Mediatization, polarization, and intolerance (between environments, media, and circulation)

283 Polarization as a structure of intolerance (a communicational issue) 1 José Luiz Braga 2 Abstract: The article proposes that intolerance reaches its most problematic degree when structured as polarization and makes a communicational approach to the internal mechanisms of this structure. It explains communication as a work of articulating differences that organizes sharing and inferences of adjustment. The central item of the article elaborates the definition of po- larization as the inevitable coexistence of opponents, restrict- ed to the super code of their exacerbated difference in binary structure, excluding inferences related to other dimensions, and whose actions cannot fail to interfere with each other. It also dis- cusses aspects of symmetry and asymmetry of the structure. It makes an observation of angles through which polarization is related to the mediatization of society. The conclusion, pointing out the difficulty of dismantling the polarized structure, shows some challenges involved in this confrontation in the country. Keywords: Polarization. Intolerance. Communication. 1. Introduction Intolerance runs through history, as an issue related to the challenges of civilization. Considering the plurality of human 1 This article, republished here, based on a lecture originally presented at the III International Mediatization Seminar (PPG in Communication Sciences, UNISI- NOS), was published as a chapter in the Book Compós 2020, HELLER, Bárbara; CAL, Danila; ROSA; Ana Paula da. (Eds.), Mediatization, (in)tolerance, and recog- nition, Salvador: EDUFBA, 2020, p. 19-35. 2 Full Professor PPGCC-UNISINOS and CNPq researcher. ORCID: https://orcid. org/0000-0003-3742-1119. Email: bragawarren@gmail.com