It’s okay to mock heartless sociopaths in positions of public leadership.
It’s always morally correct.
When you mock them based on traits that have nothing to do with their fuckwad-ery, you also hit innocents who happen to have those same traits.
It depends. I have a tiny dick, but that doesn’t cause me to buy guns and trucks to compensate, so I don’t feel attacked when someone makes fun of some assholes Truck dick.
That’s not really making fun of them for having a small penis though: most of the people making those jokes have no idea what their penises look like. Those jokes are based on their behavior and an assumed source of the person’s inferiority complex (which is still fucked up, because it reinforces the idea that having a small penis makes one inferior).
The small hands jokes aren’t even based on trump actually having small hands (at least, they seem pretty average sized to me), but more on a perceived insecurity.
Honestly, the diaper jokes seem the most likely to inadvertently hurt someone for something they can’t help. Everything else is based on his reactions to his physical attributes.
Then I think it’s fair to ask, “Does his height have nothing to do with his fuckwad-ery?”
More than likely it does. Little man syndrome is a thing for a reason. Turns out making fun of people for traits they can’t change through out their life kinda turns them into a fuckwad.
I think that’s missing the point. Sure, it would be nice to not have collateral damage, but the goals of any public criticism should be to change the behavior we’re opposed to, and that can be either through shaming them into changing a policy, or changing the public’s opinion about a policy to change the outcome of the next election.
Public insults only serve to rile up your side and put the other side on the defensive, it doesn’t change anyone’s mind and may actually encourage those in the middle to support the one you’re attacking (i.e. if they see them as an underdog).
The proper approach is to criticize arguments in such a way that anyone who’s going to read it understands your argument. Saying Trump is unfit to be the President because he has small hands may give you and those on “your side” a few chuckles, but it’ll drive those in the middle to support him (is that their best argument??). Saying Trump is unfit to be the President because his anti-immigration policy will hurt the US economy because it limits the supply of cheap labor (and thus drives up prices and drives down production) may get someone to change their mind. If I thought a bit harder, I could probably come up with an even easier to understand argument that could change minds.
So don’t hold back because you’re worried about offending someone else entirely, hold back because that’s more likely to get the outcome you want, both now and in the future.
I really don’t agree. I mean, that may also be true, but I strongly believe that even if it were effective to do so, it would still be morally wrong to harm innocents in order to also hurt your political opponents.
I actually am totally ok with targeting your opponent themselves. That shouldn’t be the only thing you do, and when you do it needs to be carefully crafted and accurate, but I am totally ok with, for example, the recent “weird” meme being applied to MAGAists. As I explained above I think it works because it doesn’t have collateral damage, but does work surprisingly well at upsetting its targets, and also highlights a truth and a dishonesty of the targets.
But avoiding collateral damage is very important. You can’t necessarily be 100% successful at it, but at least trying is important. Society has, as a whole, agreed it’s not acceptable to say “lol that’s gay” as a criticism. Because that implies that being gay is bad and gay people should be ashamed. It’s increasingly also becoming true that fatphobic comments and comments about mental health terms being used as insults are not accepted, for the same reason. It belittles all fat or autistic or whatever people. Criticism on the basis of height or genital size really isn’t different.
Though a comment about how someone might be “compensating” rides more of a line, IMO. Because that’s a comment about their internal motivation rather than per se about the trait in question. You’re actually critiquing their own insecurity. Personally I’m still not a huge fan of them, but I can see the other side.
If we lived in a society where scrutiny and vitriol were pointed only at the ruling class, we’d live in a utopia, but we do not and therefore should not. As society sits, making fun of someone’s physical appearance or disability yields the ultimate conclusion that everyone should feel, for these characteristics, innately lesser, and that’s not cool.
For instance, and to be topical, would you feel comfortable hearing someone refer to Neil Gaiman as a twiggy, autistic rapist? Because I wouldn’t. No need to associate weight and processing difficulties with the propensity and desire to hurt other.
Gaiman isn’t in charge of a country or a ruling body, so I’d be with you on that one. I stand by what I specifically said, even though I don’t take as hard of a line on it as some others in the comments. Rulers who are malignantly narcissistic cannot be dealt with politely. It has sadly been tried.
In the end, I don’t disagree with the idea of making fun of someone in power, only the language used to do it. Diversifying and sharpening the average person’s lexicon, or creating/repurposing words, would yield the same benefit without the detriment. Obviously the latter is simpler than the former so it’s my pick. I was a fan of that trend circa ~2012. Affluenza still gets a giggle out of me.
I disagree I think adding animalistic aggressiom to politics is stupid. Talk about why their politics are bad and harmful, don’t call them fatty mcfatfat small handchubs.
Also, normalising insults based on immutable characteristics is just not good. It harms the good people with those same characteristics
Whether it harms “good” people is irrelevant, we shouldn’t stoop to name-calling. Full stop.
The jokes were less about his height directly and more about how he was so self-centered, egotistical, power-corrupt (and insecure!) that he had to overcompensate for said height at every possible opportunity.
No, Michael Eisner, the then-CEO of Disney, whom Dreamworks founder Jeffrey Katzenberg fell out with while he worked at Disney.
Did they ever laugh at or mock him for his height?
Yes.
Fiona: And what of my groom-to-be? Lord Farquaad? What’s he like?
Shrek: Well, let me put it this way, princess.
(Shrek dumps Fiona to the ground unceremoniously and heads to a nearby pond to wash up)
Shrek: Men of Farquaad’s stature are in…“short” supply.
(he chuckles and Donkey joins in)
Donkey: I don’t know, Shrek. There are those who think…“little” of him.
(They laugh even harder)
Fiona: Stop it. Stop it, both of you. You’re just jealous that you can never measure up to a great ruler like Lord Farquaad.
Shrek: Yeah, well, maybe you’re right, princess. But I’ll let you do the…“measuring”…when you see him tomorrow.
In fairness, Shrek is supposed to be a thin-skinned asshole in the first movie, too. One of the other big themes of the first films is “Power makes you an asshole”. Farquaad has enormous political power, but Shrek has substantial physical power. That’s what brings them into conflict, and that’s what drives Fiona away from them both before the end of the movie.