One of America's GROSS National Products is mocking others.
The executive uses mocking, derision and shaming regularly in his public statements -- I can't imagine what he's like the rest of the time. He uses that familiar tactic of gigging and baiting and teasing and seemingly daring the subject of the teasing to object. (What? Can't take a f***ing joke, Marco?)
Ever wanting to please the executive, MAGA nation has become pretty adept at mockery. The clown-face emoji is their default response to social media postings that are critical of the regime. (This might be programmed into the bots and imitated by the living trolls. Dunno.)
It kind of fits into evangelical sermonizing, too, when the unsaved and the fallen are denounced for their sinful ways. I've actually heard the saints mocking a denomination while attending a funeral service at a different church.
A more subtle part of this mocking, I think, is taking what belongs to another and twisting it to one's own purpose, like mangling a person's name -- "Sam" becomes "Spam" -- or parroting what a person says in response to being mocked.
This juvenile behavior doesn't require much effort from the mocker and, psychologists tell us, delivers an adrenaline rush of superiority, and, when done in a group, a sense of belonging. This is especially intoxicating for those suffering from feelings of inferiority.
It says a lot about a movement whose members are bound together by mockery.
It says a lot but nothing good.
The executive uses mocking, derision and shaming regularly in his public statements -- I can't imagine what he's like the rest of the time. He uses that familiar tactic of gigging and baiting and teasing and seemingly daring the subject of the teasing to object. (What? Can't take a f***ing joke, Marco?)
Ever wanting to please the executive, MAGA nation has become pretty adept at mockery. The clown-face emoji is their default response to social media postings that are critical of the regime. (This might be programmed into the bots and imitated by the living trolls. Dunno.)
It kind of fits into evangelical sermonizing, too, when the unsaved and the fallen are denounced for their sinful ways. I've actually heard the saints mocking a denomination while attending a funeral service at a different church.
A more subtle part of this mocking, I think, is taking what belongs to another and twisting it to one's own purpose, like mangling a person's name -- "Sam" becomes "Spam" -- or parroting what a person says in response to being mocked.
This juvenile behavior doesn't require much effort from the mocker and, psychologists tell us, delivers an adrenaline rush of superiority, and, when done in a group, a sense of belonging. This is especially intoxicating for those suffering from feelings of inferiority.
It says a lot about a movement whose members are bound together by mockery.
It says a lot but nothing good.
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