I agree it's bizarre and awkward. Maybe that's why I like it so much.
I was also flummoxed that she said it, though. Not so much because it could be a political faux pas, but because it wasn't really characteristic of Clinton. She's said plenty of sharp things, but this one so pointedly about a group of voters was surprising, and to use those particular words... "deplorables"? a whole "basket" of them? It was clear that she was pointing out that Trump had tapped into something very nasty in the population and was riding his campaign on the worst of human values, and she was absolutely right. I get that clearly, but yeah, weird articulation. But Clinton is known for being pragmatic and persuasive, not so much for being poetic or even eloquent. That one phrase alone illustrates this well.
So not
the most in-artful term ever, but in-artful nonetheless and also significant because of its context in the US presidential election.
I never really understood why people took such offense to that comment and took it so personally, as if to suggest they believed she spoke about them specifically which could tell you a lot about the people she offended I guess.
Look out HRC, the world can't handle your SICK BURN. Bill O'fricken'Reilly can't handle it. He can't handle being called "Deplorable."
And these are the people who say my generation is too sensitive? Get real.
Well, the right is all about taking offense. Moralizing and condemning everyone else are holy sacraments. They identify fiercely and deeply with their symbols, figureheads, ideological identity, etc. They will commit or condone or just wish for punishment for anyone who dares question their favorite story or make fun of whoever serves as their authority at the moment.
Mike Huckabee said that everyone should be forced at gunpoint to watch whatever incoherent pseudoscience movie he thinks proves not only god but his particular baboon of a god. (He also has no idea what "cultural myopia" means but still wrote a whole book about it. Such wacky fun, that guy.
) That's Mike Huckabee, one of the supposedly "nice" Republicans, well liked and respected on the right. Not that relevant anymore, but was for a while recently. That's just one example. My arms would ache if I typed out all the examples that come to mind of petty outrage over shit that is either hurting no one or nobody's god damn business, or both. Such is the conservative disease in the US, that the worst of fear-based behavior and beliefs are now our mainstream right wing.
Anyway, if you're not offended by the most insignificant, irrelevant non-issues, then you are not a Murican and cannot be trusted to take offense at the important stuff like what grown people you don't know are doing in their bedrooms. If you have any sense of boundaries and basic, ordinary respect for others, then you are not qualified to be a brave patriot(tm). It's your duty to threaten violence against anyone who disrespects the cartoon authority installed in your head in place of a conscience.
None of this should be surprising to anyone. The absolutist, punishment mentality inherent in Christianity is deeply and irreversibly enmeshed into right wing politics, in our country and others. And being a belief system of contradictions, violence, punishment, submission to a bully, rigidity, and fear, of course it will beautifully complement the traits of conservative minds: fear of change, conformity, human behavior viewed legalistic and moralizing terms, etc.
Frightened brains are the inventors of both Christianity and right wing politics.
But I digress. To summarize, right wingers cry about petty shit because they ain't got good sense. That's what willful ignorance and systematic engagement of people's self preservation instincts through violent ideology does to a population.
