I’m not Charlie: (Im)politeness evaluations of the Charlie Hebdo attack in an internet discussion forum

Abstract

In reaction to the deadly attack on Charlie Hebdo staff in January 2015, the Je suis Charlie movement emerged as a demonstration of solidarity with the victims. At the same time, however, the Je ne suis pas Charlie counter-stance found its way mostly into unofficial discussions, which became prolific fora where the in/appropriateness of the actions of the parties involved in the act was debated. The numerous Internet-based discussions offer a wealth of evaluative data which can be analysed using the methods and procedures of recent politeness theorisation. The main objective of the paper is to examine how (im)politeness evaluations are made within a particular Internet discussion forum by the commenters themselves vis-à-vis the perspectives and the identities they assume. Conceived within the framework of ‘politeness as social practice’, the paper seeks to access the commenters’ identities and the respective ‘moral orders’ to which they seem to orient themselves when making their evaluations. It is claimed that these (im)politeness evaluations as manifestations of their metapragmatic awareness can be used as a venue for the study of how individual, group-based and societal value systems are negotiated, contested and ratified within computer-mediated communication settings.