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Show Discourse in Action: The Mobilization of the Million Man March Richard A. Vazquez ety has definitive control over all other subordinate groups. This domination can be based in something as tangible and material as wealth, but often it runs much more deeply. Often, domination by one group is strengthened by society's underlying ideologies which justify it, and these ideologies, in turn, find expression in certain rules or etiquette which regulate public contact between the two groups (Scott 1990). What results is a type of script which is regarded as the norm for this type of interaction. This is known as the public transcript. Any analysis of society based on the public transcript alone will almost always reveal a society which revolves around keeping the dominant group in power. This tends to suggest that subordinate groups, who are themselves active participants in the status quo, in fact endorse and perpetuate the conditions of their subordination. This apparent acceptance of the dominant, hegemonic ideology gives the lower class the appearance of having false consciousness. False consciousness is a theory proposed by Antonio Gramsci which states that the subordinate group conforms to the status quo because it actually believes that the elite class is working in its best interests. Scott discusses two theories of false consciousness, which he labels "thick" and "thin." The thick theory states that the lower class actually consents to its position, because the ruling elite persuades the subordinate group to believe actively in the values which explain and justify its members' own subordination (Scott 1990, 72). The thin theory states that false consciousness evolves from the subordinates' belief that their situation is both hopeless and inevitable. Scott argues, however, that these theories overgeneralize all non-hostile reactions to oppression. A far more feasible explanation for non-resistance, he argues, is fear of sanctions from the ruling class. Instead, an oppressed class will resort to means of resistance outside of the public transcript in order to hide its true intentions from the retaliatory hand of the oppressors. In order to maintain the acceptance of the hegemonic ideology (or at least, the appearance of acceptance), the ruling class will use several tactics to make the ideology look both acceptable and inevitable. One such method is that of concealment, where the dominant class will use propaganda and deception to create a favorable public stage, and to hide or suppress anything that would detract from its power. A related method is that of unanimity-the appearance that those in power are unified and steadfast in their decisions (Scott 1990, 55). Keeping disputes among the elite out of the public eye has obvious advantages, as subordinates otherwise may see these divisions as a sign of weakness and use them to renegotiate the terms of their subordination. Another method, the use of euphemism and stigma, deals with the manipulation of language. When the members of the ruling class euphemize a particular facet of their ideology, they try to portray it in a more favorable light by using positive language. For example, a war may be called a "police action" or an armed attack may be labeled "pacification." Stigmatization is similar to euphemization, only instead of making negative aspects of society appear more favorable, it does the opposite. It will take those things which pose threats to the hegemonic ideology, and make them seem irregular or unfavorable. (Scott 1990, 55) For example, revolutionaries may be stigmatized as "criminals." While the varied use of language serves the objectives of the ruling class, it equally serves (if not more so) the revolutionary inclinations of the oppressed. Their use of language as a tool to alter the public transcript is the focus of this paper, and is integral to understanding how the Black community used discourse to mobilize the MMM. This discourse which is held outside of the public eye, away from the monitoring hand of the ruling class, is known as the hidden transcript. This dialogue gives the subordinate group its own counter-ideology, and plants the seeds of rebellion. Examples of the hidden transcript at work can be seen every day: It can be university professors criticizing the administration during a coffee break, or convicts planning to assault a prison guard while talking in the weight room. These off-the-record discussions eventually lead to some type of resistance of the hegemonic ideology. There are some who would argue that hidden transcripts are merely a harmless way for oppressed classes to "blow off steam," and that this type of token resistance actually does nothing more than help preserve the status quo. This argument assumes, however, that the oppressed class is inevitably handicapped and doomed to its position of subordination. If this were the case, we would be dealing with a one-sided abstract debate rather than a concrete, material struggle in which both sides stand an equal chance (Scott 1990, 187). The oppressed class in this paper uses hidden transcripts to garner support for the disguised, low-profile forms of resistance which Scott calls "infrapolitics" (183). Infrapoliticking works to insert revolutionary ideas into the public transcript without an open confrontation with the ruling class. An example of infrapoliticking can be seen in old southern slave hymns. While at face value they appeared to be nothing more than religious songs, their deeper meaning preached a message of rebellion against their white masters. This type of infrapoliticking many times led to outright slave revolts-a pure form of publicly declared resistance. The following sections identify the so-called hegemonic ideology which the Black community opposed, and how the "group in power" attempted to preserve it. It then shows how dialogue and infrapolitics within the Black community eventually led to the Million Man March (a form of publicly declared resistance). Discourse Theory and the Million Man March Why Discourse Theory Applies to the Million Man March An analysis of discourse theory based solely on the examples used in Scott's Domination and the Arts of Resistance, raises the 68 |