Twittering Child Trafficking: A Corpus-Assisted Discourse Analysis of Selected X Interactions

4.2.1 Discursive Pattern of Representation of Child Trafficking

The phenomenon of child trafficking is discursively portrayed in online interactions as indicated in the corpus findings in 4.1, particularly the keywords, as illegal (frequency focus-FF: 736), slavery (FF: 269), satanic (FF: 114), disgusting (FF: 99), treason (FF: 91), others include crime, crisis, evil, horror, war, killer, exploitation, and conspiracy. Posts in this category show emotional reactions of the post-writers in the form of personal perceptions when describing the state-of-affairs about child trafficking. These representations are contextually categorised into explicit and implicit concepts based on their discourse content.

1. Explicit representation of Child trafficking

This relates to the overt descriptions of child trafficking in posts reflecting the attitudinal stance of post-writers. In this case, the phenomenon is described as crime with the LogDice/score −10.56, crisis showing LogDice/score –8.77, indicating how child trafficking is represented as evil. These explicit descriptions, which evoke emotions, illustrate the discursive strategy of predication, specifically the evaluative attributions of negative values in the way online participants express moral judgments about the act and the perpetrators. These are illustrated in the following examples.

1. You ever heard the Left talk about the child trafficking crisis?

2. And END Child Trafficking. Please demand this from elected officials. World’s 2nd largest Criminal enterprise at $100 Billion (with a B) just inside the

3. Slavery is wicked. Child trafficking is evil. Zero tolerance for predators of children.

The predication strategy – attributes assigned to persons represented in the discourse – is deployed in Sample 1 where child trafficking is described as a “crisis”, a negative evaluation attribute, which inferentially connotes a dangerous situation that requires urgent attention. The contextual background of the post reflects a political stance with the illocutionary force of criticising (loosely) left-wing politicians who are allegedly accused of not speaking out against child trafficking. The portrayal of child trafficking as a crisis, that has not caught the attention of left-wing political office holders, therefore suggests that the tweet evaluates their silence as pro-child trafficking. Also, the interrogative structure of the post instead of assertion indicates the deployment of intensification strategy as it illustrates indirect speech act of criticising their silence on the child trafficking crisis. Other instances (posts) in the dataset that depict the phenomenon as a crisis largely reflect criticism of the silence and support by the political leaders. Similarly, Sample 2, in which child trafficking is captured as the “world’s 2nd largest criminal enterprise” illustrates how the post-writer deploys predication strategy, the discursive qualification through the evaluative attribution of a negative value to the act as a crime. This description, which underscores the negative attitudinal tone of the post-writer, contextualises the functional weighting of the use of “END” and “demand”, indicating how people are being sensitised to curb the crime by calling on elected representatives to address it. In Sample 3, the phenomenon is depicted as evil, indicating a negative moral judgment of the perpetrators. The background check of the post, which reveals that it is a metacommentary of a multimodal text with the inscription “end human trafficking by ending human traffickers” provides the discourse context to decipher the use of “evil” and “zero tolerance for predators of children”.

1. Implicit representation of child trafficking as war

In posts in this category, child trafficking is indirectly depicted as war. This metaphorical representation not only captures the impact of child trafficking on children and society, but also highlights the seriousness of the act which requires determined and organised efforts to combat. In this context, the phenomenon is described as what wreaks serious havoc such as “heartbreak” in Sample 5, “horror/horrific” in Sample 6, “killer” in Sample 7 and enemy of children. Findings reveal that post-writers express their personal opinions and attitudes through perspectivisation strategy, particularly through metaphors, when portraying child trafficking on Twitter.

1. @…When is he good #IsraelPalestineWar, #UkraineRussianWar, #CongoWar #PovertyWar, #InjusticeWar, #HungerWar, #UnemploymentWar, #ChildTraffickingWar, #AparthiedIsrael, #WhiteSupremacy, #Racism, #GBV When exactly is he good

2. The Heartbreaking Reality of Child Trafficking at Our Borders

3. @… It’s always been about The Children…The horrific Human & Child Trafficking is what we should be discussing

4. @… @… Child Trafficking is number one killer of Children

Sample 4 represents how online participants discursively describe child trafficking as a war similar to the war between Israel and Palestine, Ukraine and Russian, or the Congo war. These wars are about weapons and bloodshed, unlike the ideological wars such as white supremacy and racism, and social wars such as poverty, injustice, hunger, unemployment and child trafficking about things that directly affect people. The contextual background of this post shows that it is a comment to a post about the ongoing war between Israel and Palestine and its impact on children. Through perspectivisation strategy the post-writer extends the semantic mapping of war to metaphorically describe child trafficking from the perspective of war. Sample 7 utilises the trope of metaphor in describing child trafficking as a killer. Here, the child trafficking as an act is evaluated with a negative frame, “killer”, thereby describing it as an actor that is claiming the lives of children. In the same vein, certain linguistic terms such as “child trafficking network”, “rings”, “epicenter”, and “operation” are used to represent the system of child trafficking, thereby reifying the physical experience of war that claims the lives of children.

