Marisa Letícia : morte, política e ódio em tempos de redes sociais e polarização

Abstract

Under the field of Applied Social Sciences, this study analyzes the impacts occurred in the Brazilian political debate stems from the profound changes in communication promoted by the progress of social networks. Without intercession, the online environment established new patterns of interaction that granted individuals autonomy. Faced with this dynamic, the propagation of intolerant messages, considered manifestations of hate speech, takes place especially on Facebook. In summary, the social network has become a propagator of aggressiveness and has become a fertile ground for the expansion of social conflicts. As a backdrop to this dynamic, there is the Brazilian political crisis, which deepened with the protests of June 2013 and is still underway. At this stage of recent history, it occurred the radicalization of political discourse, the wear and tear of PT and its main leader, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and the consolidation of social networks has been seen as an important channel for discussion. In a sociological approach to the phenomenon, this study analyzed the comments published in articles shared by Zero Hora's Facebook page about the illness and death of former First Lady Marisa Letícia through Content Analysis (CA). The corpus is 8.627 comments distributed in 16 posts. In light of the methodology, the case is considered an important symptom for understanding the political crisis in the country. In an environment of polarization, social networks have been confirmed as an environment of affirmation of ideologies, reproduction of aggressiveness and radicalization of discussions. In this scenario, there is little room for a democratic debate.