Waking Up to The Bullshit of Conventional Language (Part1)

Mercifully the bipartisan duopolistic political orgies known as the RNC and the DNC are over. Both have had time to bask in the afterglow, cuddle, smoke a joint and take a nap. Is it time to wake up?

Ain’t Worth A Quarter (obverse)

The genesis of this piece will reveal itself momentarily. It is manifested through a rather serendipitous machination and will be in several installments or “parts.” Unfortunately, given its extemporaneous nature I do not know how many, but it will certainly be more than one. Perhaps two, perhaps three or even four; but most definitely more than one.

Whether the flowery inversion layer of political language is used, such as bi-partisan, or my preferred and much more rustic term, duopoly, we are talking about the same shit with a different smell. Take a quarter out of your pocket; examine it, ever so closely. What you will likely see on the obverse side is the figure of a human, a “likeness” of one George Washington. On the reverse (other) side the vast majority of the time you will see a bird, a “bald” eagle. Had Benjamin Franklin had his way the bird would have been a turkey and, perhaps, in practicality it is just that. No matter imagery, it still remains a quarter.

Old Bennie knew what he was talking about.

Ain’t Worth A Quarter (reverse)

Two days after Kamala Harris’ south-of-rousing speech at the DNC, former and, possibly, future U.S. president Donald Trump held his first rally subsequent to the DNC in Glendale, Arizona. Since U.S. politics like other disasters natural and human made, including plane crashes, tornadoes and train wrecks fascinate me, I was less interested in hearing what Agent Orange had to say about the DNC than I was in what he did not say.

Long ago, my father told me as a child to “listen carefully to what a man says, but listen even closer to what he does not.” Indeed, silence can be deafening and listening to silence has become second nature to me in all aspects and facets of life. Which is why when people say to me (and they often do) “Kenyatta, you are a voice for the voiceless” I admonish them that I am not a voice for the voiceless, I am ears for the deaf.

The Conventional Language

As I painfully took notes on the Trump rally just as I did the RNC and DNC, I noticed a common verbiage at all three. I noticed things that were absent in terms of the typical partisan language associated with each event predicated upon party and candidate. Most notably, I noticed words that were absent from both. There is a common political lexicon and one peculiar to whatever divisions or sects exist within that commonality. You can call them anything from cities, to states, to gangs or political parties, they have a certain lingo they use. Coal miners don’t talk like lawyers.

It started out innocently enough with me wanting to see if Agent Orange was going to use profanity during his rally. He is particularly fond of the word “bullshit” but he has used others before, including “motherfucker.” I was listening for the words not because they excite me (because I can say my own bad words). I was listening because I noticed that a couple of weeks before the RNC Trump ceased and desisted the practice. Ergo, I was listening to the silence in that regard. I also wanted to see if he did his insipid “The Snake” recitation. In the event you are unaware, The Snake is an old song recorded by Al Wilson. Agent Orange did neither.

Then came the linguistic rabbit-hole.

As a wordsmith and word nerd, I catapulted my intrigue from Trump’s sudden linguistic absentia, to words used at both conventions. Words used exclusively by one or the other party at their respective conventions. And, most importantly, words used by neither. There I go again listening to the silence. In both cases, the silence was like listening to the whining roar of a jet engine at full throttle… with a stethoscope.

Unbeknownst to me at the time, there are a number of sites and publications that distill word counts from transcripts of notable events (and further down the rabbit-hole I descended). Though it took quite a while, I was able to compare the data side by side and it was morbidly fascinating. You know, like plane crashes, tornadoes and train wrecks.

The Bovine Excrement

Perhaps Trump stopped saying “bullshit” a few weeks before the RNC because he knew there would be megatons of it to sniff and shovel between his bullshit “assassination” attempt and the convention itself. Instead of the cretins that worship and adore that schizophrenic bastard wearing maxi-pads on their ears in “solidarity” with him at the convention perhaps they should have brought shovels. I mean these dumbasses were crying when he started with what I call his “female voice” and recounted how “God” intervened (that’s when the crowd really began weeping).

He continued in his female voice “I am not supposed to be here with you.” It was a shameless appeal to the so called “evangelicals” and they responded “yes you are!” In other words he is Jesus on the cross, who sacrificed himself for their “freedom.” They ate up ten miles of that bullshit and asked for seconds after taking a laxative to make room. It was sickening and pardon my digression, please.

