Sticks and Stones and Verbal Drones

Whoever shouts the loudest wins

We all know that political discourse in this collapsing country has sunk to an all time low. When Donald Trump addressed the “rumors” about his small hands indicating that something else was small, during a presidential debate, you knew it was over. And the subject was brought up by “Little” Marco Rubio, his possible running mate.

Trump specializes in devising juvenile names for his enemies. “Crooked Hillary.” You know, the Deep State queen that his justice department refused to prosecute. “Lyin’” Ted Cruz, now a loyal Trump ally. He oddly seems to have stopped referring to the current president as “Creepy Joe.” That might bring attention to all those videos of Biden inappropriately touching little girls. Or his own daughter’s journal, detailing how unsettled she was at her father showering with her. In Biden’s case, his tactic is to brand pretty much any sane person left in America 2.0 as a “White Supremacist.” These invisible, powerless “White Supremacists” represent “the greatest threat to our democracy.” This would be a “democracy” that prosecutes its political opponents. A “democracy” that doesn’t believe in free speech. A “democracy” that insists the worst economy in modern history is actually the best. War is Peace.

Average citizens, sitting in rush hour traffic or posting on social media, invariably resort to this mindless name-calling. The “Woke” Left is especially fond of this. I infuriate them with my refusal to stoop to their level. I thought name-calling was stupid in grammar school, although I am prone to yell names at all the inept drivers on the road. A noted Thought Criminal like me is usually dismissed as a “conspiracy theorist.” Less politely, as a “wacko” or “extremist.” I somehow avoid the “racist” and “anti-Semitic” tags. I don’t know why. Maybe they can’t figure me out. After all, I call out the Great Replacement and the massive disparity of wealth at the same time. I am outraged by both Affirmative Action and the outrageous abuses of our militarized police forces. That’s hard to process for those stuck in what Alex Jones’ accurately used to call the phony Left-Right paradigm.

But out there in the hinterland, the favorite label to bestow upon those you disagree with is “Nazi.” The sobriquet for all seasons. Sure, the ADL and Southern Poverty Law Center still cling possessively to it, but all “Woke” Leftists spit it out instinctively at the slightest provocation. And the Right adores it as well. Alex Jones can barely go five minutes without comparing something- anything- to Hitler and the Nazis. I remind people that the National Socialist Party had a historically short life span- less than fifteen years. They haven’t been in power anywhere for almost eighty years. In fact, as part of their unprecedented postwar punishment, Germany can never permit a Nazi Party ever again. I guess that’s why they’re a “democracy” now. Preventing a particular political party from forming is very democratic.

The “Woke” Left is so enamored with the term “Nazi” that they regularly cite the mantra that it’s perfectly proper to “punch a Nazi.” It’s not legally proper, of course, to just physically attack someone you disagree with, but in our odious, politicized courtrooms, you’re never going to see a demented activist convicted of punching someone he or she categorized as a “Nazi.” So “Nazi” has become a catch-all phrase, for the Left (and loyal, television watching “moderates”) to describe the ultimate “White Supremacist,” “racist” dictatorship, to mainstream conservatives citing it as dangerous, socialist totalitarianism. Hitler has been called a secret, self-hating Jew, a Catholic, an occultist, a Freemason and an anti-Freemason, a virgin, a vegetarian, and, of course, a pathetic loser who sported only one testicle.

On a more childish level, disputes of any kind, in trailer parks or gated mansions, quickly turn to name-calling. People make their “points” with liberal usage of “jerk” or “idiot or “asshole.” All that’s missing is “nanny nanny boo boo” and “I know you are, but what am I?” Like every reputable young bully, we are all guilty of stressing some weakness in our opponents. Some slanderous reference to “fat” for an overweight person used to be extremely popular in this regard. But now with obesity rapidly becoming a new protected class, like African Americanism or transgenderism, you are unlikely to hear references to someone’s weight in the future. At least not in polite society. Recently, a beach held a special “Fat Day.” I guess no non-fat people were allowed. It’s really no different than the Black only clubs on college campuses.

If you’re arguing with a bald man, his lack of hair might eventually work its way into the conversation. Lack of height can be mocked, too. Any physical defect is fair game. So is lack of income. In real life, arguments often revolve around the weaknesses of those doing the arguing. It’s a short jump from there to “you wanna step outside and settle this?” By “settle” this, the idea is to physically fight. Whoever “wins,” is then considered “right.” It’s a really stupid way of resolving things, but this grand tradition goes back to the movies, when some cinematic priest would good-naturedly tell two boys who had a dispute to “put the gloves on and settle it.” It doesn’t seem logical for the strongest, or most aggressive person to be proven “right” in such a manner, but at least we don’t have literal dick-measuring contests. Yet.

Speaking of dick measuring, why do those with Trump Derangement Syndrome obsess so much over his alleged “micro-penis?” It’s constantly on their minds. A good psychiatrist would probably have an impressive, scientific name to explain it. Does this make it easier for them to hate him? If he exposed himself in public, and was shown to actually be well endowed, would he “earn” their respect? I guess it’s harder to mock someone like that. Maybe Hitler would have been more lovable if he’d only had two testicles. Sometimes I wonder what would happen if we became a nudist society. I think it’s pretty clear how the leaders would be chosen. Now, I do think it’s concerning that Joe Biden is crapping his pants, if indeed he is doing that. But in and of itself, that shouldn’t disqualify him for office. I suppose every president should be potty trained. However you look at it, it’s a very sad situation.

