There are "Do's" and "Don't's" to calling someone a "fucking asshole."
It is confusing and it doesn't seem fair.
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| Mock "Low IQ Maxine Walters" |
Donald Trump can get away with calling Jeb Bush "low energy", he can call Ted Cruz "Lying' Ted", he can make an ethnic reference against Elizabeth Warren with "Pocahontas," and call Maxine Walters "Low IQ." And yet Congressman Joe Wilson yells out "You lie!" at Obama, and he gets formally admonished by the House.
Where's the justice?!
There are rules about insults, but practitioners sometimes discover them after the fact. Too late. Some rules we thought we knew, but didn't. For example, it is forbidden to make fun of the mentally retarded, but if the target is obviously not retarded, but is black, it is acceptable, if you are a white Republican trolling a powerful black Democrat. (Then the insult is arguably about party, not race, except in fact it is absolutely about race and everyone knows it. Some people take joy in there being a deniable bit of race baiting, some people deny there was race baiting, and some people--Democrats--see it and it makes their heads explode in indignation. Then even more people take joy in watching Democrats' heads explode.)
See how fun this is?
But whenTrump made fun of the uncontrolled motions of a reporter who in fact had a disability, there was blowback across the board. Democrats made a fuss, Meryl Streep complained about it at the Oscar event. Republicans minimized it, but had to admit it was a mis-step. Still there was the benefit of watching how angry it made Hollywood big shots, and the GOP base enjoys watching Hollywood go all judgmental.
See how fun this is?
But whenTrump made fun of the uncontrolled motions of a reporter who in fact had a disability, there was blowback across the board. Democrats made a fuss, Meryl Streep complained about it at the Oscar event. Republicans minimized it, but had to admit it was a mis-step. Still there was the benefit of watching how angry it made Hollywood big shots, and the GOP base enjoys watching Hollywood go all judgmental.
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| Mock Disabled. |
Another example: it was conventional wisdom that a US veterans with Purple Hearts were untouchable, yet we discovered we were wrong. John Kerry got "Swift Boated" and Trump preferred people who were not captured to McCain.
Yet a new female Member of Congress said she wanted to impeach the "motherfucker" Trump at a private gathering, and it blew up on her. Of course, Fox News criticized her. That was a given. But so did Trump, who called her words "disgraceful." Trump expresses disapproval over a breach of decorum.
See how complicated it is? We need a rulebook.
Thad Guyer started the important work of writing one. Guyer is a lawyer who represents employee whistleblowers.
Guest Post by Thad Guyer
“The Fun of Insult in the Age of Trump”
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| Thad Guyer |
President Trump is a “motherfucker”, exclaimed a newly elected member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Does that go too far or not far enough? In the age of Obama, it was shocking to our sensibilities to hear a Congressman shout “you lie”. Nancy Pelosi says she disinvited Trump from the State of Union in her chamber due to security concerns. Just as likely, however, is her concern that she and her man at arms Steny Hoyer cannot control the fallout from some member yelling at Trump “you’re a fucking liar”. Consider the fallout from Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib’s expletive-not-deleted fiasco, as Pelosi loyalists (she herself had to stay below the fray) denounced Tlaib, which in turn led to Tlaib’s loyalists counter-attacking the admonishers as establishment oldsters, if not cowards or bigots.
Still, regardless of the New Yorker’s “Unfit to Print” article tracing the rapid demise of civility in the age of Trump (Jan. 15, 2019, https://goo.gl/PPmmMi), many partisans find it uplifting to insult each other, perhaps nowhere more unbridled than among us Democrats. So after a bit of online research, here are the rules as I understand them:
1. Regard light political insult as comfort food. The point is to make yourself feel good and virtuous. For example, it’s usually safe to denounce those who disagree with you as “complicit” or “Trump enablers”. Like a pint of ice cream, there may be consequences but they won’t be that bad.
2. It’s safer to insult people in your own party, group or family. Insulting members of an empowered or networked opposition can lead to credible threats of retribution, even violence. Thus, if you’re a progressive, your appropriate victims are centrist Democrats. You can get away with calling them “cowards”, “cynics” or “fake Democrats” because, as centrists, they try to make peace among the waring factions and seldom retaliate.
3. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Despite the banality of profanities like “motherfucker”, “piece of shit”, or “asshole”, you actually have to be a national politician (Congresswoman Tlaib), actor (Jack Black) or political commentator (Tevor Noah), respectively, to get away with profane insults. I agree this seems unfair, but the privileges of fame and power are just facts of life. You don’t want to be on the receiving end of a “who dis?”. See, “Who dis?: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez mocks Joe Lieberman”, MSN (Jan. 11, 2019, https://goo.gl/umryii).
4. The value of quick retraction cannot be overstated. Although the self-satisfaction of politically binging with insult followed closely by remorse has been likened to bulimia nervosa, the data suggest that a rapid response apology almost always works. But don’t be too hasty, as experts say you can “usually” wait until an apology is demanded, and if no one demands it, there’s no need to give it. Remember, apologies show weakness.
5. Heed the cautions of “call out culture”. See, David Brooks, “The Cruelty of Call-Out Culture”, New York Times (Jan. 14, 2019, https://goo.gl/Jk6U3b). You must be certain of the racial, gender, and other “identities” of your victim. If the person you call a “cowardly asshole” is not as defenseless as you thought, the next thing you know you’ve got a “call-out posse” after you on Facebook, Twitter, or some guy’s blog. Not pretty!
Follow these 5 rules and you should be fine in insulting, belittling, or diminishing the thoughts, ideas and opinions of almost anyone. Have fun!
3 comments:
Why even waste the time discussing this?
Trump doesn't care, and nothing you write is going to change anyone's opinion.
Yes, a new level of social discourse. I can recall when everyone was polite in public discourse, and this level of oped as well as political statements by all sides was civil.
We really what we sow.
Just because we have a social media platform to espouse our opinions doesn't mean we need to psychoanalyze it.
Again, nothing will change Trump's behavior, so why even spend any time writing about it?
"When your son looks at you says mama, look, you won. Bullies don`t win. And I said, baby, they don`t because we`re going to go in there and we`re going to impeach the (BLEEP)."
This to me is a lot like Hillary's "deplorable" comment.
Simple truth.
Sure, the rep could have said "impeach the rascal", and oh boy, are we shocked to hear a woman use profanity (a member of congress, no less!), which raises the issue of what the reaction would be should a man say the same thing, but this is what people need to hear; whether it's "productive" or "helpful" matters not.in.the.least.
Now, the term "mother******" is a relatively new variant of the time honored Anglo Saxon word beloved by all cultures worldwide.
"Sometimes abbreviated as mofo, mf, or mf'er) is an English-language vulgarism. While the word is usually considered highly offensive, it is rarely used in the literal sense. Rather, it refers to a mean, despicable, or vicious person, or any particularly difficult or frustrating situation." (Wikipedia)
Yup.
At some point, I'll begin to share my list of presidential insults. George Washington, was, among other things called "Old Muttonhead" (by John Adams) ...
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