I think there’s even more power in it than has been suggested here: Conservative ideology is about CONFORMITY and forcing their patriarchal power to be acceptable, because anyone who doesn’t fit the mold (the marginalized, minorities, women, etc) is supposed to be dismissible and exploitable by those higher on the social tiers of “default” acceptability. To a Conservative voter, being seen as “WEIRD” isn’t just insulting— it’s an EXISTENTIAL THREAT.
The shame of being lumped in with weirdos isn’t just shame, but a threat that they’ll be lumped in with the very groups they’re trying their damnedest to ostracize out of society, like queer and trans people or the “unmasculine” or colorful. They’ve spent years trying to normalize their awful behavior because their awful behavior HAS to be made “normal” for the majority of their quiet sympathizers to feel comfortable joining them. If it’s instead “WEIRD”, then conformity takes precedence over supporting the Right for the most moderate or on the fence voters, because to those with Conservative sympathies, confirmity is SURVIVAL.
And to a queer leftist or marginalized person, “weird” is practically a compliment, so seeing them cringe from the word only gives US more power. :D
The only reason Republicans aren’t typically considered “weird” is that they’ve successfully *moved the Overton window* back to where being a bigoted racist misogynist ignorant rapist white rich boss who thinks screwing everyone else around you over is “manly” and desirable ISN’T “WEIRD”. The reason the Republicans treated Trump like the second coming of Christ is because he VALIDATED AND NORMALIZED all of their racist bigoted misogynist urges and told them that THEY were the correct and normal ones for hating all immigrants and wanting black people and women put back in their place— that PERMISSION he gave them to be what they had been holding inside is what they always revered most about him.
But we can take that ground back. We can shift the lines of acceptability and define being racist and misogynist as WEIRD again. Martin Luther King did it before, and we can follow in his footsteps— we should never concede the definition “normal” to the group that wants to ostracize and kill everyone who isn’t normal.
I know it’s hard to use a word we personally value to validate ourselves as an insult against the other side, but the effectiveness and power of the attack relies wholly on the ideological difference where WE can love and accept the weird and THEY cannot. The more they fear and flee from the word “weird” for the sake of surviving in a society that ostracizes it, the more power we possess by EMBRACING the “weird” and promising a place and prosperity for all the weirdos that society ostracizes, excepting the intolerant like THEM aid they continue to insist that the “weird” must be punished and used on the bottom of society’s pyramid.
The reason we can guiltlessly call them weird is because in reality, EVERYONE IS WEIRD. None ought to receive systematic benefits and unfair advantages for being “normal” in an ideal system. The reality we’re trying to create, where “weird” is acceptable and good, is antithetical to their core ideology and they cannot possibly embrace “weird is good” without joining our side, nor reject and fear “weird” without conceding the fundamental weakness of an exclusionary ideology they refuse to abandon.
It is impossible to be a Conservative who excludes the outcast and conforms to “manly” and “normal” and authority for personal gain and survival without being CONSTANTLY TERRIFIED of not fitting in, constantly needing to PROVE that you’ve met an unrealistic toxic standard of masculinity that nobody can truly meet and provides only the temporary illusion of security, requiring constant demonstrations of fealty to manliness underpinned by a desperate fear for survival that exclusionary ideology will NEVER free them from. Every one of them lording themselves defensively over the excluded and ostracized knows that they could ALWAYS BE NEXT. A fear rules them that can never be cured until they step out of their bubble to embrace those different from themselves and reject the core concept that the different cannot be trusted and must be punished. They reject the label “weird” because ONLY THEY fear it; if they move to embrace it; they move to embrace all who are weird with it, and they are thus *freed* from their ideological prison to begin to join our side. Heads we win, tails they lose.
Still, it's a LOT like a gay person, or ally, using The Other "F" Word to describe patently unmanly (like Ron DeSantis and his Kinky Boots, or Lindsey Graham and his Viperous Suthrin' Belle affectations, or Mike Johnson radiating "pedophile Sunday School Teacher" vibes), allegedly straight White Right Wing Men. It feels like a boomerang that's going to come back on us after they all go to ultra-toxic extremes to "Prove Their Manhood"!
It worries me, and I say this as a guy who used a LOT of homophobic slurs against Right Wing Men until some LGBT friends and relatives said, "If you say you're not a homophobe, then why do you treat Republican Men Being Gay as the WORST thing they can be...?" I argued, as you do here, that it's because THEY think it's the worst thing, so rubbing it in drives them crazy! Those that didn't leave in disgust told me that while I may THINK that's what I'm saying, to them it sounds like I'm saying Being GAY is the Worst Thing a Person Can Be....
