Parody against hate speech

Abstract

Political crises often lead to the violent use of digital platforms. This text aims to analyze a particular response to that vitriolic discourse on Twitter: political parody. During the institutional crisis and political battle between the government of former Peruvian President Martín Vizcarra and the Peruvian Congress between 2017 and 2019, some political actors stood out, but not for good reasons. Karina Beteta, a right-wing Peruvian parliamentarian, used Twitter to interact with people, defend her decisions and attack anyone who did not share her viewpoints. She distinguished herself by tweeting confusing and, according to some, mocking texts. These tweets received an original counter-discourse with the creation of @smartbeteta, a parody account of politics. This paper analyzes the parodic performance by focusing on the pragmatic strategies embedded in @smartbeteta’s tweets and the role adopted by this account in the communication flows.