The Democrats were equally full of bullshit but theirs looked different and smelled different. Their bullshit was more entertaining and had a slicker production. At least the Republicans don’t hide their racist bullshit; they put it right out there for all to see so you know exactly what time it is. The Democrats talk that kumbaya malarkey but their hypocrisy is so obvious Stevie Wonder can see it; perhaps that’s why they had him there to perform.

Democrats totally disrespected the protestors demanding that the genocide in Palestine being conducted by the apartheid nation known as Israel end. In fact, the DNC had a buffer zone and paramilitary presence around the venue that resembled an occupation. They paraded a “woman of color” that made no mention of justice reform; an issue that disproportionately affects Black People in the United States (not “people of color”) which destroys both families and communities. Nothing about what could be the most embarrassing aspect of U.S. society and a blatant example of its cruelty: homelessness (which has increased under Biden/Harris). The total homeless population in the US rose 12.1% from 2022 to 2023, reaching its highest point since at least 2007. In fairness to Harris she proffered some nebulous platitude about “ending the housing shortage” that has absolutely nothing to do with homelessness. Nothing.

Waking Up

Between Trump and Harris, the word “democracy” was mentioned twice by both. The word “freedom” was used 11 times by Harris, three times by Trump. The word “economy” or “economic” was used 13 times by Trump, three times by Harris. The word “business” was used five times by Harris, twice by Trump. The word “jobs” was used a whopping 22 times by Trump, and only twice by Harris. The word “taxes” was mentioned 21 times by Trump, five times by Harris. The word “law” was mentioned seven times by Harris and only once by Trump.

Trump mentioned the word “God” 9 times, twice by Harris. To my surprise, Trump used the word “love” 22 times, 9 times by Harris. Trump pitched a shutout on the word “inflation” (which I am certainly feeling), Ms. Harris was missing in action on that term not mentioning it once which I find mildly fascinating. The word “neighbor” was mentioned once by Harris, not at all by Trump. Both candidates mentioned the word “family” an equal number of times, at eight apiece. The word “father” was almost equally split between the candidates with five for Harris, and four for Trump. The word “mother” was used 14 times by Harris and four times by Trump; no surprise there.

The word “abortion” was used four times by Harris, Trump sat that one out with no mention of the word. Medicare was mentioned four times by Trump, and twice by Harris. In an interesting parallel the term “social security” was also mentioned four times by Trump, twice by Harris.

One of the more insidious things I noticed while conducting this exercise (or exorcise), is that Harris used the word “Trump” a whopping 15 times and Trump referred to himself eight times for a grand total of 23. Oddly, Trump did not utter the words “Kamala” or “Harris” one single time and I know why. Nevertheless, it is very, very interesting on a couple of levels.

On the international front, Trump used the word “war” 17 times, Harris used the term only twice, which I find quite strange given the unstable cauldron that the world currently is. I definitely smell bullshit, or a dead rat, pertinent to that evasion. Speaking of cauldrons (or meat grinders) “Ukraine” was mentioned four times by Trump, twice by Harris.

The word “Russia” was used 9 times by Trump, three times by Harris. I can’t help but contribute a derisive guffaw on that one given Trump’s man love for Vladimir. Curiously enough, Harris used the word ”Putin” twice, Trump did not utter it once. And for the record I have nothing against Mr. Putin, I just find Trump’s transformation into a screaming prepubescent girl at a Justin Bieber concert pining for Vlad’s adoration a bit uncomfortable. That’s all.

“China” was used 14 times by Trump, once by Harris. The word “Iran” was used eight times by Trump, twice by Harris. One of the few times both candidates used a word the exact same number of times is the word “Israel” of which both Harris and Trump used the term four times each. Of course, that is just a coincidence. The word “Gaza” was mentioned three times by Harris and she mentioned the word “Hamas” once. Trump did not mention either.

So, there you have it. From the domestic end to the international end, the verbal bullshit in living color (couldn’t help it). The words used indeed tell an analytical tale of party propaganda and the strengths (if they have any) and weaknesses of both candidates. Nonetheless, it is the silence that speaks volumes.

It’s always the silence that is the violence.