4.2.2 Discursive Pattern of the Construction of Child Trafficking

Child trafficking is systematically constructed in the dataset as downplay and advocacy.

4.3.1 Individual

Online participants deploy different discursive tools like nomination, predication and perspectivisation to express their opinions. In Sample 14, the writer deploys anthroponyms, that is, the use of personal names to unveil the identities of individuals referenced in the discourse. The individual – Prince Andrew – is identified and nominated as a child abuser. The writer deploys apposition as a nomination strategy to establish the connection between Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein. Andrew is described as a close associate ‘close pal’ of Jeffrey Epstein, a notorious sex abuser who lives in a 75-acre private paradise in the US Virgin Islands. Epstein, with a LogDice score of 10.09 on Table 4, is one of the ranked collocates of child trafficking in the corpus. For protection, the identities of the victims are veiled while their gender and ages are revealed for authentication. The writer also deployed another nomination sub-strategy – toponym – to indicate the destination of the dastardly act “a nightclub in Kyiv, Ukraine.” The represented individuals, including Ukrainians with a LogDice score of 7.45 in Table 2, are fingered as accomplices in the mutilation of children or trafficking of children.

1. Jeffrey Epstein’s close pal, Prince Andrew, has been accused of sexually abusing two children – a 10-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl – at a nightclub in Kyiv, Ukraine earlier this year. A witness said he left the kids in critical condition

2. @SaraCarterDC We need to move all these freaks to Jeffery Epstein’s Island to get them away from our children! #Sickfreaks

The rendition in Sample 15 shares an affinity with 14 with reference to the individual, Jeffrey Epstein. The notoriety of Epstein, and his island, has resulted in the creation of a distinct identity for the Island. Thus, anthroponym here does not only refer to the human individuals associated with the atrocity but with the destination where the atrocious act resides “Jeffery Epstein’s Island” as a possession or collocational item to the prominent sex abuser. In addition, the writer in Sample 15 deploys the deictic referents “we” and “them” as referential/nomination strategies to typically construct in-groups or out-groups between the participants represented in the discourse. The view that deixis entails ‘spatio-temporal context and subjective experience of the encoder of an utterance’ (Green 2006, 178) emphasises the issue of authorial perception. The identified referring deictic elements “we” and “them” show the distance between the referents and the writer. The in-group or out-group construct involves the use of perspectivisation strategy to display positioning, distancing the writer from the atrocious act. It also groups the culprits together under the out-group identity. This ideological polarisation depicts the writer’s use of positive self-representation and negative other-presentation. The negative representation of the other with the deployment of a predication strategy, using the negative evaluative term “freaks” also emphasises the bad in the other; the Other is bad and should be relocated from a space that draws them close to innocent children. The ensuing position is condemnation. The identified individuals are condemned by the X-user to lampoon and condemn their activities and forestall the proliferation of child trafficking across the labelled destinations.

4.3.2 Group

X-users also deploy different discourse tools to identify or assign roles to different groups believed to be involved in the trafficking of children. The groups of people who are nominated as child traffickers are “Nigerian gangs,” “Marxists,” “paedophiles,” “Clintons,” and “Jewish Overlords.” The Sketch Engine collocation analysis ranked them as subject of child trafficking on Table 4 in the order: pedophiles (11.02), gang (10.05), Clintons, and so forth. In Sample 16, “Nigerian gang” is activated as a group of people involved in child trafficking. The writer deploys toponym to indicate the destination where the victims are relocated. The rendition places the children as the object of trafficking, while ‘sex’ is stated as the purpose. The identified structures and discursive tools are deployed in other samples.

1. Nigerian gangs trafficking children into Ireland for sex #ireland #policing #immigration

2. “BREAKING NEWS: THE BREAKING NEWS IS THAT IT’S NOT BREAKING NEWS THAT BILL & HILLARY CLINTON ARE BOTH PEDOPHILES WHO ARE TRAFFICKING CHILDREN VIA THE CLINTON FOUNDATION!”

3. On August 3, 1977, Cathy O’Brien testified to the 95th U.S. Congress to accuse Hillary Clinton of rape, and that she was a sex slave for Hillary and Bill Clinton ‘who are bisexuals’ affiliated in an elite sex trafficking ring that abuse and purchase and sacrifice children. How many more innocent children must die at the hands of these mentally ill transgenders?

Samples 17 and 18 use unprecedented anthroponyms, identifying and nominating a former US leader and wife (Bill and Hillary Clinton) as aiders and abettors in child trafficking. The rendition of their names in full – Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton – specifies their distinct identities. The allegation is quite appalling that Bill, a former US President, and Hillary Clinton, a former US Senator could be so described and nominated. The overarching presence of their names in our corpus is not only suggestive, but also an attempt by X-users to validate and authenticate the claim. The writer in Sample 17 further implicates their foundation “Clinton Foundation” as the location or passage through which the atrocious act permeates. The use of referential strategy with temporal specification in Sample E periodises and validates the claim that the Clintons are paedophiles. The interrogative structure uses the positive adjective “innocent” to qualify children and a negative adjective “mentally ill” to qualify the culprits. This predicative strategy doubles as perspectivisation to depict the writer’s perception of the traffickers.

