Is Politicians' Language Brutalizing? Attorneys' Representative: It Influences Society

Attorney Dr. Katarzyna Gajowniczek-Pruszyńska raised the issue of brutalization of public life in the program "Pytanie dnia" on TVP Info. This issue appeared in the context of recent acts of violence in the country, including the tragedy at the University of Warsaw and the murder of a doctor in Krakow.

The brutal language of politicians affects society

According to the vice-dean of the Warsaw Bar Association, there is a certain connection between acts of violence and harsh words heard more and more often in the media, including social media. "I think that politicians use much more brutal language now than they did a few decades ago. And this has some impact on society," she emphasized.

– Undoubtedly, the brutality of politicians' language affects the erosion of cultural norms and the culture of dialogue. If there is no such dialogue, and in addition, the algorithms in social media are set up to talk about shocking matters, the impression appears that there is more brutality – she explained.

Gajowniczek-Pruszyńska: Words can lead to tragedy

A representative of the Warsaw bar shared her impression that politicians get away with more behaviors. She also spoke about the "pool of crimes that are more socially acceptable" and the problem with prosecuting them.

– There are many examples of cases where certain gestures, words, and actions can lead to tragedy, and they were ignored – emphasized Gajowniczek-Pruszyńska, citing the murder of the mayor of Gdańsk, Paweł Adamowicz, as an example. She postulated that hate speech should be countered more decisively.

- Despite all this, this philosophy of punishing this type of acts is still in category II or III cases. We are shocked by some murder, but we feel that it could not have happened if we had considered that language has significance. And if we had approached prosecuting crimes in this context professionally. I think that then the risk of committing this type of crimes would perhaps have decreased - she assessed.

Read also: Murder in Mława, massacre at the University of Warsaw. Criminologist: 30 women have been killed in Poland since January, the perpetrators were exclusively men Read also: Macabre crime at the University of Warsaw. We know who the perpetrator is