Friday, May 7, 2010

Of Teabaggers And Terminology


I guess I'll stop calling them teabaggers when they stop calling President Obama a socialist.

More to the point, I've been told a couple of times that I should either stop using the term or show when they ever used it themselves.

Moreover, as Jay Nordlinger at National Review admits, the term "teabagger" wasintroduced to the political lexicon by Tea Party movement leaders:

The first big day for this movement was Tax Day, April 15. And organizers had a gimmick. They asked people to send a tea bag to the Oval Office. One of the exhortations was “Tea Bag the Fools in D.C.” A protester was spotted with a sign saying, “Tea Bag the Liberal Dems Before They Tea Bag You.” So, conservatives started it: started with this terminology. But others ran with it and ran with it.

For the record, The National Review is as right-wing and teabagger as it gets. And Neil Cavuto is, well, Neil Cavuto.

I'll readily admit what we call them is less important than who they are. But I find their taking offense (and Frankie's defense) pretty amusing, given the vigor with which they spew the falsehoods they've ingested from Fox "news" without even bothering to chew. So, until I hear a single self-identified follower of the tea party movement 1) indicate knowledge of any subject on which s/he rants that's more than an inch deep and 2) propose a solution to that problem that is rooted in practicality (as opposed to this sort of crapulence), I think I'll just keep using the term. Somehow, it seems perfect: an ongoing representation of shooting off one's mouth first and thinking later.

Or not at all.


6 comments:

  1. Actually, Frankie, it's from the Latin, like most Spanish words... It's okay. I'm older than you.

    And I think there's a big historical difference, not just because the teabaggers qua teabagger have only been around about five minutes. The term "negro" and its permutations were not begun by the referrees thereto.

    ReplyDelete
  2. And, if I may add: the word "nigger" began as a pejorative and only later was co-opted by blacks to, as has been said, defuse the term and make it their own.

    "Teabagger," in the current political use, was erected by the teabaggers themselves, thrust in and out of the political conversation, dipped into the mouths of all who'd speak it. So I have no sympathy for those who are bawling about it now.

    ReplyDelete
  3. DrekMan... (TeaBagsBeUponYou)

    From NRO Weekend:

    “The first big day for this movement was Tax Day, April 15. And organizers had a gimmick. They asked people to send a tea bag to the Oval Office.

    One of the exhortations was “Tea Bag the Fools in D.C.” A protester was spotted with a sign saying, “Tea Bag the Liberal Dems Before They Tea Bag You.”

    So, conservatives started it: started with this terminology. But others ran with it and ran with it.”
    Read it and Weep at:

    http://nrd.nationalreview.com/article/?q=Mjk1YmRjNzIxNmUwMTI0ZWYxZWU4OWU2MzFiOWJmNDE=

    But, being a big hearted Liberal, I offer you and your TeaBagger accomplices the choice of any of the following to help you with your pain:

    TeaBigot, TeaBugger, TeaBumpkin, TeaBummer, TeaHummer, TeaBooby, TeaBooger, TeaBastard, TeaDipper, TeaStinker, TeaTwit, TeaTwat, TeaBoor, TeaBatty, TeaFatty, TeaMeany, TeaMoony, TeaLoony, TeaGoony, TeaMugger, TeaLicker, TeaPricker, TeaGagger, TeaSwagger, TeaNagger, TeaBragger, TeaCracker, TeaTaster, TeaDrinker, TeaBiddy, TeaBidet, TaliBagger or TeaBubba.

    EugenInSanDiego

    P.S. About the severed scrotum:

    Grow a pair of your own!

    ReplyDelete
  4. You leftards crack me up. Your exalted president (may peace be upon him) is bragging that the unemployment rate is 10%, and you're still making blow-job jokes and sniggering behind your greasy hands.

    10%--at that's after spending a trillion dollars! Has so much ever been spent to get so little?

    10%! I believe the promise was "not above 8.5%." And that promise was made a year and a half ago!

    Okay, you guys can get back to drawing naked girls and passing them back and forth.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for providing an identifier, Blue. Feel free to comment as often as you want. It's appropriate that, on a post about teabaggers, all you could come up with was the sort of stuff they put on their signs (I admit you spell well, though.) Plenty of rage over the spending. No solutions. No recognition of the reasons for the solutions Obama chose. And, of course, no relevance to the post itself.

    It's an uncertain world. It's nice to be able to count on some things, and you don't disappoint.

    P.S: You might need to check the meaning of "blowjob."

    ReplyDelete
  6. Blue: my apologies, I was wrong. You shouldn't feel free to comment here whenever you want. That (unpublished) one was the sort of "neener neener" stuff that passes for thought among teabaggers and most of the negative commenters here. For an example of the sort of right-sided comments that past muster around here, check out Precordial Thump. His links are to useful and thought-provoking sites. He often recognizes the point I was trying to make, and addresses it thoughtfully. He doesn't (usually) repeat stupid talking points straight off Fox "news."

    Frankie, of course, is in a separate category, for which I really have no explanation other than he's been a long-time customer, starting on Surgeonblog; and he's so predictably ridiculous, frequently with humor however perverted, that I let it pass; sort of as a signifier for all the rest of you.

    So. Try again. I'm very open to engaging conversation. But I'm warning you, since you seem never to have tried it: it's harder than stupid is.

    ReplyDelete

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