Admittedly, "weird" is not nearly as loaded a term as...British slang for a cigarette is. Still, it makes me wonder if Harris and the DNC aren't pushing "Normalcy" far too hard as the head of a highly diverse Party, many of whose members are proudly "weird".
part of why weird works is because it's *not* a homophobic slur. It's an insult that isn't really closely connected to any specific marginalized group.
And like I said at the end of my post— for marginalized and queer Americans and leftists, being weird is to be revered and respected. THEY, the ones with conservative sympathies, are the ones who believe everyone WEIRD should be brushed under a rug, forced into a closet, worked to death, or swept out of the country. If they know THEY will be seen as WEIRD for believing that, their own detestable, exclusionary ideology will make the most timid among them too afraid to spread their poison.
I am 100% loving this unity message. I used it every chance I get here in deep garnet SC. Just randomly say, "wow, that's weird" and see who gets triggered in the grocery line or at the gym so I can blink innocently at them and say "I wasn't talking about you." (even if I was). Petty? Maybe. I just hope we can raise enough money to pay for all the lawyers it's going to take to make sure that every state's votes are certified properly and the whole thing doesn't get thrown to the Supreme Court.
true that. But what I'm reading about that very possibility (swing states not certifying on Drump's "orders") is kind of terrifying. Would love to know your thoughts on that in a 'Stack!
it's scary for sure...but fwiw, I think Trump has a lot fewer options for fighting the results since he's not in power. the biggest threat I think is just him winning outright.
One small point: for the most part, neither Harris nor other Democrats are calling MAGA followers “weird”. They are calling Trump-Vance personally, as well as their *ideas* “weird”.
There’s little to be gained by insulting their followers, but *lots* to be gained by laughing at their leaders and their lame ideas that “take us back” by decades, maybe even centuries.
It is funny that weird is just another word for deplorable, and all that has changed is the conservatives love being deplorable, but can’t stand being weird.
The underlying racist and fascist behavior is the same, is the same. It might have something to do with the rise of cringe as a memeable adjective.or maybe it is that primary contestants are so extreme that they actually are insane weirdos.
Whatever the cause, it is nice to feel like we can call out this behavior and not have them wear it as a badge of honor.
I'm very supportive of this new messaging, it's true, it's not the same as attacking them for things they attack others for (like gender, race, religious affiliation etc) but it provokes them into saying more vile, weird shit so it's going to continue to be fruitful.
I am concerned that the majority of Democratic voters that want a ceasefire are feeling pressure not to spoil the party. And I find that troubling.
If we could just agree to stop helping Israel commit war crimes I'd be so stoked about everything I might even be able to be optimistic for the first time since around 2009.
There are going to be protests re Gaza at the DNC for sure.
I don't think that people committed on the issue will stop protesting or criticizing the party. I think that for most D voters it's not really top of mind though (foreign policy is rarely a major issue in elections unless there are a lot of US casualties, which obviously isn't the case right now.)
you know...democracy. it's better than the other options, but there are still problems.
on the plus side, the fact that you can't necessarily get a lot of people engaged means that the admin probably has a good bit of leeway to change course, despite the claims of vocal zionists.
It's not democracy that's the problem. I realize that. The problem is the same thing it always is, it's hard to get people to pay attention to things that aren't immediately impacting their lives.
I agree with your overall sentiment, but I don’t think calling Trump “weird” is bullying. That word has too many negative connotations for me. Instead, it’s putting him on the back foot, and as the bully he is, that puts him in an unknown, uncomfortable, and vulnerable position.
In my house, we ask the question, “is it bad weird or good weird?” Trump and his minion party are BAD weird. Really really weird and bad. Yes it feels good to say it!
I’m of the opinion that any of the following will suffice for Trump, Vance and assorted sycophants: freak, weirdo, bizarre, sociopathic Really, the list could be much longer.
I think there’s even more power in it than has been suggested here: Conservative ideology is about CONFORMITY and forcing their patriarchal power to be acceptable, because anyone who doesn’t fit the mold (the marginalized, minorities, women, etc) is supposed to be dismissible and exploitable by those higher on the social tiers of “default” acceptability. To a Conservative voter, being seen as “WEIRD” isn’t just insulting— it’s an EXISTENTIAL THREAT.
