In early January, media organizations were scratching their heads in brainstorm meetings, “How do we cover Trump’s presidency?” Here at Bitch Media, our conversations traversed the strategies to cover the unfolding terror. We decided to do what we do best: Tell a deeper truth. Instead of inundating our communities with an endless deluge of updates about the kakistocracy, we opted to equip our readers with media literacy tools to pierce the political melee. Each month, we chose a word or term used by Trump or the GOP and explored it from a linguistic and sociological perspective so our readers could cut through the bullshit and understand the costs for impacted communities.
Hence, the F.U.C.K. I.T.T. List was born: Feminists United to Combat Kakistocracy in Trump Times.
Here is a roundup of the F.U.C.K. I.T.T. List this year!
“FAKE NEWS”
Gaslight the American People
45 set his sights on discrediting the only establishment that’s ever seriously believed in the power of democracy: The Media. Enter the most destructive soundbite we’ve ever heard: Fake News. The collocation is equal parts perilous and pathetic. He and his kinfolk kakistocracy klan have manipulated language as a means of defense. People like Trump and his cronies understand that the repetition of such a negative and dismissive phrase corrodes and destabilizes our relationship to information and makes us question the most basic and logical tenets of communication. Because if you can’t convince the American people you’re right, the next best thing is to convince them that everyone else is wrong. Read more »
“TRUMP VOTERS”
They Love to Say Yes to Distress
Who voted for this bully, and why? During the campaign, mainstream media did little to help us understand Trump Voters since they primarily described them as plain-speaking, rural Americans without college degrees. Crafting this image of Trump Voters was the perfect contrast against the specter of Democratic elitism. But this isn’t the only demographic that explains how Trump won the electorate. There’s more. A lot more. Read more »
“Women Who Work”
The First Daughter Pretends She Knows What It’s Like to Be Last
In Ivanka’s it’s-not-nepotism-because-I’m-unpaid world, the terms “privilege” and “complicit” remain foreign notions as well. Unfortunately for us, when not-the-majority of Americans voted for a self-aggrandizing real-estate mogul to govern our nation, we not only gained a president with a litany of offenses toward women, we also gained a first daughter who claims she is determined to make “incremental positive change” for “women in the workplace.” Read more »
“Patriot”
No One But White Loyalists Need Apply
The latin root for “patriot” is pater, meaning, literally, “father.” Which makes sense, right? Since the original patriots are the “founding fathers,” (you know, the slave-holding geniuses who receive political credit for EVERYTHING), it makes sense that the words patriarchs and patriots are used interchangeably when talking about the first white dudes who flexed for americana toxic masculinity. Read more »
“The Wall”
Trump Promises to Build Wall on Manifest Destiny
The promise of a dividing wall feasted on the xenophobia of the white America who showed up for Trump and voted for his well-documented, loathsome behaviors. He knocked out all the other GOP misogynists and racists by out-misogynizing his components and beating them with promises of travel bans, border walls, and with his vow (and eventual executive orders) to break up families with ICE raids from big brother, Homeland Security. Ask any voter in the 2016 election what fueled Trump’s ascent to power, and most folks will mention The Wall. Read more »
“Free Speech”
The More Privilege You Have, the More Protected You Are
The right to free speech is deceptively facile. Remember the mean kid on the playground who spewed grossness and general malice and would cry “free speech!” at every chance? It’s a right that is easily distorted even by children—just like 45. Oversimplification, though, is just one of the many problems surrounding the First Amendment. Read more »
“Anthem”
45’s Pledges Allegience to an Alternative Flag
Since Trump designed this alternative world where kneeling during the National Anthem is more egregious than pledging allegiance to the swastika, we are forced to create our political identity in reaction to his strategic deferral plan; we are forced to follow where he panders. Maybe turning Trump’s shitshows into countless teachable moments will justify the resources and time spent on enlightenment, but we need to remind ourselves to step back and look around. After we engage in battles about the National Anthem, patriotism, and cheering LeBron’s “U bum” retort, it’s imperative to drag Trump, Trump supporters, local representatives, and our community back into the fray that Trump so desperately evades. Read more »
“Beautiful”
Trump’s ‘Beautiful’ Culture is Rape Culture
Bestowing the word “beautiful” upon a person signals Trump’s self-permitted license to touch or violate a person because he doesn’t recognize a situation between two individual people, he only sees himself and a beautiful woman without agency; an aged form of sexism that has overwhelmingly fed sexual assault since the beginning of sexual violence. Read more »
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