Hemphill: We need to call out violent rhetoric or we risk extremism

Former president Donald Trump has made inflammatory remarks in recent weeks. Despite this, reports Salon, his divisive statements are barely receiving coverage, suggesting that “networks have become desensitized to Trump's frequent extreme comments.” 

What are we risking when we don’t continue calling out this behavior? University of Michigan School of Information associate professor Libby Hemphill, an expert on social media and political engagement, says we have to focus “on the impacts these statements have.” 

“If we don't call out the rhetoric as extreme, we risk making it normal and acceptable,” Hemphill says. “Those are the downstream risks of desensitizing. Again, focusing on the impacts these statements have, like increasing antisemitic behavior generally or raising the temperature in the Middle East conflicts, helps people understand why they're dangerous, who they impact, and why speech matters.”

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Read “‘Covering him as a normal candidate’: Extremism scholars say TV news ‘normalizing’ Trump’s threats’” on Salon. 

Learn more about associate professor Libby Hemphill by visiting her UMSI faculty profile. 

— Noor Hindi, UMSI public relations specialist