1. Marxists hate the nuclear family. That’s why they love abortions, promote child mutilation, gender confusion, and obviously pedophilia. They’re trafficking children and humans at the border, intentionally. Child trafficking is? Where’s the 100k plus missing children? You know the ones you are responsible for since you illegitimate reprobates took office on January 20 2021!!!

In Sample 19, the writer activates Marxists as promoters of child trafficking through love for abortions, child mutilation, gender confusion and paedophilic tendencies. The writer deploys the deictic referent “they” to implicate the Marxists as a group of people who traffick children across borders. The mention of a huge figure “100k” – one hundred – is an evidential invitation to readers to pity children as victims. The deictic person reference “you” and temporal reference “January 20, 2021” unveils the Marxist identity – the Joe Biden government. The qualification of the Marxist in question as an “illegitimate reprobate” unveils the writer’s ideological position by negatively evaluating the represented participant. The rendition unveils a major ideological slant which associates democrats with child trafficking due to their non-stringent rules and enforcement of child protection laws. The naming of the selected US leaders and their association with child trafficking seem to protest their ineffective policies on child protection and project their inadvertent or insufficient security during or after their administration. Such claims, thus, associate them with aiding child trafficking offenders to permeate their anti-children atrocious behaviours.

4.3.3 Society

X-users implicate societal categories in child trafficking. The three categories of societal classifications so implicated, using different discourse tools are family, people and country.

1. @Thekeksociety My parents trafficked me to the members of their freemason satanic cult from infancy to age 15. I have many flashbacks that are similar to the images in this movie. Satanic ritual abuse is real and happening in every town and city around the world Pray for the children to be rescued.

2. Is that why Russia is under investigation by the ICC for trafficking Ukrainian children? And Russia is the 2nd largest producer of child pornography?

3. We will never forgive Hamas for what they did to our children. Never.

The writer in Sample 20 boldly and convincingly nominates their parents as a major player in child trafficking, having trafficked them at the age of 15. This is an attack on family life and relationship. The deictic choices “their” and “I” which are possessive and personal pronouns reveal the relational identities of the person described. The deployment of toponyms described in “every town and city around the world” underscores the collective involvement of persons and places across the globe as accomplices. The negative adjectives, which are tools of predication strategy, negatively portray the other in the discourse. Sample 21 is an interrogative structure which attacks the Russian government and activates the same as a culprit in the trafficking spree that is being meted out to innocent children. The reference to the ICC investigation of Russia brings in some sense of authentication or believability in the claim’s veracity. The second statement is an outright attack on Russia’s sense of responsibility. The destination countries – Russia and Ukraine – have been at war for over a year. The rendition tends to question the need to punish children for the ongoing war between the two nations. Russia is attacked and identified as an interloper which meddles in the freedom of children. Sample 22 directly attacks Hamas for its role in the dastardly act meted out to children. The sample deploys the perspectivisation strategy to depict a polarisation between “we” and “them.” The polarisation heightens an anti-Hamas ideology where the writer implicates Hamas for holding a role in benefitting from the vulnerability of children, especially in the war duel between Israel and Hamas as child destroyers or traffickers. The ensuing positionings in relation to society are blaming, condemnation and anti-Hamas, as shown in the example analysed. However, some other samples demonstrated pro-Hamas and anti-Israeli.

4.3.4 Institution

Institutions are identified and labelled as participants in child trafficking. Some of the institutions which collocate with child trafficking at the subjective position include HHA, CIA, Schools, and the Clinton Foundation, among others. In Sample 23, the pronominal “our” which possessivises “school” and “children” depicts the writer’s affinity with the context. However, while the first “our school” is nominated as the offender/trafficker, the second “our children” is portrayed as the receiver of the attack. Thus, the writer portrays his disappointment in the school system which violates its expectation as a safe haven to hell, while the portrayal of “our children” is accompanied by a sense of pity. The purported trafficking destination “US military” is also an attack, a disappointment on the United States military apparatus. Sample 23 identify and label the United States of America as a child trafficker. The repeated negative representations of the USA as a country and its government as an institution call for the need to self-check its institutional policies on children, and it is an invitation to the government to do more in the area of child protection.

1. OUR SCHOOLS ARE TRAFFICKING OUR CHILDREN TO THE U.S. MILITARY”

2. I’m having a feeling that Churches are trafficking in children & I’m wondering about churches connected in other countries, like Russia, that are trafficking Ukrainian children.

Sample 24 is more like profanation or a statement of heresy, where a supposedly saintly institution is tainted and dented as a culprit in the trafficking saga. The sample deploys the perspectivisation strategy to negatively represent the church as a religious institution which participates in child victimisation through trafficking.