Towards a Rhetorical Understanding of Incitement: Unfinished Conversations with James Arnt Aune

Abstract

Drawing on James Aune's published and unpublished writings on incitement, hate speech, and the relationship between language and conduct, we offer a space for scholars to remember Aune's contribution to the study of legal rhetoric and the field of communication. In our study, we channel the pathos that brought Aune to the study of rhetoric: the belief that our public controversy should and can be better than it is. We embrace Aune's method, asking “What is the implicit theory of language and rhetoric here?” By examining Aune's work on the communicative nature of incitement, we argue that rather than examine the degree to which the speech may lead to conduct, it is best to examine the relations of power inherent in the message itself; in the context of the communicative act and in the contact between the speaker and audience; and in the opportunity that the discourse allows for resistance.