Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock, professor of English at Central Michigan University, associate editor of horror at the Los Angeles Review of Books, and founder and president of the American Gothic Studies Association. conversation.
As you’ve probably heard, Republicans are called “kooks.”
In a joke that spawned millions of memes, Minnesota governor-turned-vice presidential candidate Tim Walz called his right-wing opponents in the July 23, 2024 presidential election “freaks.” MSNBC interview.
The harsh words have continued ever since, from the Senate Majority Leader to key Democratic figures. Chuck Schumer Presidential Candidate Kamala HarrisHe coined this nickname for his Republican opponent.
Of course, Republicans tried to flip the script, offering the classic retort: ”I know you are, but who am I?”
“You know what’s really weird?” Donald Trump Jr. shares his opinion on X“Soft on crime politicians like Kamala are letting illegal immigrants out of prison so they can violently attack Americans,” he said in an interview with conservative radio host Clay Travis. Former President Donald Trump said of the Democratic Party:“They’re weird people. No one has ever said I was weird. I’m a lot of things, but I’m not weird.”
While I understand why both sides are throwing weird bombs at each other, I still don’t agree with the “weird accusations.” For each side to claim to speak for the forgotten and marginalized while mocking the other side as “weirdos” is not just hypocritical, it’s also deeply regressive.
I would argue that the weird deserves respect. As someone who has spent the last 30 years researching, writing, and teaching about a variety of subjects, including vampires, ghosts, monsters, cult movies, and anything that falls under the category of “weird fiction,” You should know.
The History of “Weird”
When politicians use the word “kook,” they are trying to portray others as strange or eccentric, but the origins of the word are much broader and deeper.
The Old English word “wyrd,” from which our modern usage comes, was actually a noun meaning fate or destiny.Wild” means the power that directs the direction of human activities, as in Shakespeare’s “MacbethAn individual’s “strangeness” was his or her destiny, and the use of the word “strange” as an adjective implied a supernatural power manipulating human destiny.
The origin of “wyrd” for strange remains relevant, even though the term has gradually been generalized to refer to anything strange, fantastic, or unusual.Weird fictionFantasy is a subgenre of fantasy fiction.
Strange tales explained by early 20th century authors HP Lovecraft In his 1927 paper “Supernatural horror in literatureLovecraft’s “Love and Peace” is a work that questions our taken-for-granted understanding of how the world works. It does so by, in Lovecraft’s characteristic purple prose, “maliciously and specially suspending or destroying those immutable laws of Nature which are our only defense against the assaults of Chaos and the demons of unknown space.”
Statue of horror author H.P. Lovecraft, sculpted by artist Gage Prentiss in Providence, Rhode Island, where the author was born and lived for many years. David LePage/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA
This strange tale refutes human aspirations of greatness, hinting at how little we know about the universe and how precarious our situation actually is.
On the other hand, the weirdo, the nerd, the outsider, the misfit, the outcast, are eccentrics who rebel in a different way: they are, as Ralph Waldo Emerson pointed out in an 1841 essay, non-conformists.Independence“The world will whip… with its discomfort.”
I wonder where we would be if artists, scientists and thinkers hadn’t developed “weird” ideas and unconventional ways of seeing and evaluating the world.
In this sense, almost all progress is part of a strange history, driven by visionaries who were often misunderstood in their own time.
From condemnation to blessing
Of course, not all weirdos change the world through grand actions or history-altering interventions — they just sometimes act in their own way.
This, too, is a large part of the past century, as Western culture has increasingly, albeit reluctantly, given space to forms of self-expression that were once considered unorthodox or even taboo. From tattoos Dragging a show.
The proliferation of subcultures, gender identities, and forms of self-expression, while undoubtedly driven by capitalist market forces, points to a contemporary emphasis on individualism.
In fact, pop culture is keen to bring back historical oddities, such as vampires, demons and fairy tale villains. Maleficent, etc. The characters in Sleeping Beauty now gain the audience’s sympathy by telling their side of the story.
The real villains are now often seen as those who demonize difference and seek to restrict individual freedom of expression. Many of today’s monsters are not evil. They are just misunderstood And their brutal behavior is the result of being bullied, excluded, humiliated and rejected for being “weird.”
Bring back the weird stuff
However sincerely intended, the Democrats’ portrayal of the strangeness is of course strategic.
Waltz’s harsh words struck a nerve with a crowd that was obviously troubled by the idea of anything less than “normal,” and I believe this is why Democrats have repeatedly tried to drive home the idea.
Historian of political rhetoric Jennifer Mercieca told The Associated Press.“The opposite of normalizing authoritarianism is to strange it, to stigmatize it, and kind of ridicule it.” In other words, to call the opposition and its policies “strange” is to denigrate it as abnormal.
But political expediency has consequences, and here, with great sadness, I find myself agreeing with Vivek Ramaswami, the conservative entrepreneur and unsuccessful bidder for the Republican presidential nomination.
Ramaswamy I wrote to X “It’s a bit ironic that this strange insult comes from a party that preaches ‘diversity and inclusion,'” he said. Ironic is an understatement.
The Democrats’ “they’re weird” argument is stupid and childish. This is a presidential election, not a high school prom queen contest. It’s also ironic coming from a party that preaches “diversity and inclusion.” Hopefully they’ll win on policy, but stop with the bullshit.
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) July 29, 2024
While using the word “queer” to irritate political opponents can be effective, I’d rather reclaim queerness as something to be valued, respected, and celebrated.
Queerness creates cracks in the structures of the status quo, liberating the possibility of different futures and forms of expression.There are a number of different, more specific adjectives that politicians and others can use to characterize their rivals.
Let’s keep America weird.
