Cyberbullying in Polish Debate on the Białowieża National Forest

Abstract

Social media platforms have conquered almost all fields of human life; their impact as opinion creating tools is undisputable. They not only offer a place for people to exchange experiences, but are also a virtual space where people fight with words in defence of their beliefs. This second function has made social media a rich source for linguistic analysis, providing material for the most current social, political, and economic issues. The main aim of this paper is to contribute to reducing the identified gap in the literature on hate speech and consequential cyberbullying from the linguistic perspective and provide conclusions on elements of hate speech through the analysis of statements relating to the cut-out of the Białowieża National Forest. The examples were excerpted from the Polish social media websites of activists representing two opponent groups. This paper consists of three parts. The first part provides an overview of the literature related to hate speech, cyberbullying, their definitions, roles, and the possibilities of analysis. In this part, the background of the discussed polemic is also highlighted (the geographic location of the Białowieża National Forest, arguments used by both sides of the conflict etc.). The second part of the paper presents and discusses the results of the conducted research. After having examined some of the social media platforms used by the groups representing different attitudes to the described conflict (including Facebook, Twitter etc.), we have identified linguistic patterns within aggressive and vulgar statements expressed both directly and indirectly. Therefore, our analysis concentrates on categorisation of characteristic elements of hate statements. In the third part of the paper, we present conclusions referring to the results of the analysis.