Metaphoric delegitimization of the EU in Political Discourse on Social Media

Abstract This paper examines the way metaphor was utilized in political discourse on social media in order to delegitimize the European Union. To explore this process, public posts were collected from Twitter during the immediate period preceding the Brexit referendum and were examined for metaphoric language related to Brexit and the EU. The analysis of the tweets showed that more than half of the total tweets concerned the Brexit/EU and incorporated metaphoric language, and underscores the importance of metaphor for politicians on social media. The metaphors in the tweets examined were found to revolve primarily around four metaphoric frames: enclosure, departure, control and freedom; these metaphoric frames constructed the allegory of unjust entrapment, which played a pivotal role in the delegitimization of the EU on social media. Through the metaphoric frames incorporated in their tweets the political leaders sought to delegitimize the EU by presenting it as a place of confinement, akin to a prison, that exerted a restrictive power on anyone inside. The proposed solution to the entrapment and to the effects this had on the people of the UK was for the British to abandon the enclosure of the EU immediately and reclaim their freedom.