And the 2016 Golden Excuse is:
“He just calls it like he sees it.”
“He says what we’re thinking.”
“He tells it like it is.”
Three versions of the same excuse-to-pulverize, now a political allegory, courtesy of the charisma of crude.
If “blunt” is a merit by which sincerity, mental acuity, and humor can be measured, it’s also an appraisal of manners. Because for those of grace, wit, or old age, plain speaking can be charming.
But…
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…2016 saw the art of frankness reduced to a sort of collateral damage score, showing others how many you’ve browbeaten. “Blunt” is now a body count, a badge of honor for barnyard farts. So this year’s winner just wouldn’t be denied. Not even when stacked upside the convenient claim of early onset Alzheimer’s by disgraced former LA Sheriff Lee Baca prior to his federal corruption trial (and he and I go way back).
Of all the justifications and rationale we’ve heard this year from media mouthpieces involving ethnicity, sexuality, global security, excessive force, parenting, education, the environment, personal accountability, and so forth, not one emboldens our collective narcissism more than this one. The proud handshake Americans are so fond of has now become an elbow. Soon we’ll be distinguishing ourselves by how effectively we can trash talk each other outta the way.
Oh how it makes me long for 2015, when the American identity ran more along the lines of entitlement syndrome and sue-happy grovelers, menacing each other in court. However petty and self-serving we made civil litigation, if we’re not mindful, it’ll be nothing compared to what we’re about to do to each others’ sense of security.
The great American pastime is mutating into calling it like we see it, or saying it like it is, or just plain blurting out whatever it is we may believe others are thinking. Not too smart. None of us will be safe from the red-eyed roid-rage of verbal abuse soon to fill every middle school corridor, every sports stadium, every museum, hospital, restaurant, and phony-baloney Main Street outdoor mall. I mean c’mon, swastikas are being spray-painted in communities across the United States. Is that “calling it like you see it” too? What possible good can come of the intersection between “your truth” and Black Friday-level riots?
Move over snark, here comes fucking primitive.
So yeah, the enemy is you ‘n me, not the self admiring degenerates soon to fill the White House. I’ve watched that pirate ship go down before; for me it’ll be a joy to see the Trump gang get picked off, shamed back to the sewers of the private sector, indicted, and put on trial one by one.
So what’s the good news? The good news is you can reject the excuse to fart whatever’s on your mind into someone else’s face and then boast that you’re doing the right thing. The good news is you can lead by example. You can choose not to disguise your attack on others as just being “blunt.”
Blunt, honest, stark, forthright communication requires humility, and you haven’t got any if you believe Americans were just given license to intimidate others and call it patriotism.
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