Language, the art of communication. Can there be any better way to show the double edged sword than language and its use? Have you ever seen the way some folks talk? Have you ever experienced snide? It’s very often those of a conservative bent- they say things without saying them! And when they do say them, they bring the most mundane points or observations across in a vaguely…insulting way.
That’s snide. The online etymology aid, etymonline.com characterizes snide like this.
snide (adj.)
1859, thieves’ slang, “counterfeit, sham, bad, spurious,” of unknown origin. Of persons, “cunning, sharp,” from 1883. Sense of “sneering” is first attested 1933, perhaps via sense of “hypocrisy, malicious gossip” (1902). Related: Sneering.
Thieves slang, how very appropriate and I swear I didn’t make that up!
I was watching MSNBC this morning, and they showed Trump and Hannity at various times over the years criticizing President Obama’s playing of golf. If you watch it with an ear for “hypocrisy, malicious gossip” well, it just leaps right out at you. Of course, if you call them on it, they aren’t being either hypocritical or spreading gossip, they aren’t speaking in “Boys Club Code” and spreading their racism on the QT- Naaah, it’s for plausible deniability in these troubled times. Trouble that they start and relish. And why do you need deniability if what you are saying and implying is true?
Another of the things that comes to mind is “Mealy Mouthed” Collins English dictionary gives us this on that forgotten descriptor.
Mealy-mouthed in American
(ˈmiliˈmaʊðd ; mēlˈēmouthdˈ; ˈmiliˈmaʊθt ; mēlˈēmout htˈ)adjective not outspoken or blunt; not willing to state the facts in simple, direct words; euphemistic and insincere
Hannity, Giuliani, Napolitano and Carter Page, they and people like Rush Limbaugh spread the word in their snide, deceitful club code. They complain about things that aren’t there, speaking mealy mouthed about anything that will move their base to hate and feel disgruntled, put out and upon. They seek to accomplish that or make themselves and their tribe feel superior, two sides of the same tarnished coin for these folks.
Then they praise Trump for coming along and “Telling it like it is!” Except that he doesn’t. When he leaves snide and mealy mouthed, in which he is well versed, to speak direct, you can be sure it is a direct lie or perhaps mendacious braggadocio. Evidence of this is either ignored or it gets the snide treatment. Innuendo as Fact and Deception as Truth. The Virtues and Vices are all trading masks!
None of it holds up, none of what they say holds water! The mealy mouthed insinuations by too many on the right, and yes, that includes all of our uncles, aunts, neighbors and bosses who go around talking in the same way and spreading the same detritus- we have to see them for what they are, fifth column agents spreading long term propaganda.
They say, in a sort of long drawn out and very snide way, things like this. “President Obama spends a LOT of his LEISURE time on the golf course!” Drawing out the word leisure slow and long so the right people get that it’s code. What they didn’t say, because they know it’s deceitful- and here comes the mealy mouthed part- is the code.
“The BLACK president spends TOO MUCH time Fucking OFF on the Golf Course! A WHITE MALE president would be WORKING!” And this, of course, reinforces all sorts of racist memes and lets them say “Huh? I didn’t say that!” at need. Because defending it would defeat the purpose. Those who are supposed to know what’s really meant already have the decoder ring!
Then, alongside this, we get Trump saying “Oh, my, This WHITE MALE just wants to work my ASS off for America” and other self serving lies ad nauseum. And that is the hypocrisy of it. No, he did not, he never had any intention of working for anyone but himself- oh, and to get a good dig in at President Obama. He knew it, the talking heads knew it and his base intimated it. They didn’t care about the excuse used as long as he “Hurt the right people!”
It’s fairly effective if we let it happen. None of Fox’s viewers or Limbaugh’s listeners will ever call them on it because they engage in the tactic themselves. They are the snide and mealy mouthed among us. Those who would always hold others to account but never themselves or their own.
And they can only do this if we let them. I’m guilty, especially with a racist boss or family member. I’ve bit my tongue and didn’t press for a plain speech clarification. I could make all the excuses, I won’t. I let it go on.
But it isn’t right and its not harmless, it is a very insidious form of propaganda because what isn’t countered may land as a seed on unwary ears and minds. I’m going to try to do better. That’s one of the reasons I write my bits and pieces.
Kell
Cross posted from Kell's World