Oh darn. Whatever is going on in the public square?
I know, I know. There’s so much to lament and dread that you can’t yet begin to guess what particularly has me in a lather. But for once, it’s not a particular party, person, policy, or position. It’s the tsunami of vulgarity.
Just the other day, a former Canadian premier and senior federal minister cheerfully reposted and endorsed someone’s analysis of the Trump tariff issue containing the big one. And on the same subject, a mainstream newspaper vented a bodily function.
I won’t name names or quote the offending material. I personally avoid passing on, never mind initiating, such things even as acronyms. Which increasingly limits the otherwise often insightful material I can share online given the rising tide of sewage.
Privately over a beer I might express it more forcefully because there is, I grant, a place for strong language. Used sparingly, it can be both eloquent and hilarious. But sparingly is the key. And everybody used to know it. As they used to value self-control.
Later there was a big culture war, with the left arguing for ditching our linguistic inhibitions along with all the others and the right trying to hold the line. It didn’t work.
Conservatives gave in sartorially, scatologically, and every other way. Self-indulgence gobbled up self-control. It is hard to believe today that in the contest for the 1964 Republican presidential nomination, Nelson Rockefeller dropped 20 points practically overnight because he got divorced. Or that Barry Goldwater, who won that race, said the United States began to go downhill the day blue jeans became a fashion item.
In his view, it was a mixed bag: “I do not say this is a good thing or a bad thing. Some of these developments are welcome, some are not. I record it only as a fact. The energy, the impetus, the advantage today is all on the left.” In my view, it’s a dirt bag. But whatever you think of it, and the subsequent populist pushback, it is surely remarkable as a fact, including that populism certainly hasn’t improved anyone’s manners.
So I also find remarkable the lack of will to oppose coarseness. Because speaking of Republicans, Ronald Reagan in eight years as president never took off his suit jacket in the Oval Office, thinking it incompatible with the dignity of the office. And he was no stuffed shirt.
A former Hollywood star, himself divorced, and the only union president ever to be American president, his idea of paradise was relaxing on a ranch, not getting a bespoke suit and lunching at Harrods. I’m sure he knew some colourful words, but it is impossible to imagine him cussing in public.
Today, you’d invite ridicule for saying a lady or gentleman doesn’t use vulgarities in public, as much for “lady” or “gentleman” as the underlying sentiment that a foul mouth proceeds from a foul mind as a false mouth proceeds from a false mind. But as C.S. Lewis warned, “We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst.” Those incapable of fidelity to standards and impulse control even in small things are unlikely to be towers of strength on big ones, not least for want of practice.
I have often lamented the inability of conservative politicians to campaign on conservative principles. But even if they somehow saw the tactical futility of ataxically lunging for unscrupulous advantage, could they hew to the initially harder course?
Likewise, could many commentators get through a column, or a day on X, without swearing? Because if not, it’s a bad thing, for them and for us. Which is why the lather in question is the soap with which, metaphorically, I would wash out their mouths. And why several people have blocked me online for urging them to avoid the worst obscenities, as if I had somehow insulted them by appealing to their better nature, intellectual and moral.
What the heck, people.
