Performance of parrhesia and the courage of false symmetry

a case study of Veja magazine

Abstract

This article contributes to the contemporary discussion on the nuances of disinformation in journalistic discourse.It aims to problematize the rhetorical approach referred to as the “performance of parrhesia”, and uses the cover story of issue 2880 of Veja magazine as a case study. In that report  social issues related with progressive political agendas are interpreted through the lens of the expression “woke movement,” which provides a contemporary context for the research. The present research employs a qualitative analysis methodology, literature review and case study. The paper begins with a discussion of the tense relationships between journalism and disinformation, followed by an analysis of strategies of simulation and dissimulation present in the case study.. From this analysis, we identify a rhetorical strategy of producing symmetry between opposing political positions, which consists of proposing equivalence between two sides of a debate. The article also elucidates how such rhetorical devices employed by Veja constitute what we call the performance of parrhesia, in line with Foucault’s ideas, and concludes that the magazine simulates a “courage of truth,” supposedly capable of revealing the reality of the complex state of political and social struggles in the West, through a false symmetry.