Trump beats Duterte hands down for the quantity and regularity of lying and playing loosely with the facts.
In a 2014 scholarly piece by Jean M. Twenge, she commented on the “trend toward vulgar language” and the fact that “American culture has become crude, rude and socially unacceptable.”
Twenge wrote: “Fuck is the most versatile word in the English language — it can be used as a noun, a verb or an adjective.” She observed that in the TV series, Sex
and the City, one character used the expression“ab so fucking lu tely” and that the Google Books database noted that the word“fuck” was used 8 times more frequently in American books in 2008 compared to 1960, with “shit” being used 3 times more frequently and “ass” 4 times more.
A Pinoy sociologist will probably note that Duterte’s “putang
ina” has become popular among his supporters, as well as social media habitues who routinely dismiss exhortations of the Catholic church and expressions of disapproval by well-meaning opinion makers as so much pomposity and posturing. They insist that Duterte’s is speaking the “language of the masses,” as opposed to that of the rich — no matter that this attitude is an exercise in self- delusion because many of Duterte’s fanatic supporters happen to be filthy rich.
The apparent acceptance (at least by his rabid base) of Trump’s crassness and vulgarity may have infected some Democrats who are desperate to gain back lost ground among American voters. In a July 2017 article by Jessica Yarvin, she wrote:
“Last month, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., bluntly summed up the Democratic Party’s goals under President Donald Trump.
“‘If we’re not helping people,’ Gillibrand told an audience at a New York University forum, “we should go the f**k home.’
“Earlier this year, newly elected Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez didn’t mince words when assessing the White House budget proposal. It’s a ‘ s** tty budget,’ Perez said in a speech in Maine, part of a cross- country tour that included several expletivelaced speeches, a hill.com report said.
“In the aftermath of Mr. Trump’s victory in the 2016 election, a growing number of Democrats have begun cursing in public, using language that in the past was reserved for private conversations away from voters and the media.”
One thing significant is that profanity and kabastusan must fit one’s character.
Remember how Mar Roxas, a person to the manor born, tried it once in a speech in Makati City? The words that stumbled out of his mouth were clearly unnatural and out of character. Of course, Roxas subsequently performed better at the Wack Wack Country Club when he virtually castrated a club staffer.
In the case of Duterte and Trump — what can one say? Bagay na bagay.
At any rate, welcome to The Age of Vulgarity. Who knows when or if this trend will ever usher in The Dark Ages, but you can’t say that the Millennials, as well as Trump, Duterte and their rabid voter base, are not working on it. �