I try not to use fancy words. OK, stop laughing; it’s true. I did it just now — my fingers itched to type “recondite words” — meaning “obscure.” But I held back. Flaunting your vocabulary is showy and pretentious, and what’s the point of writing something that nobody understands?
But sometimes a word is too perfect, sitting there, waving its little lettery arm in the air, serifs flapping, straining, going “Ooo, ooo, me me.” Eventually, you relent and use it.
Like “revanchism.”
The dictionary defines revanchism as “a policy of seeking to retaliate, especially to recover lost territory.” This can be figurative as well as literal. You want something back you once had, or think you had.
Revanchism is the primary moving force today in the Republican Party, and understanding it explains much. The entire Trump monstrosity grew out of a promise to claw back what was lost. “Make America Great Again” implies it sure ain’t great now, not with all these immigrants and minorities strutting around as if they belong.
To that end, the GOP is trying to grab the steering wheel and put the nation into a skidding U-turn. We hear that every time Ron DeSantis opens his mouth and wages his cruel two-front war on trans kids and Black history — we don’t want to see the people we once didn’t have to see.
That includes even supposed moderates like Nikki Haley, who sent a three-sentence tweet that roiled Twitter like a cinder block tossed into a koi pond:
“Do you remember when you were growing up? Do you remember how simple life was, how easy it felt? It was about faith, family and country. We can have that again, but to do that, we must vote Joe Biden out.”
To continue reading, click here.
As I'm 22 years older than this fool, I remember all the times at grammar school we had those absurd Duck & Cover drills in the halls, in case the Russians sent some A-bombs our way.
ReplyDeleteStupid then & she proves it.
Yeah, my childhood days were not anything I have nostalgia for. But on a lighter note, I LOVED the imagery of a word waving its little lettery arm in the air, serifs flapping. Makes me smile.
ReplyDeleteYes, that is a great image, Wish I was a cartoon animator.
DeleteDon't despair, queue up a patriotic tune softly in the background. In a solemnly sarcastic voice like Steve Martin can muster, announce, as President Nikki Haley will make our nation what it once was, a frozen wasteland covered in ice.
ReplyDeleteOne revanchism that is sort of true is that things were much cheaper years ago. But it's important to point out that cheaper didn't mean that we could buy more of those things, since we also had less money years ago. My first job (other than delivering newspapers) paid me 85 cents an hour. But admittedly I could afford cigarettes at 25 cents a pack, until Mayor Daley added a couple cents tax to the price. I quit before they got to a dollar a pack, which was an example of much despised "social engineering" at work. I only wish they'd raised the price more and earlier -- I probably wouldn't have started smoking at all. I certainly agree with the premise that the ballyhooed halcyon days of yore were not that great or simple or admirable. And if that makes anyone feel bad, well, tough luck!
ReplyDeletejohn
Yeah, back in those simpler times when a woman with dark skin couldn't even consider running for office.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it these Republicans are always so nostalgic for a world that never existed? Do they think Leave It To Beaver was a documentary?
There's an entire set of evangelicals that consider The Flintstones was a documentary, with humans & dinosaurs living at the same time!
DeleteWhy is she even running? What a ridiculous waste of money. Does she think she is going to be Trump's VP. That's not going to happen, but the very thought of it is frightening.
ReplyDeleteShe is running for the same reason the many others are... they think they can win. There is probably some belief that Trump may not be able run and they want to be in the mix should that occur. Haley has more going for her as far as electability goes when you consider the other weasels running.
DeleteShe wouldn't be good for the country. Biden is still our best option.
Thanks for writing an excellent analysis. "Revanchism" is a perfect description.
ReplyDeleteWhile the comments no doubt roiled Twitter, I doubt that she will ever see them. Her posts are probably dictated to some junior-level staffer or intern, who dutifully pecks them into Twitter and posts them, and that's that.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with a lot of these ridiculous pronouncements is that whoever utters them is hardly ever confronted with immediate pushback or correction, unless the candidate is being interviewed one-on-one with an especially sharp interviewer. Posting a comment in social media does not obligate the candidate to read the responses. Blithering at a campaign microphone in front of a friendly crowd is not going to be contradicted either.
While their posts may be met with appropriate eyerolls or even accurate corrections in reply, it's unlikely that they will change their message in future simply because people have already pointed out in print how stupid it is. Confronting them in person about it is probably the only way to get any kind of actual reply.
I'll say it the way Jewish folks are so fond of saying it: "Nikki, shmikki...".
ReplyDeleteNineteen seventy-two? Hell, she's a baby! My moustache is older! (1969).
She's also an evil witch.(Sorry for the typo, boss...)
When I worked for the Tribe (can I still say hat?) in the 90s, we had "Turn Back the Clock Day." Jerseys, caps, pennants, and other assorted nostalgic merch. The team wore throwback uniforms. Nolan Ryan pitched for the visitors. And 60,000 fans filled the old lakefront stadium, trying to recapture the glory of that 111-win season of 1954.
For the Rethuglicans, the Party of No, every day is Turn Back the Clock Day.
I don’t think there’s anything all that outrageous about what Haley said, she was just tapping into the vey common tendency of humans everywhere to view the past through rose colored lenses whilst viewing the present through jaundiced ones, which is the essence of nostalgia, faulty though it may be.
ReplyDeleteBeing nostalgic does not mean that a person is selfish or evil, it just means that they fail to grasp the fallacy of their outlook. There are countless examples from the entertainment world that have brilliantly conveyed this notion: the Twilight Zone episodes “Walking Distance” and “A Stop at Willoughby”, and Woody Allen’s 2011 film “Midnight in Paris” immediately come to mind.
Although it seems to be less common, there also exists a converse of nostalgia’s fallacy, and it is very detectable in the 1998 movie “Pleasantville”. Careful viewers of that flick will notice that the filmmakers were highly selective, and sometimes downright dishonest in the way that they portray life in the bygone era of the ‘50s as being completely awful, whilst simultaneously idealizing the (then) present day, and implying that all of the changes that occurred in the ensuing decades were all unqualified improvements and progress. As with nostalgia, this also is simplistic and inaccurate.
I was 12 in October of 1962 when I learned about nuclear bombs and guided missiles. So long childhood. Six years later I became eligible to die in a jungle because some politicians couldn't admit to a big lie. American Apartheid, political assassinations, DDT, Agent Orange et cetera. What could be a more perfect Utopia? Haley cites Faith while insulting Biden and remaining mostly silent about Herr Drumpf, the prophet who can read the Bible upside down. Just saw Pence in Ukraine claiming the world has become a more dangerous place since "We" left office. Alternate facts lead to an alternate reality I guess. Great piece, Neil. In Nikki's world you would be able to limit your scope to the Deere and Opera stories. In the real world we need you to push back against the lies more often.
ReplyDelete