Human beings are the embodiment of the virtue, evil and prejudices that they exhibit in given situations. It is probably because of the prejudices that they are infested with that we come across ethnic, racial, social and political slurs that people hurl at each other. While all other slurs are offensive and demeaning, political slurs, which are playful insults against political opponents with reference to the nature of politics that they pursue, are accepted as a normal part of politics. These slurs apart from their deriding aspects sometimes are the true reflection of the conduct of the politicians in general and sometimes a particular politician. They also have an element of humour and entertainment. This discourse pertains to some of the political slurs that have been commonly used in the US and Britain and have become part of the political dictionary. They can conveniently be applied to politicians all over the world and hence the rationale for sharing them with the readers.
A word that has been frequently used in America as a political slur is ‘squish’. It is a term used by Republican conservatives to denigrate the perceived lack of backbone possessed by the Republican moderates. This word surfaced during the time of Ronald Reagan. Squish has also been used more broadly, to describe any liberal or conservative who avoids taking firm stands or doesn’t stand for anything—a politician who will sell out, who lacks conviction, who cares more about popularity than principles. Another definition of a squish is someone who has difficulty in making up his mind, who is too anxious to please, too eager to compromise and who can be easily rolled.
‘Flapdoodler’ is also a commonly used slur for a politician, a speaker of portentous but empty words best described as a demagogue. The term ‘flip-flopper’ is used for a politician who is habitual in changing his or her opinion or taking a position on a particular issue. ‘Pollywog’ denotes a politician who is considered untrustworthy because of his ever-shifting position on the issues at hand and whose track record corroborates the epithet. Another political slur that is often used to denigrate a politician is ‘Rent-a-Quote’. It is someone who might be relied upon by the media to provide a comment, especially one expressing a strong or contentious opinion either in any circumstances or when a particular issue is being discussed.
A cursory glance at our political history would reveal that the foregoing political slurs can safely be bestowed upon our politicians who have recklessly indulged in politics of self-aggrandisement; lacked the heft and spine to stand up to the anti-democratic forces; have been even conniving with anti-democratic forces to destabilise democracy and democratic institutions for their personal gains; have been changing their political loyalties to swell their fortunes, have been selling their souls to remain in the corridors of power. The end result of it is that the country has suffered enormously due to their shenanigans and most of the challenges confronting the country in one way or the other are linked to the misdeeds of the politicians. They have failed to learn from the setbacks that the country has suffered. They never tire of proclaiming their political credentials but continue to rally forces to destabilise the elected government of an opposing party and strengthen the hands of the forces inimical to democracy.
The media as a representative of society is supposed to defend and promote democracy which is also imperative for its own freedom but regrettably, it is also highly partisan. A section of it is feverishly engaged in strengthening the anti-democratic instead of criticising and discouraging state institutions from interfering in the domain of others and standing up to anti-democratic forces, it is acting as their flag-bearer. It has no sense of proportion.
The political slurs quoted above though can conveniently be applied to almost all the politicians of Pakistan barring a few exceptions, but in the current scenario, they can be safely applied to only one leader of a political party. Guess who fits the bill? If you cannot guess, let me give you a clue, it is the one who is hell-bent on neither playing nor letting others play.