Adequation can be applied by speakers to position others as alike for political ends.
Evidence
Hodges notes that the repeated juxtaposition of the names Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein in this and other speeches itself establishes a discursive ground for the production of adequation between the two entities. Moreover, the framing of both of them as morally and politically equivalent – for instance, as variously a ‘danger’ (line 3) or a ‘threat’ (line 8) – further adequates Al Qaeda with the Iraqi government as represented in the person of Saddam Hussein; indeed, Bush suggests that the primary difference between these two menacing entities is one of degree, not kind. The crudeness of such rhetorical strategies offers an especially extreme example of adequation by demonstrating how speakers – and here, by extension, entire governments – position not themselves but others as sufficiently similar for a given purpose, such as identifying a target for military attack. — Mary Bucholtz and Kira Hall, Identity and Interaction, 79
Hodges notes that the repeated juxtaposition of the names Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein in this and other speeches itself establishes a discursive ground for the production of adequation between the two entities. Moreover, the framing of both of them as morally and politically equivalent – for instance, as variously a ‘danger’ (line 3) or a ‘threat’ (line 8) – further adequates Al Qaeda with the Iraqi government as represented in the person of Saddam Hussein; indeed, Bush suggests that the primary difference between these two menacing entities is one of degree, not kind. The crudeness of such rhetorical strategies offers an especially extreme example of adequation by demonstrating how speakers – and here, by extension, entire governments – position not themselves but others as sufficiently similar for a given purpose, such as identifying a target for military attack. — Mary Bucholtz and Kira Hall, Identity and Interaction, 79
Categorization
- XREF: Opposite-direction adequation — praising/marking others rather than self — parallels the reader’s interest in identity claims directed outward. — connects to: Identity similarity is interactionally achieved, not a matter of actual sameness.
- ADDENDUM: Adequation by juxtaposition and equivalence framing parallels the class/identity signaling mechanisms in the ‘Complaints About Immodesty Go Way Back’ piece.
- corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Mary Bucholtz and Kira Hall, Identity and Interaction: A…, 79