Guest AuthorThe year 2015 is over and there’s been a variety of boring lists or designations put out there highlighting the best and the worst of people, songs, photos, recipes, books and the greatest and most dramatic events of the year.
For example, Time Magazine named Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel its “Person of the Year
Do any of you really care?
I never did. I find such lists and designations rather tedious and insignificant. If I were forced to pick a person of the year — this year and every year for last 24 years — it would just be the same simple choice: my wife, who has spent yet another year putting up with me.
But that changed this Christmas. You know why? I had to look up what “gender fluid” meant.
While about half the world celebrated the birth of Jesus, alleged comic Sarah Silverman gained great notice by insulting millions of Christians.
She tweeted “MERRY CHRISTMAS! Jesus was gender fluid!” Gender fluid refers to a state of a person’s gender identity being in flux.
She then followed up by referring to the style of Santa’s pubic hair.
The headlines noted that Silverman had people “freaking out” and referred to her mainly as a troll.
For those who don’t know what a troll is, it is “one who posts a deliberately provocative message to a newsgroup or message board with the intention of causing maximum disruption and argument.”
To me, throwing that garbage out there on Twitter was not an act of just a troll, but simply a plain “asshole” trying to stay relevant as a not-so-funny comic with a pseudo-leftist agenda.
Our country is enamored with what can be called “rhetorical flux,” which are statements that get great social media play because they are provocative, crude or insane. As seen from Silverman’s tweet, such rhetorical flux bounces back and forth, depending on the reader, from being crude and offensive to acceptable and newsworthy.
Think about it. Everyone has within his or her circle of friends, relatives and acquaintances at least one asshole who always says or does something that pushes the boundaries of propriety.
While you won’t admit it, most of the time you put up with this person because he or she can make you laugh, or cringe, or express something that you may not or can not express.
You know why Donald Trump can get away with all those horrible statements about Mexicans, Muslims, John McCain etc. and zoom up in the polls? You know why Sarah Silverman can call Jesus a hermaphrodite and gain worldwide recognition?
Because whether Americans want to admit it or not, they love, or at least put up with, assholes.
Silverman and Trump surely know how to exploit this weakness of the American character and surely will continue building their careers acting like assholes.
Acknowledging this, the best way to get rid of Trump as a frontrunner for the GOP nomination is not to wring your hands and state he’s not presidential material or that he is a bigot, misogynist, racists, etc.
All a Chris Christie, a Marco Rubio, a Ted Cruz, or a Jeb Bush has to do is call Trump out, simply stating (and not just thinking) that the Donald is an asshole.
He’d be finished. By stepping away from the decent political dialogue that is failing them and engaging in such rhetorical flux, it would actually undermine Trump’s masterful use of it.
The Bottom Line: Despite their tolerance or even enjoyment of assholes, Americans really don’t want a blatant one as their president.
Happy New Year and thank you for your loyal readership in 2015 and the year to come.
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Steven Kurlander blogs at Kurly’s Kommentary (stevenkurlander.com) and writes for Context Florida and The Huffington Post and can be found on Twitter @Kurlykomments. He lives in Monticello, New York. Column courtesy of Context Florida.
