Commentary: Three Dirty Words

Over the past twenty years I have witnessed three words become “dirty words” in the arena of public media. Now you can be derided publicly for being a treehugger, feminist or hippy. Politicians and “moralists” like to snidely reference all of the above as being the reason for most of society’s ills. We wouldn’t have abortion rights if it wasn’t for those damned feminists. We can’t build that nuke plant because of those treehuggers. Those damned hippies never did a day’s work in their lives. I don’t know how many times I have heard a woman on TV or the radio begin a comment with “I’m not a feminist, but …” as if you have to apologize for supporting your own gender. With global deforestation upon us and nuclear disasters in Japan, perhaps the treehuggers – or the environmentalists – were right all along. This is the only planet we’ve got – period. Trash it andwe humans go extinct along with everything else. Once upon a time, “hippies” advocated peace, love and understanding. Now, we have endless war and hate-mongering in the culture everywhere. And this is an improvement? I have three words for people who use these three words in a sneering, self righteous way – fuck you, assholes.