;



It yearns me not if men my garments wear;



Such outward things dwell not in my desires.



But if it be a sin to covet honour,



I am the most offending soul alive.



No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.



God's peace! I...Read More



via Speechwriterz https://www.speechwriterz.com/blog/when-is-a-speech-dangerous