Pussy.
There.
I said it.
And now you're faced with a choice.
I'll inform you as to your options momentarily.
Secretary of Defense James Mattis received media criticism this week after commending Navy sailors in a speech earlier in the month for not being "pussies."
"You will have some of the best days of your life and some of the worst days of your life in the U.S. Navy, you know what I mean?" Mattis told sailors at Naval Base Kitsap, Washington, according to the official transcript. "That means you're living."
"That means you're not some pussy sitting on the sidelines, you know what I mean, kind of sitting there saying, ‘Well, I should have done something with my life,'" he continued.
In response to his speech, NBC News complained that "Defense Secretary Mattis Uses Disparaging Term in Speech to Navy," comparing his remarks to Trump's comments on the infamous Access Hollywood tape about grabbing women "by the pussy."
Newsweek likewise complained that "Defense Secretary Suggests Civilians Are ‘Pussies' for Sitting on the Sidelines."
"Donald Trump's secretary of defense James ‘Mad Dog' Mattis appeared to suggest those who did not serve the country were ‘a bunch of pussies,'" read the lead.
The Washington Post consulted retired Col. Don Christensen, the head of an anti-sexual assault organization who said that Mattis' comments were "troubling."
Christensen noted that the remarks "clearly implied that those who don't serve are less manly than those who do."
"It just sends the wrong message to the 15 percent of the military who are women," he said. "As secretary of defense, he's just got to be more careful about the words he uses, especially around troops who in some cases worship him."
Before we further ponder from the pussy perspective, here's an oft batted about these days word I think needs a little POV polish.
The term "media."
Somewhere along the way, the word "media" has come to connote some evil force in the universe, a malevolently mutated concoction of Darth Vader's Empire, the S.S., the Cabal from the always sparkling yet psychotic world of Raymond Reddington and whatever the hell that Rittenhouse bunch on NBC's "Timeless" turns out to be.
Paraphrasing John Lennon's words from the Beatle tune, "Glass Onion"..."here's another clue for you all / the media is not an empire or a cabal or a bunch".
It is, 99% of the time, nothing more, or less, than the opinion of a person, transmitted via big, fancy high tech equipment, often from an expensive, seemingly authoritative television studio set or from some mysterious, ostensibly dark and powerful online server, a 21st Century Wizard belching fire and smoke and doing it's blustery best to intimidate you into bringing him that damn broom...or believing every word coming from the fiery, smoky lips on his disembodied head is to be taken as gospel.
Pish to the tosh.
Media is, more often than not, just a more expensively accessorized version of you or me or your average Johnny, Jane, two cents sharing commentator, conversationalist, gossip or gasbag who can lay their hands on a social media sight and let their fingers do the flyin' on a keyboard.
"Media" as an entity, meanwhile, is very much like your average run of the mill, garden variety, bargain store brand bully.
It has only the power that it is given by those who find themselves exposed to it.
And in the current political climate, "media" is the enemy because "media" has, with a few high profile exceptions (translation: Fox News and/or Breitbart), decided to take a pass on exalting, worshiping and/or genuflecting to every uttering of word and whim of the current, and, the greater of the population dares hope, temporary occupant at 1600 Pennsylvania.
It's one of those my kid is well behaved and yours is an ill bred brat kind of things.
Donald, for example, loves media that loves Donald.
All other media is the enemy and the "news" they proffer is "fake news".
Poppy to the cock.
I bring all that up as it applies to the context of the "media criticism" being leveled at Secretary Mattis for his vibrant vaginal vocalization.
"Media" wasn't offended or concerned or troubled.
Colonel Don Christensen was.
And whoever wrote the pieces that appeared, respectively, in The Washington Post and Newsweek and on NBC News.
There was, and is, no deep, dark lurking force striking out from the shadows at a noble public servant who is only doing his best to serve at the pleasure of the President of the United States.
Just a guy, or gal, or some of each over there in a cubicle, as opposed to behind the curtain, offering up their sense that perhaps cheapening , even denigrating, women, if only just a teensy weensy smidge, by equating labias with losers might be beneath the dignity of, well, hell, pretty much everybody, but certainly beneath the dignity of the Secretary Of Defense of the United States Of America.
You know, if only just a teensy weensy smidge.
Here's the thing.
When did the word "pussy" become acceptable language for what was, once upon a time in a galaxy far, far away, referred to as "mixed company.?"
Well, first, to answer that question, we have to fess up.
The word "pussy" as a slang term for the vagina, but spoken to imply weakness or vulnerability or lack of muscle, has been accepted, if not acceptable, in conversation, most certainly conversations among members of the military for what I imagine is the recorded history of man kind.
I mean, come on, History Channel dignity and Ken Burns-esque high gloss not withstanding, do you doubt for a single moment that somewhere, at least once, if only just once, George Washington told one of his faithful not to fear, for a second, that victory was at hand because "after all, we all know that Cornwallis is going to surrender....that fat fuck is a pussy."
Suck on that, Red Coat boy. Semper Fi.
Hey, it was freezing cold and they were starving to death and beaten down and battle torn and worn and you just gotta know that sometimes "he is a daunting and formidable foe upon whose vulnerabilities we can capitalize" just didn't quite get it done, you know?
Like when you smash your finger with a hammer.
"Gosh darn, that's kinda painful" ain't gonna flow Mormon-esquely from your lips.
And though the more refined, restrained, even respectful among us have managed to draw the line just shy of popping off with the P word when temptation reared like a vixen vulva , that kind of infantile, no neck jock jive has been pert near authorized and/or sanctioned in locker rooms across this great nation since...well, since at least about this time last year.
For confirmation of that validation, shoot off an email to Billy Bush.
And speaking of Bush, there's lies the problem with pussy.
It's a lofty, albeit futile, goal that men simply stop using the word "pussy' to imply weakness, vulnerability and/or lack of muscle because, well, golly gosh gee whiz, boys will be boys, you know?
But maybe, just maybe, its not too much to ask that, at the very least, we, and more essentially and ideally, those in positions of authority and power who have the opportunity to set fine examples, raise, rather than lower bars, up the level of classy rather than dial back down to degrading, that they fall back on another old tried and truism from the unspoken, unpublished Book Of Societal Etiquette.
That little pearl of wisdom dealing with time and a place for everything.
And maybe, just maybe, that we could all take a shot a returning to those thrilling days of yesteryear when a speech by a Secretary of Defense of the United States delivered to a mixed gender audience of valued and appreciated members of the United States Armed Forces, a speech in clear view and hearing of both that attending audience and an international audience, via media reporting, just really isn't the right time or the right place to offer up "pussy" to imply weakness, vulnerability or lack of muscle.
If to use to imply it must, then how about save it for the locker room?
Ah. But now there's the other problem with pussy, you see?
Which brings me back to the choice with which you are now faced.
Pussy.
There.
I said it again.
In public. For all to see. Read. Hear.
And now you have a choice.
You can be offended, concerned and/or troubled.
Or you can elect me President of the United States.
No comments:
Post a Comment