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https://theconversation.com/in-praise-of-the-weird-236370>
"Republicans, as you’ve probably heard, are being called “weird.”
In a quip that launched a million memes, Minnesota governor-turned-VP candidate
Tim Walz referred to his right-wing political opposition as “weird people” in a
July 23, 2024, interview on
MSNBC.
Since then, the barb has stuck, with leading Democratic party figures, from
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to presidential nominee Kamala Harris,
branding their Republican opposition with the moniker.
Of course, in a classic deployment of the “I know you are, but what am I?”
retort, the Republicans have tried to flip the script.
“You know what’s really weird?” Donald Trump Jr. opined on X. “Soft on crime
politicians like Kamala allowing illegal aliens out of prison so they can
violently assault Americans.” And in an interview with conservative radio host
Clay Travis, former President Donald Trump said of Democrats, “They’re the
weird ones. Nobody’s ever called me weird. I’m a lot of things, but weird I’m
not.”
While I get why both sides are hurling weird bombs at each other, I’m
nevertheless not on board with all the “weird shaming.” It isn’t just
hypocritical for each party to claim to speak on behalf of the forgotten and
marginalized while mockingly calling the other side weird. It’s also deeply
regressive.
The weird, I would argue, deserve respect. As someone who has spent the past
three decades researching, writing about and teaching topics including
vampires, ghosts, monsters, cult films and what gets categorized as “weird
fiction,” I should know."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
