Thursday, February 08, 2007

"Proper" language and political discourse.

John Rogers sums up dealing with all those who are now suddenly overwhelmingly concerned with "civil" discourse and the "good-feelings" of bipartisanship.

Kung Fu Monkey: I Stand With Amanda:
"Now that blogs have given them a publishing voice, why the national discourse is destroyed. When Judith Miller corrupted the New York Times in order to print lies about WMD's and lead us into war, there was nothing to get upset about there, because she didn't say fuck. Everyone's aflutter at the swear words and some clumsy jokes in two relatively unknown women's websites -- they're being called 'mentally ill' by the right wing bloggers -- while Dick Cheney subverts the Constitution, billions of dollars go missing in Iraq, habeus corpus is gutted, illegal wiretaps slide into place -- oh, yes, you can disagree with thse things, but don't dare raise your voice. Why, it brings on the vapors.

...You see, if just anybody can express an opinion, then the professionals aren't special anymore. And a lot of them spent their entire lives getting into the special club. They're taken seriously, now, mister, they're on TV and they wear ties and make speeches and just because you somehow managed to get an audience without any help doesn't mean you're going to strip them of their Heathers-like victory. No sir. Some have even managed to get semi-famous by sucking up to the pros, making "civility" their whole mission, covering that flank for them.

Fuck. That.

If we're uncivil, it's because we're angry. Because being polite, and reasonable, and taking it in the fucking neck for the last six years got us nowhere. People swear, my MOM swears, this is how real people talk -- it ain't quite as pretty as how the professionally trained pundits and journalists and politicians speak, but I'm still not quite sure how my saying "fuckwit" is worse than outing a CIA agent or cutting VA funds during a war or stop-lossing National Guardsmen.

Some professional bigot says that as a Hollywood writer, I love anal sex and abortions and hate families, he slams my many Jewish friends, he can say that on national TV ... and I'm supposed to cluck my tongue and pen a thoughtful rebuttal, citing the many academic studies documenting the number of sodomy-free hours on the Fox lot?"

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