‘Flopping’ exists in modern politics as much as it does in modern soccer.
You’re probably familiar with the concept of “flopping” in soccer – two players bump into each other, and one dramatically falls backward and acts like he’s been egregiously and deliberately injured, trying to convince the ref to call a foul on the other player.
There’s a similar dynamic at work in modern politics. Politics is inevitably going to generate differences and conflict, and somebody, somewhere, is going to sneer at you, insult you or call you a name. It’s not pleasant, but it is as inevitable as two soccer players bumping into each other while pursuing the ball. No matter how smart you are, no matter how nice you are, no matter how reasonable you are, and no matter how right you are, somebody out there is going to call you an idiot. Or, on social media, they’re likely to write, “your an idiot.”
Instead of shrugging off name-calling or sneering criticism as just an unpleasant but inevitable part of the back-and-forth of free debate, quite a few folks choose to “flop,” and claim to be victims of “verbal violence” or “hate speech” or abuse or intimidation. This morning, SiriusXM host Dean Obeidallah is claiming that WMAL radio show host Larry O’Connor is a fascist and threatening him, because he replied to one of his tweets with an image of Virginia lieutenant governor Winsome Sears holding a gun, after Obeidallah contended, “NOTHING- I mean nothing– triggers the right like a strong Black woman with power.”
Obeidallah contends O’Connor sent “an image of a GOP official holding a gun to threaten me into silence. The GOP is a FASCIST movement-even the so called ‘moderate’ GOPers think threats of violence are acceptable.”
Flop! Flop! Flop! Ref, why aren’t you calling this?
It’s all so tiresome. Obeidallah contends conservatives are afraid of strong black women, O’Connor responds by pointing to a strong black woman that conservatives support, and Obeidallah reacts like O’Connor is taking an axe through his door like Jack Torrance. Look at me! I’m being threatened! I’m a victim! Isn’t this the worst thing ever?
Peter Doocy of Fox News might be the coolest man in the White House press corps because the president of the United States called him a “stupid son of a bitch” and Doocy just laughed it off. Of course, it was wrong and unpresidential of Biden to say it – but as Jay Nordlinger remembers, lots of presidents and vice presidents have momentarily lost their cool and ripped into reporters. In the grand scheme of things, Biden snapping at a question he doesn’t like amounts to an unflattering moment for Biden, but no one is going to remember it a week from now. Doocy is a man confident enough to laugh at himself, joking afterwards, “nobody has fact-checked him yet and said it’s not true.”
Doocy could have characterized it as “an attack on the free press,” a “chilling assault on the First Amendment,” warned that democracy was dying in darkness, and all of that. In other words, Doocy could have flopped, and tried to convince everyone that Biden losing his cool and sneering was a bigger deal than it was. CNN’s Jim Acosta is still proclaiming how victimized he was by President Trump, saying “I’ve got the marks on my back to prove it.” (Does anyone at CNN think that a whipping metaphor could be just a little over the top?)
The world has real problems – problems that are much bigger than someone on social media saying something mean to you. Are there times where angry rhetoric crosses the line and turns into a genuine threat? Absolutely. Unfortunately, there are a lot of angry nut jobs online. But the ease of modern anonymous communications means that sending a menacing rant or threat has become much easier. Thankfully, the overwhelming majority of threatening messages do not turn into actual violence. If you really think that somebody’s message to you is a precursor to violence, don’t waste time trying to attract attention to yourself on Twitter. Call the cops.
Ultimately, this is a culture that rewards and incentivizes victimhood and ignores or denigrates stoicism.