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“Respectability” should be a swear word. Even rolling it around my tongue feels like I’m tonguing raw sewage, or maybe a particularly used condom. It implies a certain standard of behavior. To those who aim to be respectable, the standard is of civility, of fair-mindedness, of calm, reasonable debate and jovial disagreement. To those who don’t give a fuck about that bullshit, it stinks of elitist posturing, of valuing messaging over content, and of Puritan control. That’s how the scumfucks get away with it, you understand. They decry your tone, your language – not your content.
Not the thing that really matters, but the distraction of respectability and civility and propriety. Because you see, it makes them uncomfortable. They don’t like to be reminded that their policies affect real human beings. That would make it nearly impossible for some of them (not all, of course, there are some real fucking sociopaths there) to pass bills that cut welfare spending, or to authorize missile sales to Saudi Arabia
...Ultimately, a call for respectability is a call to take your beating with a smile, because you are serving the interests of their narrowly-defined democracy. But isn’t decency a good thing? Shouldn’t civility be a goal we all strive for, especially for public figures?
No.
Here’s the fucking truth – everyone is a fucking asshole, especially those who claim that they just want some “decency.” How do I know this? Because the same people who claim “civility” are the people who authorize defense appropriations for arms sales to theocrats, the people whose idea of a “humane homeless policy” is to put spikes on public benches, the people who think fascists can be defeated by hugs. Embracing “respectability” over content, and over values, is promoted primarily by those that have the privilege of ignoring the deleterious effects of said policy.
...Don’t play by the rules of the oppressor, because their rules are specifically designed to silence you, to negate you, to ignore you.
TL;DR:
I wish Obama had said this instead. Then he wouldn’t have to lie.