The shame of being lumped in with weirdos isn’t just shame, but a threat that they’ll be lumped in with the very groups they’re trying their damnedest to ostracize out of society, like queer and trans people or the “unmasculine” or colorful. They’ve spent years trying to normalize their awful behavior because their awful behavior HAS to be made “normal” for the majority of their quiet sympathizers to feel comfortable joining them. If it’s instead “WEIRD”, then conformity takes precedence over supporting the Right for the most moderate or on the fence voters, because to those with Conservative sympathies, confirmity is SURVIVAL.
And to a queer leftist or marginalized person, “weird” is practically a compliment, so seeing them cringe from the word only gives US more power. :D
I don't agree—I consider myself "weird".
I consider Republicans repulsive and vile, spoiled and childish, but not weird.
The only reason Republicans aren’t typically considered “weird” is that they’ve successfully *moved the Overton window* back to where being a bigoted racist misogynist ignorant rapist white rich boss who thinks screwing everyone else around you over is “manly” and desirable ISN’T “WEIRD”. The reason the Republicans treated Trump like the second coming of Christ is because he VALIDATED AND NORMALIZED all of their racist bigoted misogynist urges and told them that THEY were the correct and normal ones for hating all immigrants and wanting black people and women put back in their place— that PERMISSION he gave them to be what they had been holding inside is what they always revered most about him.
But we can take that ground back. We can shift the lines of acceptability and define being racist and misogynist as WEIRD again. Martin Luther King did it before, and we can follow in his footsteps— we should never concede the definition “normal” to the group that wants to ostracize and kill everyone who isn’t normal.
...Maybe...?
I need to study on this some.
Could be like Kamala Harris—I went from "It's a disaster!" to "YES! Take that, you feces-flinging Orangutan!"
I just don't like sharing "weird" with people I despise. Drag Queens? Sure! Pride parade attendees? Great! Bernie Bros? Pull up a seat!
Republicans...? Just get the fuck right outta here with your bigot Fascist shit....
I know it’s hard to use a word we personally value to validate ourselves as an insult against the other side, but the effectiveness and power of the attack relies wholly on the ideological difference where WE can love and accept the weird and THEY cannot. The more they fear and flee from the word “weird” for the sake of surviving in a society that ostracizes it, the more power we possess by EMBRACING the “weird” and promising a place and prosperity for all the weirdos that society ostracizes, excepting the intolerant like THEM aid they continue to insist that the “weird” must be punished and used on the bottom of society’s pyramid.
The reason we can guiltlessly call them weird is because in reality, EVERYONE IS WEIRD. None ought to receive systematic benefits and unfair advantages for being “normal” in an ideal system. The reality we’re trying to create, where “weird” is acceptable and good, is antithetical to their core ideology and they cannot possibly embrace “weird is good” without joining our side, nor reject and fear “weird” without conceding the fundamental weakness of an exclusionary ideology they refuse to abandon.
It is impossible to be a Conservative who excludes the outcast and conforms to “manly” and “normal” and authority for personal gain and survival without being CONSTANTLY TERRIFIED of not fitting in, constantly needing to PROVE that you’ve met an unrealistic toxic standard of masculinity that nobody can truly meet and provides only the temporary illusion of security, requiring constant demonstrations of fealty to manliness underpinned by a desperate fear for survival that exclusionary ideology will NEVER free them from. Every one of them lording themselves defensively over the excluded and ostracized knows that they could ALWAYS BE NEXT. A fear rules them that can never be cured until they step out of their bubble to embrace those different from themselves and reject the core concept that the different cannot be trusted and must be punished. They reject the label “weird” because ONLY THEY fear it; if they move to embrace it; they move to embrace all who are weird with it, and they are thus *freed* from their ideological prison to begin to join our side. Heads we win, tails they lose.
Still, it's a LOT like a gay person, or ally, using The Other "F" Word to describe patently unmanly (like Ron DeSantis and his Kinky Boots, or Lindsey Graham and his Viperous Suthrin' Belle affectations, or Mike Johnson radiating "pedophile Sunday School Teacher" vibes), allegedly straight White Right Wing Men. It feels like a boomerang that's going to come back on us after they all go to ultra-toxic extremes to "Prove Their Manhood"!
It worries me, and I say this as a guy who used a LOT of homophobic slurs against Right Wing Men until some LGBT friends and relatives said, "If you say you're not a homophobe, then why do you treat Republican Men Being Gay as the WORST thing they can be...?" I argued, as you do here, that it's because THEY think it's the worst thing, so rubbing it in drives them crazy! Those that didn't leave in disgust told me that while I may THINK that's what I'm saying, to them it sounds like I'm saying Being GAY is the Worst Thing a Person Can Be....
