Common Ground or Conceptual Reframing? A Study of the Common Elements in Conflicting Positions in French Interactions - Conflict and Multimodal Communication: Social Research and Machine Intelligence - page 144

TWO replies to ONE on 06/24/10:
We must understand how exasperated and “fed-up” the French, who are forced to endure
situations they never asked for, feel. [ ::: ] Yes, it's disturbing, but unfortunately I think it's
too late to turn the clock back [ ::: ] 8
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According to ONE, explicit racism against Blacks and Arabs is growing among
the French. In our terms, she describes the French using a THEREFORE connection
between “racial” categories and hate: “the French” are characterised by a concept in
which being Black or Arab engenders hate—obviously (17) is not the only concept
expressed by ONE, but we focus on it to describe the way the two posts relate to
each other.
(17) to be Arab/Black THEREFORE to hate him/her
Concepts like this one, which construct a kind of hate with a racial basis
manifestly constitute one of the many types of concepts that can epitomise a racist
ideology. Words like racist or racism must be stably associated to a concept similar
to (17) but in a more abstract form, like (18).
(18) x has other ethnic origins than y THEREFORE NEG y sympathises with x
This ties in with the description that would receive the typical justification I'm not
racist ! I've got Black/Arab friends , which evokes a specific version of the converse
concept 9 to (18), namely (19)—which hence belongs to the same conceptual block:
(19) some of the people I know are Black HOWEVER they are my friends
ONE's position is analogous to Royal's position in that concept (17) [to be
Arab/Black THEREFORE to hate him/her] specifies a more general concept, i.e.
(18) [x has other ethnic origins than y THEREFORE NEG y sympathises with
x]—lexically associated to racism or racist —, the latter functioning as a conceptual
frame, hence giving an interpretation of (17) as manifesting racism in a particular
way (Fig. 8.6 ).
This is a schematic view of the conceptual counterpart, in particular, of this
fragment of ONE's post: I think people are becoming more and more racist in
France. The French affirm particularly loudly and clearly, their hatred of Blacks
and Arabs. In her reply, TWO does not at all argue against this vision of the French
as hating Black and Arab people precisely because they are Black and Arab. Instead,
provoquent mais ça n'excuse pas tout. Modérez vos propos ! On peut pas aimer tout le monde,
c'est vrai mais j'espère qu'il existe encore des gens tolérants en France ?
8 Il faut aussi comprendre l'exaspération et le ras-le-bol des français qui subissent des situations
qu'ils n'ont jamais demandé. [ ::: ] oui, c'est inquiétant, et malheureusement je crois que
maintenant, on ne pourra plus faire marche arrière [ ::: ]
9 Conversion is a formal relationship between two concepts. There are four possible converse pairs:
[A THEREFORE B] and [A HOWEVER NEG B]; [NEG A THEREFORE NEG B] and [NEG A
HOWEVER B]; [A THEREFORE NEG B] and [A HOWEVER B]; [NEG A THEREFORE B]
and [NEG A HOWEVER NEG B]. Cf. Carel, 2011.