Running out of invectives and bad words …

I’ve noted many times that all humans have a point of diminishing astonishment.

The more pervasive something becomes, the less impact it has.  The surprise, any shock value, and any reaction to whatever it is diminishes the more you see of it. 

It then has to move a whole magnitude to be noticeable. But some things have a finite limit; there’s no way to move another magnitude.  Incremental moves simply don’t cut it.   

That’s the big problem with name calling and cursing.  There are only so many horrible things to call someone before you run out of stuff. And only so many bad words, too. 

It’s like hearing a three-year-old say “asshole”; at first you’re shocked, but then you realize people say that all the time – now even on shows running on basic cable. Maybe once it was a bad word, yet now, not so much. It’s lost its impact.    

In today’s political environment, the principle is the same.

Those on the left, in particular, are desperately searching for new things to disparage people they hate.  They already used up homophobe, xenophobe, and misogynist early on.  Now, however, they’ve overused bigot, racist, white supremacist, fascist, and Nazi, to the point that where these once had real meanings and emotional impact, they’re just words today.

Someone uses those today and you think: what a clueless asshole. 

They’ve also run the ever-popular “anti” into the ground:  anti-gay, anti-women, anti-poor, anti-children, anti-science, anti-immigrant, and whatever else they can attach an “anti” to.

That’s just way too many “anti” whatevers to keep track of; the result is a collective yawn as it all becomes just more white noise.  Especially when they can’t defend any of these charges with concrete proof – it’s just more name calling.  And just more of what everyone’s heard already.

So the left and their pals in Hollywood and the media moved on to bad words in their latest campaigns of shock and awe.    

George Carlin, years ago, had a great bit: “The Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television.” While they’ve not exhausted all those quite yet, they're off to a good start.  

They've skipped past "mother******" probably because that would be be seen as cultural appropriation. I've noticed they've also not used "c***sucker" (although Stephen Colbert came close), maybe because that would be considered disparaging to some of their base.    

Let's go with “shit,” one of the basic building blocks of cursing. 

There was a time, believe it or not, when you never heard that word on TV, except for movies and series running on cable networks. Sure, you said it when you stubbed your toe or hit your thumb with a hammer, but that was you, not some network anchor on live TV. 

However, after Trump in a meeting used the phrase “shitholes” to describe – accurately, I might add – certain countries around the less-developed world, shit was everywhere on cable news and opinion shows. Talking heads couldn’t wait to say shit on air as often as possible. Like little kids.  

Now, nobody gives a shit about hearing someone say shit on TV.   

   

The gold standard for bad words used to be fuck.  And, of course, its derivatives.

A few years back liberals and Democrats were aghast when Dick Cheney told Patrick Leahy “go fuck yourself.” (Which was well deserved.) Now we have Robert De Niro at an awards ceremony proudly and repeatedly saying “fuck Trump” to the cheers of the audience. 

Democrat Senator Kirstin Gillibrand may have set a new record for her use of fuck and its derivatives in a speech not long ago.  And most recently, some unnamed Congressional intern shouted “Mr. President, fuck you!” in the hallway as Trump passed by on his way to a meeting.

Fuck is now on its way to losing its shock value.  That’s sad.  But overuse does that. 

So the left is forced to plumb new depths.  They are doing so eagerly.  Comedians and celebrities are now exploring the infamous four-letter “c” word as an alternative. Unfortunately for them, that one can only be applied properly to women. Nonetheless, there’s been a outbreak of the c-word being applied to women like Melania Trump and others deemed horrible humans by the left.

This from folks who claim to be the champions for treating women with respect.   

My, my. How times have changed. 

At some point, the left will have to reboot the invectives and bad words and start over. They’ve worn out the usual ones. They’ll have to go back to the basics.   

Maybe calling someone stinky-butt or a poopy-head is poised for a comeback. Might as well, since these are about as meaningful as what the left is using today.