Ritual defamation: what it is and how it is used to punish dissenting opinions

People are very diverse, and this is evidenced by our opinions. Each one sees the world in a different way and, as a consequence, thinks in a particular way, making absolutely no one totally agree on all the topics that can be debated.

However, there are certain opinions and ideas that are conceived as unquestionable within a society. These ideas, in case of being contradicted, can generate a lot of controversy, so much so that the person who has been critical may even be attacked.

Ritual defamation is the attack made on someone who has expressed a socially questionable opinion. This phenomenon has been gaining special importance especially in the face of criticism of what is politically correct. Let's delve into this idea.

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What is ritual defamation?

In July 2017 an engineer named James Damore, a worker at Google, disclosed a particular memorandum within the company that, perhaps without knowing it, would generate a bitter controversy. The document, called “Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber” was a critique of pro-diversity measures.

of the company that, according to Damore, represented an ideological bias towards the left of the company, believing that it had a negative impact on its performance.

James Damore indicated in this text, originally shared on the internal Google+ platform, that gender differences in the technology sector were not so much due to discrimination against women (which he did not deny existed) but rather against the biological characteristics of each sex, influencing the traits psychological. Damore said that women, being more empathetic and sensitive to stress and anxiety, do not tend to choose jobs They require a lot of responsibility, unlike men who are more systematic and resistant to stress.

As would be expected, these opinions caused much controversy and led to Damore's dismissal, being accused of violation of Google's code of conduct. The manifesto ended up transcending the media, generating widespread public rejection and harassment of Damore. She also got some support and even enlisted the services of the renowned lawyer Harmeet Dhillon, going to court accusing Google of that, through his pro-diversity policies, he was actually discriminating against certain groups, especially whites, Asians, men and women. conservatives.

Regardless of how controversial and open to criticism James Damore's views may be, this case It serves to exemplify a very curious and, at the same time, unfair social phenomenon: ritual defamation. His case is a clear example of this phenomenon, of how values, opinions and beliefs are controlled in societies. If someone does not agree with what is socially accepted, with what is established as "politically correct" in a place and given moment, you run the risk of being socially rejected, without the need for you to have committed a crime or serious moral offense some.

Laird Maurice Wilcox, an American social researcher, describes ritual defamation as the destruction or attempt to destruction of the reputation, status, character or position in the community of an individual or group through improper, malicious or unfair speech or publication. Defamation can be used in retaliation for the attitudes, opinions or beliefs (real or unfounded) of the victim, with the intention of silencing or ending their influence and discouraging supporters of that idea marginal.

Ritual defamation differs from simple criticism or contrary opinion towards something in nature and degree, because this phenomenon is much more aggressive, organized and skilfully applied by an organization or representative of an interest group special. The idea is to end the dissenting opinion, with that idea that has questioned a taboo subject within society, a position that, Regardless of whether it is intrinsically good or bad, it is perceived as socially unacceptable and the person who uttered it must be attacked.

Characteristics of ritual defamation

Despite its name, ritual defamation It is not called that because it follows a religious or mystical doctrine or because it is perpetrated solely by religious groups or against other creeds. It is considered to be a ritualistic phenomenon insofar as it follows a predictable and stereotyped pattern that encompasses a number of elements, just as it would happen in a ritual. These items are as follows.

1. Violation of a taboo

For ritual defamation to occur, the victim must have transgressed a taboo by expressing or identifying with an attitude, opinion, or belief that is socially or politically forbidden wrong. It is not necessary for the individual to carry out a specific action, simply it is enough that they participate in some way in the communication or expression of the socially rejected idea.

2. Attack of the victim's character

In a case of ritual defamation, the method used is the attack on the character of the victim, offering no more than a cursory challenge to particular attitudes, opinions, or beliefs expressed.

3. Denial of any debate

A fundamental aspect in ritual defamation is avoid participating in any type of debate about the veracity of what the victim has expressed. The main objective of defamation is censorship and repression, directly condemning the individual for their opinions and not giving them the opportunity to debate the matter.

4. Public person

The victim is usually a person visible to the public and, consequently, vulnerable to public opinion. In this category, any profession that has a minimum of work facing the public can enter, such as writers, school teachers, civil servants, businessmen ... although it may also be the case that the person attacked is a sincere citizen who has given his opinion by showing his face.

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5. Involvement of others

Attempts are often made to involve others in defamation in order to turn them against them, usually from those closest to them. For example, workers in a public company in which one of her colleagues has said something objectionable may be invited to denounce her colleague or void her.

6. Dehumanization of the victim

For the ritual defamation to be carried out, the victim must be dehumanized to the extent that there comes a time when It is not conceived as a person but as an offensive attitude, opinion or belief, what she has said.

7. Pressure around the victim

It is very common to pressure people close to the victim, harassing and humiliating them. If the victim has children, they may be teased and ridiculed because of the opinions of her father or mother. If it is a co-worker, the organization may be forced to fire him due to pressure on the whole company (similar case to Damore). If the victim is a member of a club, she will harass the club saying that she shares the same controversial opinion for not having thrown him out.

8. Rejection of any explanation by the victim

In a context of ritual defamation, any explanation that the victim can give about what she has said or done is considered irrelevant. The fact that she tries to claim the defense of the truth for a value, an opinion or belief that is not socially accepted is interpreted as a challenge and all it will do is make the situation worse.

Final thoughts

Often times, ritual defamation is not a matter of being wrong or right, but of being seen as a person who has made an opinion interpreted as "insensitive" or not adhering to taboos social. This practice is universal, since it is not specific to any particular value, opinion or belief, nor to any particular sociocultural group. This means that any person and any idea can be subject to a situation of ritual defamation, the only thing that makes the difference is whether the society in which such an opinion has been expressed considers it to be incorrect or not.

The power of ritual slander lies entirely in its ability to intimidate and terrorize others, finding within it elements of superstitious beliefs, such as the curse and the spells It plays on the unconscious fear that most people feel, the fear of being rejected by our community, being socially abandoned and isolated from support systems. The fear of saying something that others do not like can silence us.

But this phenomenon has some weaknesses. Being motivated primarily by emotional impulses, slanderers can end up showing a great exaggeration and evident evil towards the victim, which makes their strategy of sinking someone down for having expressed an opinion that they do not share fail. This can also be the case if the attack against the victim has not been adequately planned, or the victim's influence and support have been underestimated.

As in all propaganda and disinformation campaigns, ritual defamation is carried out by manipulating words and symbols. It is not used to persuade or convince of a noble idea, but to punish the person who does not share it and therefore it is not a legitimate strategy. This strategy is used to harm, intimidate and destroy an individual for having transgressed a taboo, avoid discussing her point of view and condemning him to the ostracism, a strategy that is not acceptable in a fully democratic and free society, not even when the opinion under attack is socially questionable.