Thank You, Anderson

The One, &c.
By Jay Nordlinger

Monday, on the Corner, I talked about how “teabagging” and “teabagger” came into being: Anderson Cooper, an anchorman for CNN, used “teabagging” against the “tea party” protesters, when those protesters got going last spring. It happened this way:

He was interviewing David Gergen, who said that Republicans had yet to find their voice. They were searching for their voice. Cooper, the anchor, said, “It’s hard to talk when you’re teabagging.” And he duly smirked while saying it. “Teabagging” is a rather exotic sexual practice. You can find the definition at Urban Dictionary, here.

The epithet “teabagger,” with “teabagging,” etc., was immediately picked up by Democratic pundits and politicians. For example, Janeane Garofalo said of tea-party protests, “This is racism straight up, nothing but a bunch of teabagging rednecks.” And the words quickly went “mainstream.” Talk-show hosts such as George Stephanopoulos use “teabagging” and so on without blinking, blushing, or apologizing. They say “teabaggers” like they would “Republicans.”

On the Corner two days ago, I gave that definition — the one found at Urban Dictionary. And that is why I am writing about this subject again now: I got some mail from a couple of people expressing outrage that I saw fit to give the definition. Isn’t National Review Online a family site? Other readers wrote to say, “I’m glad you spelled it out — we should not let them smirk in the shadows, so to speak.”

Well, that is my view: Sometimes you have to look at something straight-on. And you have to speak plainly. (Remember that book about Harry Truman? Plain Speaking.) When a CNN anchorman says something foul, and a little snarky, on the air, we should examine it. When a nasty epithet enters mainstream journalism — and mainstream politics — we should question whether this should be so, hard.

I trust you know what I mean.

I thought of a piece I wrote several years ago — this was on pornography, and it was a companion piece to a bigger piece on the subject that Bill Buckley did. I talked to several anti-porn researchers and activists. And I admire these people just about as much as I admire anybody — especially those who work against child pornography. It is a largely thankless task — and they face three main obstacles, as I recall: 1) They have to marinate in evil, basically, all day long. 2) People, their critics, sometimes say, “Well, why are you so interested? Kind of enjoy this stuff, don’t you?” And 3) Child pornography in particular is so awful, people (quite naturally) turn away from it, don’t want to hear about it. And this benefits pornographers enormously — it is a subject we naturally want to ignore, or sweep under the rug.

Now, I make no analogy whatsoever between Anderson Cooper et al. and pornographers — zero. Please don’t mistake me. Those who employ “teabagger” against anti-Obama protesters, and those who purvey pornography, are many, many leagues apart. But, when I got the couple of e-mails chastising me for frank talk about “teabagging,” I thought of that piece I wrote, years ago. Hope you think that’s all right.

---

Anderson's tea-bag by Peter. NRO had absolutely nothing to do with it -- please don't blame them; praise only me, if you must.