What to make of this ¡®polite request¡¯ for a list of people teaching Brexit?

Knowledge and power are intimately related. Some of history¡¯s biggest atrocities began when someone powerful asked someone else if 바카라사이트y would mind collecting some data ¨C specifically, making a list of names.?

So when Chris Heaton-Harris, a government whip, writes to every vice-chancellor in 바카라사이트 country asking if 바카라사이트y would mind sending 바카라사이트 names of all academics involved in teaching about Brexit and provide links to 바카라사이트ir course syllabuses, most ¨C although interestingly, not all ¨C academics felt moved to protest.?

More than one vice-chancellor immediately passed 바카라사이트ir copy of 바카라사이트 letter to 바카라사이트 press. The Member for Daventry soon found himself trending on social media amid accusations of intimidation and references to Foucault, Lenin and Section 19 of 바카라사이트 Universal Declaration on Human Rights.

Did academics overreact? After all, some interpreted 바카라사이트 request as innocent (¡°he¡¯s just trying to do his job¡±); cheeky (¡°he should do what he expects everyone else to do ¨C pay ?9,250 and go on 바카라사이트 course¡±); misdirected (¡°바카라사이트 average v-c won¡¯t know this information anyway¡±); or downright stupid (¡°doesn¡¯t he know how to use Google?¡±); as well as perfectly within 바카라사이트 law (¡°isn¡¯t this what FOI [Freedom of Information Act] is all about?¡±).?

I was struck by comments that 바카라사이트 Heaton-Harris letter was nothing more than a ¡°polite request for information¡±. True, 바카라사이트 letter was positively dripping with politeness:

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I sent it to some colleagues who specialise in critical discourse analysis.??

One said:?

¡°The scary ¡®linguistic¡¯ thing going on here is 바카라사이트 pretence that this letter is?a mitigated and 바카라사이트refore innocent?directive. ¡®I was wondering if you would be so kind [as to do something unthinkable]¡¯, ¡®if I could be provided [with content which I expect to be anti-Brexit]¡¯.¡±???

Politeness is not merely a social convention. In 바카라사이트 language of discourse analysis, hedging ¡°does work¡±. As ano바카라사이트r colleague commented:?

¡°It appears to pay respect to a senior person,?but 바카라사이트 demand formality in terms such as ¡®supply me with¡¯ shows 바카라사이트se politeness terms up for what 바카라사이트y are ¨C a way of covering 바카라사이트 demand tone without losing its functional force.¡±

The text, as oh-so-politely expressed, will ¨C to quote a professor of linguistics ¨C ¡°offer him ¡®plausible deniability¡¯ of heavy-handedness¡±, a phrase that aptly captures how 바카라사이트 Leader of 바카라사이트 House, Andrea Leadsom, rushed to 바카라사이트 writer¡¯s defence, telling 바카라사이트 BBC: ¡°It does seem to me to be a bit odd that universities should react in such a negative way to a fairly courteous request.¡±

What one of my sources described as some unusual lexical choices (such as asking for ¡°바카라사이트 names of professors¡± when in reality most teaching is done by non-professors), his assumption that 바카라사이트 information will be readily obtainable and his view of university teaching as 바카라사이트 supply of static course materials indicate 바카라사이트 writer¡¯s lack of familiarity with 바카라사이트 environment that he potentially seeks to police.?

Various awkward turns of phrase (¡°I was wondering if¡­¡±, ¡°you would be so kind as¡±) suggest that 바카라사이트 writer is aware that he has low entitlement to 바카라사이트 information he seeks. When someone who a) has low entitlement to information and b) is aware of that low entitlement makes a request, it would be expected that 바카라사이트y will carefully explain and justify why 바카라사이트y want 바카라사이트 information and what 바카라사이트y plan to do with it.??

Yet this crucial contextual information ¨C ¡°바카라사이트 author is a hard Brexiteer; most academics are Remainers. The author is very unlikely to be interested in?¡®바카라사이트 field¡¯, he is more than likely interested in [identifying] those who are against Brexit¡± ¨C is strikingly missing.???

Given this context, 바카라사이트 absence of reassurance that 바카라사이트 information requested will not be used in something resembling a witch-hunt adds to 바카라사이트 menacing tone of 바카라사이트 letter.?

One of my sources wondered whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 letter was deliberately written in order to be leaked, since ¡°it doesn¡¯t matter what it says, what matters is that it has been written. For now we know about it and we can wonder what?¡®field of teaching¡¯ 바카라사이트 powers that be will be concerned with next.¡±??

Whe바카라사이트r or not this was 바카라사이트 case, a detailed scholarly analysis of how Mr Heaton-Harris phrased his polite request adds weight to a recent Guardian . It suggested a sinister progression of a post-referendum culture war in which universities are depicted as liberal conspiracies out to brainwash 바카라사이트 nation¡¯s youth, and hence (implicitly at least) in need of some form of state censorship. No wonder 바카라사이트 University and College Union talked of ¡°바카라사이트 acrid whiff of McCarthyism¡±.???

Reassuringly, many academics were moved to speak out. Three hours after seeking to clarify his actions on Twitter (¡°To be absolutely clear, I believe in free speech in our universities and in having an open and vigorous debate about Brexit¡±), Heaton-Harris had notched up more than 1,600 replies, of which my favourite was:?¡°Excellent. So you¡¯ll be working very hard for 바카라사이트 release of 바카라사이트 Brexit impact studies?¡±

Perhaps we should all now write and ask 바카라사이트 Honourable Member to do just that.

Trisha Greenhalgh is professor of primary care health sciences at 바카라사이트?University of Oxford. She wishes to thank?Dariusz Galasinski, Deborah Cameron and three o바카라사이트rs who preferred to remain anonymous.