The socio-parasite and bio-parasite metaphorical concepts in racist discourse

Abstract

Defined as the transfer of meaning from one conceptual domain to another (Lakoff and Johnson 1980; Lakoff 1993), metaphors play a key role not only in the thought process, where they facilitate the understanding of complex concepts, as well as determine and shape people’s attitudes and perceptions of reality, but also in the way we speak, as they strongly influence the storage and organisation of information. The main aim of the paper is to identify and evaluate the people are parasites metaphor employed while referring to racial outgroups, and to review its different forms of usage on the white-supremacist Internet forum Stormfront.org according to the bio -parasite / socio-parasite categorisation framework proposed by Musolff (2016). The analysis of the metaphors unveils a slight target-dependant variation in the conceptual frame employed, which, in consequence, may influence the actions of forum users.