Admittedly, "weird" is not nearly as loaded a term as...British slang for a cigarette is. Still, it makes me wonder if Harris and the DNC aren't pushing "Normalcy" far too hard as the head of a highly diverse Party, many of whose members are proudly "weird".
part of why weird works is because it's *not* a homophobic slur. It's an insult that isn't really closely connected to any specific marginalized group.
Worth reading Julia Serano on this I think? https://juliaserano.medium.com/some-queer-thoughts-about-the-weird-discourse-86aa6eb55894
And like I said at the end of my post— for marginalized and queer Americans and leftists, being weird is to be revered and respected. THEY, the ones with conservative sympathies, are the ones who believe everyone WEIRD should be brushed under a rug, forced into a closet, worked to death, or swept out of the country. If they know THEY will be seen as WEIRD for believing that, their own detestable, exclusionary ideology will make the most timid among them too afraid to spread their poison.
I am 100% loving this unity message. I used it every chance I get here in deep garnet SC. Just randomly say, "wow, that's weird" and see who gets triggered in the grocery line or at the gym so I can blink innocently at them and say "I wasn't talking about you." (even if I was). Petty? Maybe. I just hope we can raise enough money to pay for all the lawyers it's going to take to make sure that every state's votes are certified properly and the whole thing doesn't get thrown to the Supreme Court.
Well, she has raised a lot of money!
true that. But what I'm reading about that very possibility (swing states not certifying on Drump's "orders") is kind of terrifying. Would love to know your thoughts on that in a 'Stack!
it's scary for sure...but fwiw, I think Trump has a lot fewer options for fighting the results since he's not in power. the biggest threat I think is just him winning outright.
“Also he’s orange for some reason.”
Great article, Noah!
One small point: for the most part, neither Harris nor other Democrats are calling MAGA followers “weird”. They are calling Trump-Vance personally, as well as their *ideas* “weird”.
There’s little to be gained by insulting their followers, but *lots* to be gained by laughing at their leaders and their lame ideas that “take us back” by decades, maybe even centuries.
It is funny that weird is just another word for deplorable, and all that has changed is the conservatives love being deplorable, but can’t stand being weird.
The underlying racist and fascist behavior is the same, is the same. It might have something to do with the rise of cringe as a memeable adjective.or maybe it is that primary contestants are so extreme that they actually are insane weirdos.
Whatever the cause, it is nice to feel like we can call out this behavior and not have them wear it as a badge of honor.
I suspect that deplorable, a four syllable word, comes across as a mature adult adjective.
Yawn.
While weird is clearly a word from childhood, used by children, which everybody immediately digests and perhaps even enjoys.
I'm very supportive of this new messaging, it's true, it's not the same as attacking them for things they attack others for (like gender, race, religious affiliation etc) but it provokes them into saying more vile, weird shit so it's going to continue to be fruitful.
I am concerned that the majority of Democratic voters that want a ceasefire are feeling pressure not to spoil the party. And I find that troubling.
If we could just agree to stop helping Israel commit war crimes I'd be so stoked about everything I might even be able to be optimistic for the first time since around 2009.
There are going to be protests re Gaza at the DNC for sure.
I don't think that people committed on the issue will stop protesting or criticizing the party. I think that for most D voters it's not really top of mind though (foreign policy is rarely a major issue in elections unless there are a lot of US casualties, which obviously isn't the case right now.)
That's depressing.
you know...democracy. it's better than the other options, but there are still problems.
on the plus side, the fact that you can't necessarily get a lot of people engaged means that the admin probably has a good bit of leeway to change course, despite the claims of vocal zionists.
It's not democracy that's the problem. I realize that. The problem is the same thing it always is, it's hard to get people to pay attention to things that aren't immediately impacting their lives.
I agree with your overall sentiment, but I don’t think calling Trump “weird” is bullying. That word has too many negative connotations for me. Instead, it’s putting him on the back foot, and as the bully he is, that puts him in an unknown, uncomfortable, and vulnerable position.
I will say, I love the thought of Trump feeling like a weak, WEAK man!
Still not sold on "weird", though.
In my house, we ask the question, “is it bad weird or good weird?” Trump and his minion party are BAD weird. Really really weird and bad. Yes it feels good to say it!
I’m of the opinion that any of the following will suffice for Trump, Vance and assorted sycophants: freak, weirdo, bizarre, sociopathic Really, the list could be much longer.
Your citation of the power of repetition is spot on.
Kids discover it early and use the broken record technique to get candy, to get McDonald’s, and many other things from their tired parents.
As adults, we use it in business advertising where repetition is the well-known key to marketing.