By Mwizenge S. Tembo, Ph. D. Professor of Sociology
Discussing the degeneration of the Republican Presidential campaign into a thick sewage of insults is risky for me.
When I was growing up in my Zambian African culture, the rules about hurling insults when conversing were very strict.
If I went home to report that my sibling had insulted another playmate and I repeated the vulgarity verbatim, my parents would punish me too for repeating the vulgarity. But when did that public civility prohibiting vulgarity all unravel not only in the Republican Party but American society? In spite of all the vulgarity from the Republican campaign debate being broadcast, you don’t see anyone turning off the channel or seriously protesting.
The Conservative Right including the Republican Party would have loved to blame the left wing liberal media and the permissive Hollywood crowd for why the Republic campaign has degenerated into humiliating insults. But it all started way back in 1988 with no other than the bombastic Rush Limbaugh radio show which took the right by storm. It was new, fresh and was taking on the left wing liberal media and their political leaders including Bill and Hillary Clinton at the time. Rush Limbaugh in his shtick discussed politics but the insults humiliating liberals often were right on the edge. His right wing listeners and the Republican Party leaders loved it.
Something happened in 2008 that increased incivility, gridlock in politics, and the language and attitude became coarser: the election of President Obama. It is now known that on the night of his inauguration, Republicans in Congress got together and made a pact that they would oppose everything President Obama proposed in Congress however reasonable.
Rush Limbaugh a few days later led the charge by boldly saying he hoped the newly inaugurated President Obama failed. This is what is now known as the Obama Derangement Syndrome (ODS) where the Republican Congress mandate since that memorable night in 2008 is to oppose everything President Obama says even if the Republicans themselves think it is good.
The Obama Derangement Syndrome gave us Congressman Joe Wilson yelling “You Lie!!” right in the middle of President Obama’s State of the Union address. This gave us the “Birtha Movement” which at one time Donald Trump led. Paying the national debt had never been controversial in Congress for decades. During the Obama presidency, the Republican brinksmanship over the paying of the national debt obligations was unparalleled. It also gave us the raucous Tea Party. During this period, any over the top behavior from the right and the Republican Party insulting President Obama and top leadership of the Democratic Party was never chastised by the leadership of the Republican Party.
To be fair, during this period the use of swear words in virtually all TV shows increased. There was a documentary movie of the failed Presidential Campaign of Senator McCaine that depicted him using swear words in almost every other sentence. I was very skeptical because I doubt that Senator McCaine uses so many swear words in his everyday language.
Hollywood may claim artistic license for this excessive use of swear words. Since when did swear words become the only and best way one can express oneself? During this same period, reality shows became so common place that the now Presidential candidate Donald Trump himself was star of “The Apprentice” reality show for many years.
After the recent Republican debate, we have come to a point where we can rightly use all these clichés; the cat is out of the bag, the horses have stormed out of the barn, you can’t unring a bell, and chickens have come home to roost in the Republican Party.
The response to Republican Party insults by the Democrat Party and the nation should not to be to just wag our fingers at the TV and the Republican Party, but to unite as a nation to clean this mess. But tragically we have banished shame. Everyone in the nation and world sees these humiliating insults which make us squirm. But apparently we do not feel ashamed anymore.
Lungu Derangement syndrome is also here. You will here them these sons of anarchy with swear languages. Eish.
It is people like you who see yourselves as entitled to leadership of Zambia at the exclusion of all others who will have HDS on 8/11 like the white America republican congress could not stand a black man being their president, hence opposing every good intention from Whitehouse. Prove me wrong please after 8/11 on this.
The Bemba-dominated PF through its Minister of Information, Chishimba kambwili, opposes everything that HH says even if the whole country thinks it is sensible. Now even RB’s wako ni wako looks like Sunday school picnic under PF. Zambia has seen unprecedented tribalism and nepotism under PF.
It’s not a strange thing here in Zambia. It’s very normal for Politicians in Zambia to insult and criticize one another even where praise is due. No wonder POLITICS IS CALLED A DIRTY GAME. It’s up to the Politicians themselves to make it a clean game but the big question, CAN THIS REALLY HAPPEN? Pride and Power are enemies of humility and to be humble is not to be weak. One can be humble, wise, great and full of integrity. This combination however is a rare breed.
Politics has become high stakes. Its no longer about service. Its cut throat (please don’t faka me mu cello). Its winner takes all.
People (especially americans) seem to worship the roguish, bullying moneyman. You see this in sport, movies, almost everyday life. The meek & the humble doesn’t cut it no more.
You throw around vulgarity, flaunt your wealth, expose your nudity, be the most outlandish, that’s the in thing.
The revolution will not be televised. One can already see the political stranglehold, media blackouts and selective application of the law. Dog whistle politics are too subtle for usage in Zambia. The worst from our politicians is yet to come. Those phrases intended to humiliate plus underhand covert shenanigans will leave us stunned as always. Change is always possible but even the most educated have failed to educate the country and as the ones in charge often prove to be morally corrupt tools.
Maybe we need to stop calling swearwords “strong language”. It isn’t strong language, it’s weak language. It’s the language we use when we run out of imagination in how to express ourselves.