Why does “weird” work? Republicans love to appeal to a supposed silent majority. The new insult helps intervene.

jeffw@lemmy.world to politics @lemmy.world – 517 points –
Why does “weird” work?
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Soooo, I kind of got déjà vu reading this article because ... Six days ago I "foresaw" the relevance of "weird." Comment thread here (I think) or just check out post my post history.

The author brings up a ton of specific points I called out, including using similar words like "flip" the script and referencing how "basket of deplorables" was too directed. Were we all thinking sbout "weird" in this context six days ago already? If not... I am weirded out, y'all.

i maintain that this is because Kendrick Lamar thoroughly undermined Drake earlier this summer with a similar approach

"Deplorables" and alot of other seemingly insulting, derogatory things could be worn as a badge of honor by that group. For people who pride themselves on being conservative and the representatives of "normality", "Weird" isn't something you can easily call yourself, you're not weird, you're the normal one, it's society that's weird for being so permissive. And then just being called "weird" is hard to defend against because everyone has some weird thing about themselves, just existing as a human being is a weird experience.

Weird isn't bad, weird is just normal, it's just life, but in their eyes, weird IS bad, it's probably a part of themselves that they themselves know is wrong. I think alot of the blatant lies they tell the world aren't just for other people, part of it is for themselves too, to make the weirdness of fascism go down a bit easier, to make it seem like they're supporting it for justifiable reasons.