Den-i-grate
verb: criticize unfairly; disparage.
synonyms: disparage, belittle, deprecate, decry, cast aspersions on, criticize, attack; speak ill of, give someone a bad name, defame, slander, libel;
run down, abuse, insult, revile, malign, vilify, slur;
informal: badmouth, dis, pull to pieces, talk smack
I can’t speak for anyone else, but more and more I feel like I am living in a culture that is becoming overwhelmed by the language of denigration. It is now normal to assassinate the character of anyone who has a different opinion than ourselves. This is a very dangerous state of affairs.
Perhaps the most obvious illustration is the current presidential campaign. We observe, perhaps with a certain amount of naughty enjoyment, people in power being insulted and belittled by others in power. But it has become far more pervasive than that.
I recently posted a fairly innocuous comment on a facebook post of a presidential candidate. Like clockwork, my comment was denigrated. That is, people who disagreed with my view spoke in a tone that was condescending and insulting.
Being an adult and a published public person, I know the risks and the drill. But still, it is bothersome to be insulted, even if the insults are coming from a person or persons who are clearly immersed in a dogma that is completely illogical and/or ill-informed. The problem is, one must then ask, do I want to engage with this person, or should I just walk away? There is no right answer, as I feel I should protest/enlighten, but then, I have to do a cost/benefit analysis, and I have to ask, is it really worth the trouble? And if I don’t fix it, who will?
This language of denigration is everywhere. If you have a more “liberal” viewpoint, then The Daily Show will regale you with nightly denigration (with a touch of comedy) of mostly conservative politicians. Fox News has less comedy, but they denigrate those on the political left all day, if that’s the target of denigration you prefer.
The trouble is, all of this denigration is not about making logical arguments to advance a political viewpoint. It’s about exploiting wounded people, and encouraging them to cope with it by wounding another even more vulnerable person in the same way. The danger is, it is a very short step from believing “My state of woundedness justifies dumping my hurt on strangers by writing this nasty post” to “My woundedness justifies my dumping my hurt on strangers by shooting up a school .”
An even bigger problem here, besides the toll on our collective happiness and human dignity, is the loss of freedom of speech. Speaking out on anything of real social importance, especially offering a solution to a problem, makes you a target of denigration energy. The first challenge any new idea must face is the denigration of those who seek to maintain the status quo. Or they may not even care about that, they are just reflexively eager to unload their denigration energy at the earliest opportunity. Or they lash out at anything that threatens a fragile sense of control.
If you read any unmoderated public comment thread on any major website, you will immediately see that, as a culture, we have lost our ability to discuss our differences in a civil mutually respectful manner; the contest goes to whomever can dish out and take the most denigration energy. This silences many, creates political factions, and favors sociopaths.
“Freedom of speech” only applies to direct governmental power, it does not protect us from the suppression of speech that denigration can cause. I like to think I am a reasonably well read and educated / informed person, but I still had to learn an entirely different set of verbal and social skills in order to not let fear of verbal denigration interfere with my own freedom of speech. A lot of the time it has nothing to do with facts, study, or intelligence, and everything to do with just having the guts to face and disregard people who are de facto bullies.
The real issue here is not even the denigration, it is the blind woundedness that drives it. If we keep denying its existence, history teaches us that it will eventually fester and consume us all.
– Justin Locke
