Political debasement

Debasement political discourse decreases or reduces the worth, value, or reputation of a specific target, especially those involved in the political process. Such debasement includes but also can be differentiated from impoliteness, uncivil language, and hate speech. As a contextual phenomenon, political debasement is perceived and decoded by audiences within their linguistic and cultural environment, as well as by individuals’ distinctive characteristics; thus, debasement can be viewed as being in the eye of the beholder. Debasement rhetoric can be observed and assessed in narrow and broad senses. In the former, it refers to the speakers’ or writers’ use of obscene or crude rhetoric, the type of language that is not used regularly in the media. In its broad sense, debasement language includes the use of (1) insulting and disrespectful language, (2) name-calling, and (3) character assassination or character attack (ad hominem attacks).