Screaming About the Right to Scream - in Capital Letters

My husband and I have a strong marriage, but once in while - when the moon is in the vicinity of Mars - we argue. Sometimes it's a pointed argument about a specific gripe that either he or I have, but sometimes our mutual frustration can build up over time, bit by bit, until finally our lips curl and we say to each other:

"FUCK YOU!"

"NO, FUCK YOU!"

"Yeah, whatever. FUCK OFF!"

"No, YOU FUCK OFF!"

And so on. Please don't be alarmed by this - we're truly the best of friends, but that means that we're the most likely to get on one another's nerves. Eventually we relax and talk and put away that ego and frustration and get along.

But what was the argument about? Nothing, really. On second thought, that nothing really entailed something fundamental: Of an unspoken frustration that one or both of us lack control over our environment and that we want that control back!

Arguments like these occur in larger communities, and at times, those too can adopt some rather feral components. The great Christmas light debacle of 2007 in the city of Fort Collins, CO, (http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58528) is a prime example. Were those fighting the ban on red and green city light displays at risk of losing Christmas? No. Did the ruling mean that individuals wouldn't be able to display their own versions of Christmas tack-o-rama on their own property? Hell, no. But that didn't stop the impassioned types from typing in CAPITAL LETTERS:



So did this battle determine the fate of CHRISTMAS in Fort Collins? No? EXACTLY! "Well, FUCK OFF!"

Here is a more recent example of the deft use of capital lettering. This is from a Congressional town hall protest in New Hampshire:



As you can see, they weren't shy about using capital lettering:

SOCIALIZED HEALTH CARE!

VOTE OUT All INCUMBENTS!

DEMOCRATS stop ruining NH!

Or this outburst from a man angry that he wouldn't get a chance to speak at an Arlen Specter town hall meeting. From what I gather, I don't think he supports SOCIALIZED HEALTH CARE, and given the chance, I think he would also like to VOTE OUT All INCUMBENTS!:

http://www.youtube.com/v/dnP7x0xijRc&hl=en&fs=1&

But seriously, if there is one capitalized phrase that lays bare the underlying groupthink of the town hall protests, it's:

"I WANT MY COUNTRY BACK!"

They DO? From WHOM? WHO, exactly, took their country and is, in such a despicable way, keeping it from them?

Returning to the underlying groupthink, those shouting loudly are DESPERATE to maintain control over the HEGEMONIC processes that underscore white male IDEOLOGY.

This is a challenge to postmodernism and those forces that encourage engaging and accepting collective thinking. There is no OUR for these protesters - it's only MY and MINE and what belongs to ME.

"I WANT MY COUNTRY BACK! OH YEAH? AND FUCK YOU!"

Much like my heated, pointless arguments with my husband, or the vacuous outrage over the hue of twinkle lights in Old Town Fort Collins, these flippant outcries are the tattered strings from a tapestry of cultural control slowly unwound by the emergence of the Other: those Other African-Americans, those Other Mexican immigrants, those Other feminists, those Other gay and lesbians wishing to marry, and especially that Other "Kenyan" President in the White House, Barack Hussein Obama.

"Those Others took MY country! Trampled on MY rights! I WANT MY COUNTRY BACK!"

And as the gentleman (I will be kind here) who shouted at Arlen Specter sputtered - using what in transcript would be countless capitalized words - he wants HIS right to SPEAK!

And speak he did. Loudly. In capital letters.

:hide:

that's unhygenic! no tellin' what kinda critters were livin' up in that forest!

protesting the town hall meetings do not care particularly about health care reform. The issue of health care reform is simply a vehicle for them to express the rage they feel as the ground shifts beneath their feet and the 21st century takes root. These are people who are unable for whatever reason to cope with change. It is almost as if these folks are having some kind of public nervous breakdown. As much as I find their world view disturbing, there is a part of me that wants to feel sorry for them. They just seem so stuck.