Welcome to the Age of Vulgarity

When then presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte called His Holiness Pope Francis, “putang

ina ka,” because Duterte got stuck in traffic due to the Pope’s visit, detractors predicted that his candidacy was doomed. But Duterte survived that (although he claimed that he had made the profanity “in jest”) and he went on to become the most foulmouthed and vulgar president in recent memory.

Well, maybe not “the most,” because US President Donald Trump is well on the way to setting the record for vulgarity and crassness, as well as bluster, among heads of state.

In a recent speech in Alabama before his die- hard voter base, Trump called former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, Colin Kaepernick a “sonnuvabitch.” Trump may have had his reasons, but his language was downright vulgar. Downright petty, too, considering how many other more important issues the President of the United States could have addressed, rather than a football player’s misplaced expression of protest.

Trump also took offense at the concern of Golden State Warriors star, Stephen Curry, over accepting an invitation to the White House because of Trump’s perceived racist policies and statements. In another display of pettiness, Trump twitted that the invitation was being withdrawn. That elicited a sharp retort from LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers:

“U bum @ StephenCurry30 already said he ain’t going! So therefore ain’t no invite. Going to White House was a great honor until you showed up.”

The President of the US being called a “bum” by an American citizen says something about the extent to which the presidency has been demeaned.

Meanwhile, there is an escalating spectacle of vulgarity, crassness, and bluster in the exchanges between Trump and North Korean Leader Kim Jong- Un. After Trump referred to Kim as “rocket man,” Kim called Trump a “mentally deranged US dotard.” The word comes from “dotage” which means “a state of senile decay marked by decline of mental poise and alertness.” It also means “someone lazy, useless and demented.”

And while these things have been happening on the world stage, President Duterte dominated the Manila headlines after he admitted “lying” about the alleged Singapore bank accounts of his arch critic, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV.

Of course, this isn’t the first time that Duterte has lied. He has consistently lied about the extrajudicial killings committed by the police, insisting that they never happened. And, whenever he has been caught flip-flopping on his mindless statements, he would insist that he was just “joking.”

However, in this respect, Trump beats Duterte hands down for the quantity and regularity of lying and playing loosely with the facts. The New York Times published an inventory of “Trump’s Lies,” updated as of July 21, pointing out that Trump would continue to lie and add to the list — which he has.

The similarity between Trump and Duterte in terms of vulgarity and lies prompted a columnist to comment on social media that the description of Trump as a

“dotard” reminded him of “someone else” with an almost similar sounding name.

But the spectacle of heads of state defying all norms of civility and proper manners is not the most remarkable of all. What is remarkable is the popular support that both Trump and Duterte continue to get from their respective supporters — and, mind you, these are not the “working class red- necks” that the liberal US press patronizingly describes as Trump’s base, or the “bakya crowd” that civil society dismissively calls the DDS ( Die- hard Duterte Supporters).

According to a Social Weather Station poll, as of June 2017, Duterte’s approval and trust ratings continue to be high and, in fact, increasing among both socioeconomic classes ABC and DE.

In the case of Trump, a July poll conducted by Reuters/ Ipsos among those who voted for Trump in the last elections revealed that 88% would still vote for Trump if the elections were held in July. Even more amazing was that this was an improvement over the 82% support that Trump got in the May survey — this, in spite of the failure of Trump and the Republicans to overhaul the health care system (a major campaign promise) and in spite of the congressional and federal investigations into Trump’s suspected ties with Russia.

Sociologists have been scrambling to explain Trump’s sustained appeal that seems inconsistent with the relentless barrage of criticism that he has been getting in media — criticism not necessarily unfounded or “fake” as Trump claims.

One possible reason is that Trump’s vulgarity and crassness coincides with a period which I have chosen to describe as The Age of Vulgarity — a period where the Millennials ( also derisively referred to as The Me Generation) have defied and disdained “proper manners,” “good taste” and “civilized behavior,” regarding them as so much hypocrisy and pretense.