undertaking a critical discourse analysis of the syntaxes, idioms, metaphors, and other features of the language disseminated by meat industries concerning nonhuman animals and their treatment. For example, nonhuman animals are referred to in volume rather than count terms, thus erasing their individuality. Metaphors treat animals (e.g., breeding sows) as machinery and other things “to encourage the disregard of animal suffering” (Stibbe 2001, p. 156). Notably, Stibbe’s data are drawn from professional journals and industry publications, which have the reputation of conveying facts literally.
Generally speaking, figurativeness functions as a kind of subterfuge in the foregoing studies. The focus on language for deception hones a view of language as shaping perception to the exclusion of emotion. However, language shapes not just how we think but also what we feel. Further, the focus on language for deception implies strategy. It should be remembered, though, that bad faith is not a necessary aspect of the power of language to shape our view of things.6 No one need intend to manipulate or conceal.
The issue of manipulation brings us to ideology and propaganda, which lack the concreteness of ideas and wording (as well as narrative). They are essentially hybrid forms. Propaganda pertains to discourse but is centrally a matter of manipulating beliefs. Stanley (2015) defines political propaganda as “a kind of speech that fundamentally involves political, economic, aesthetic, or rational ideals, mobilized for a political purpose” (p. 52). The form that propaganda may take is open. Ideology is even less tangible. Eagleton (1991) points out that ideology has numerous definitions, including ones that are politics-neutral, such as “action-oriented sets of beliefs” (p. 2); ones that are less neutral, such as “the forms of thought motivated by social interests” (p. 1); and ones that highlight discourse over belief, such as “the points where power impacts upon certain utterances and inscribes itself tacitly within them” (p. 223). We can call ideas, wording, or narratives ideological if they construct or maintain hierarchies and harms. And we can think about the impact of propaganda or ideology that is structured narratively.
Narrative
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