I wasn’t on the debate team in high school, but I do try to engage in civil discourse. It never ceases to amaze me just how few of my fellow human beings are capable of doing this. It’s not difficult. As is glaringly obvious, I critique people and things on a regular basis. But I don’t call anyone a “poo poo head.” I often suggest to those who are addicted to name-calling to make their points without resorting to that. They simply can’t. It’s like asking them to give examples of Trump being a “racist.” They will just refer to him as a “racist” even more strongly. Vote harder. Or asking them to provide a single example of a “White Supremacist.” Or asking them to define “hate speech” or “anti-Semitism.” They will just double down on the name-calling.

As a long time sports fan, I am appalled at what’s become of sports “broadcasting.” Ex-players, many of them Black and stunningly inarticulate, have polluted coverage of events with their ignorant shouting in lieu of analysis. Find a tape from ESPN Sports Center in the 1990s, and you’ll see just how much things have changed. And not for the better. News coverage has mimicked this, with the ogres on The View, the government assets at CNN and MSNBC, and the likes of Sean Hannity on Fox News, resorting to yelling and theatrics to make their points. Which for the record, always support the corrupt state. There isn’t the slightest trace of decorum anywhere in America 2.0. What ya lookin’ at, buddy?

I coached youth sports for a decade. Both girls and boys teams. I saw more bad sportsmanship, on the part of coaches and parents, than you could ever imagine. I can understand how that deranged father killed a referee after a youth hockey game some years ago. Some parents live vicariously through their children. They say and do immature, shameful things. Fortunately, I didn’t see the worst of this behavior, which is more common and extreme in contact sports like hockey and football. I coached soccer, basketball, and baseball. But I still witnessed obvious attempts at cheating. I never had much of a problem with the parents of the kids I was coaching, because I was very anal about giving everyone fair playing time. But the pattern is set in Little League, when everyone chants, “We want a pitcher, not a belly itcher!”

I can’t speak for the world, but Americans are noted for their hair-trigger tempers. They get offended easily. This is now especially prevalent among the protected classes within the “Woke” community. But everyday people can get offended too easily as well. I remember when I was a kid, how the neighbors on both sides of us would overreact whenever the ball I was playing with went in their yard. They would actually keep the ball. Naturally, this angered my mother, who really never got mad at anything. I don’t know what was in the air on Gallows Road in the 1960s, but I cannot comprehend how an adult could do anything other than smile and toss the ball back in such a situation. I could understand if my baseball broke their window, but this was just a ball that was on their grass. It made a distinct impression on me early on.

Much of America’s systemic family dysfunction was triggered by arguments as ridiculous as a neighbor not throwing a ball back to a child. In my family, my great-grandfather and great-grandmother saw their long marriage break up abruptly over some hot soup. Great-grandpa yelped that it was too hot, and his wife said, “you got what you asked for,” and that was it. He moved out and was soon in the John Dixon Home in Washington, D.C., one of the first quasi-nursing homes in America. No one can say that my people weren’t pathfinders. On the other side of the family, my grandfather and his brother just stopped talking when they were young. My cousin, who lived to be 101, told me that they had to cross the street when they saw him coming. She didn’t know why. I’m sure the feud was over something like hot soup.

Today, I have sibling cousins who stopped talking to each other because one of them voted for Trump. Nieces and nephews have squabbled over insignificant differences, and sometimes didn’t talk for years. The professionals assist this dysfunction by telling siblings, and even adult children, that they don’t need their sibling/parent in their life. Don’t want that “toxic” negativity. If you watch my weekly podcast, also called “I Protest,” which airs Fridays from 5-7 pm eastern, you saw the discussion I hosted a few weeks back, over parental alienation and adult children. It’s shocking how common estrangement between parents and adult children has become. And almost all the time, the party that was abandoned can’t understand why. Maybe they’re all in denial, and it was just a case of escaping too much toxicity.

No one turns the other cheek, even the most devout Christians. In the immortal words of every redneck I ever knew, “I don’t start nothing, but I don’t take no shit, either.” And there I am using the pejorative redneck. Next I’ll be making a joke about butt cracks showing. I think we can peacefully coexist, both in our personal lives and in the world of politics. As JFK said in his greatest speech, a few months before they killed him, we all breathe the same air. I used to feel I had to prove myself right to others. Now, even with the platforms I never had before, I simply make my observations and people can take from it what they will. I’m not going to try to convince you once again that Oswald didn’t do it. We all have a right to our opinions. I remain a faithful civil libertarian.

Considering how often we squabble with our closest loved ones, is it any wonder that our compromised, corrupt leaders can never agree on anything that might make things better for the People? And there isn’t any more insincere “I rise in opposition to my honorable colleague Rep. Boobus Bumpstock.” Now it’s a ghettoized brawl between the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, and a slew of angry Black “representatives” in Congress. Recently, the esteemed Rep. Jamaal Bowman, best remembered for pulling a fire alarm in the Capitol Building and not being held accountable for it, became the first known politician to use the urban favorite “motherfucker” in an angry campaign speech. It’s inevitable that this word will become more common in Congress. We await the inevitable sucker punches being thrown there. After all, we’ve been told it’s okay to “punch a Nazi.”

The Left used to love diplomacy. Then they went apoplectic when Trump held a summit with their foreign hobgoblin Putin. No one wants a mediator now. Just punch those you don’t like, and justify it by calling them “Nazis.” Shoot first and ask questions later, just like our out of control police forces. Really, we have become an ugly, unfriendly society. Maybe we always have been, to a degree. Remember, I was the fat kid who couldn’t get the neighbors to return my ball. Some political relationships end over abortion or illegal immigration. Some husbands and wives split over hot soup. Don’t make me quote Rodney King here. It isn’t a sign of weakness to remain courteous, or to apologize when necessary. People can agree to disagree. Remember the Golden Rule almost no one follows. Do onto others.