Month: August 2022

😲 Clutching your pearls? Perfect!

What a week! Setting aside the tragic deaths, attacks and unfolding espionage investigation, this clip of Texas politician Beto O’Rourke made the rounds:

After posting it as an Instagram story (I know, gross, but sometimes you’ve got to slum it to reach certain people), I fairly quickly had an interesting DM conversation that echoed a few of the sentiments in this NPR piece that’s now making the rounds/getting rightfully dunked on.

Some specific points of overlap:

• He did this in front of kids!

• This type of shocking language distracted from the message he was trying to deliver.

• Public officials should be held to a higher standard.

As the NPR article concludes: “It’s harmful to our politics because it becomes more difficult to conduct politics and find that middle ground on issues.”

So (cracks knuckles)…

Did he just get carried away in the moment? Totally possible.

Was dropping “motherfucker” a fully-calculated political move? Also quite possible.

Are we all talking about it? Absolutely.

Here’s the thing about his reaction: he’s either 1) honestly passionate enough about gun control that he he let his emotions take hold or 2) a savvy enough politician to know that a strategic “motherfucker” would bring social media eyeballs back to this issue (and of course his campaign).

In this year of our Algorithms that is 2022, I’m fully in support of either option. A person that’s generally composed and restrained, but once in a while shocks everyone with an unexpected burst of passion can be a powerful messenger, and help cut through a general sea of public cluelessness and/or apathy, especially around an issue where there should be no “middle ground” for any sane person.

After all, this approach worked pretty well for a generally chill guy when he saw what a bunch of moneylenders were up to in the temple.

And as I’ve said before, finger wagging over a “naughty” word while staying silent on (or worse, refusing to learn about or actively opposing) common sense gun control reforms is a real “why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” situation.

If you’re more worried about innocent little Destiny and Brayden hearing a bad word than about them getting brutally murdered in their own classrooms, you need to get your head examined. Profanity over insanity all day long. Spare me your impotent outrage, and (with love), kindly go fuck yourself.