Ridicule

"Men, I want you just thinking of one word all season. One word and one word only: Super Bowl." 
- Bill Peterson, football coach

noun:
the subjection of someone or something to mockery and derision : he is held up as an object of ridicule.
verb: [ trans. ]
subject (someone or something) to mockery and derision : his theory was ridiculed and dismissed.


I was watching John Stewart recently being interviewed by Joe Scarborough. Stewart was talking about ridiculing our presidential administration. I googled "Bush Ridiculed" and came up with quite a bit, no surprise there. What is noticeable though is that the word is used often in reference to Bush mocking an opponent, as in Bush ridiculed Hezbollah, or Bush ridiculed Kerry.

My point is this, Bush has ridiculed many opponents actually savagely. Its a large part of his political arsenal. Think about his mentor Rove and the astounding ridicule that Rove uses: "..liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers..." What kind of crap is that coming from the ass whisperer? Also what about the whole negative campaign tactic, the Swift Boat crowd and such. Republicans have dished out oceans of ridicule.

Ridicule is on the table. It would seem like the best ridicule wins. Progressives need to get into the ridicule business deeper and cleverer. Ridicule, and do it with a clear conscience because the negative attack carries a lot of weight, unfortunately more weight than its opposite.

One of my favorite films - Ridicule

Hey, today is International Peace Day. Just think about ridicule, use it on Friday.

Painting by Juan Gris