“Going meta”: Definition and political applications
- 1 November 1994
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in Quarterly Journal of Speech
- Vol. 80 (4) , 468-481
- https://doi.org/10.1080/00335639409384088
Abstract
Among the most memorable encounters in recent history are those in which one political actor “went meta” to another during a high stakes, high visibility political confrontation. Maneuvers of this sort break with routines by making prior communications the subject of communication. They are thus reflexive reframings. While the potential gains from going meta may be enormous, they may also be quite risky, hence requiring a delicate sense of rhetorical balance. This essay first explicates a general conception of “going meta,” applicable to a wide variety of communicative interactions, and then brings it to bear exclusively upon political confrontations.Keywords
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