Inciting someone to an attitude requires their complete trust
The Latin word incitāre came into our language as incite . The term refers to promoting or stimulating an action .
Encourage an attitude or behavior
To incite, therefore, implies to encourage something . Suppose that an environmental organization, faced with a company that pollutes rivers with its production, promotes a boycott . In this way, it encourages the population not to buy its products , warning consumers of the consequences of the company's operation.
Take the case of a newspaper that, through its articles, incites violence . The notes from this media outlet propose persecuting immigrants, whom they accuse of generating various social problems. They also call on the population to take justice into their own hands, attacking criminals outside the law. Given this situation, many citizens who do not agree with this position denounce the publication and ask for its closure. The newspaper cannot hide behind freedom of expression to encourage hatred and violation of the rules .
Encourage good habits
Although it is more common to see this term in negative contexts, where we talk about inciting negative and harmful behaviors , and even the action itself can be constituted as a crime , we cannot fail to point out that it is also possible to incite positive actions , which They are beneficial for society as a whole, for a group or for someone in particular.
At either extreme, a link is necessary between a person or group that has great charisma and another party that admires them. Unconditional respect is very common in our societies: it usually begins with what children come to feel for their elders and later extends to their relationship with music bands, actors and other professionals whose work has a massive reach .
In context
For example: “The opposition should not incite rebellion against the Government, but rather would have to act within the framework established by democracy” , “We want to encourage neighbors to commit to defending the environment” , “Those should not be allowed” . speeches that incite racial hatred and discrimination.”
Let's start with the first example sentence, where the speaker points out that a political party should never push its followers to commit acts of rebellion against the Government; Otherwise, their influence should always guide them to stay within the limits of democracy. In this case, a context is presented in which the verb incite is widely used, since fanaticism leads to a distorted interpretation of messages, and that is why the figures receiving admiration must take special care of their words before speaking in public.
This verb is associated with violence, but can have a positive connotation
In the second example we have a very different situation, since the verb incite has a positive connotation, a possibility that is mentioned in the previous section. The speaker, who speaks in the first person plural, expresses his desire for the neighbors to commit to the care of natural spaces , and this message will probably be complemented by a series of different campaigns and proposals that manage to raise awareness among the population of the importance of such an initiative.
Finally we have, once again, a sentence in which the attitudes encouraged are of a negative nature: racism and contempt . It is very common for the most powerful groups to disseminate these and other destructive ideas in their speeches , knowing that their admirers will take them as "principles." In this way, little by little hatred is implanted in the town, until mass murders and other despicable acts take place.