(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Of Nasties and Nicknames: Or, What To Call Trump When You Must Call Him *Something* [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-08-08 Some recommended reading for an early Tuesday morning, with a few opinions attached of course. And a suggestion for those who are not of Twitter’s ecology, yet are sincerely and utterly convinced their heads can’t withstand the pressure of 24/7 continuous self control in matters nominative. It’s a constructive suggestion, even. No snark, or perhaps unique snark, snark that falls within delectably legal and accurate bounds. The first reading: Amanda Marcotte, at Salon, has an excellent piece on the Troll Ecology Of Twitter, which is of course not limited to Twitter. I particularly enjoy her characterization of a form of contrarian trollishness that seems popular with hobbyists as well as professionals. [When is an edgelord not an edgelord?] From Marcotte’s piece: did you know there is a young professor at American University, Brian Hughes, who has co-founded a lab there for the study of extremism? It has the best acronym I have ever seen: the P olarization and E xtremism R esearch and I nnovation L ab (PERIL). See Marcotte’s article. olarization and xtremism esearch and nnovation ab See Marcotte’s article. And a pull quote from Marcotte that is suitable for framing: in fact, this dependent clause deserves to be its own complete paragraph. ...it's a good thing to interrupt the supply chain of liberal outrage fueling the trolling-industrial complex... Now that’s a hobby I can get behind. Read the article. I’m willing to bet you bookmark it. **************************************************************************** The second reading: and now for matters nominative. Another article, this one by former New York prosecutor Karen Friedman Agnifilo, writing at Meidas Touch Network. [Edit in: her thesis, of which I heartily approve, is that it’s long past time to stop babying this jerk. Do read, it’s a delight.] For those who will simply burst if they do not express their contempt for all things Trump, she provides the perfect, legally correct, factually correct solution: Defendant Trump . Not “president”. Not “president * ”. Not “TFG”, which ostensibly stands for “The Former Guy” but, come on, we all pronounce mentally as “That F*cking Grifter”, don’t we? I know I do. Nope, just three little syllables that say so much: Defendant. Soon, we hope, morphing into Inmate, or Convict, or both, Oh Happy Day. . Not “president”. Not “president ”. Not “TFG”, which ostensibly stands for “The Former Guy” but, come on, we all pronounce mentally as “That F*cking Grifter”, don’t we? I know I do. Nope, just three little syllables that say so much: Defendant. Soon, we hope, morphing into Inmate, or Convict, or both, Oh Happy Day. Reading her article and reveling in that nomenclature, it occurred to me that perhaps there is even a form of address that could be used for Defendant Trump’s acolytes without crossing the lines of propriety: MAGsters. Obvious callback to “gangsters”, with the advantage of being true while referencing a very human activity, if an unfortunate one. And how often do we see Defendant Trump referred to as a mob boss? It’s a natural. One might even wonder if MAGA really stands for Make America Gangland Again, in a reference to those heady days of Capone and Dillinger and Siegel, which were also replete with automatic gunfire. Well, that’s it for me for now. If anyone finds a pic of Jack Smith as a cat, or vice versa, that respects the dignity of both cat and man, and is legally usable as an image here, do me a solid, and enhance our image library with it? [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/8/8/2185939/-Of-Nasties-and-Nicknames Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/