It was a minor incident that quickly entered and left the news cycle. Some might dismiss it as insignificant in the face of more important political events exploding everywhere. However, sometimes small things matter.
What Happened
The incident involved the President’s visit to a Dearborn auto factory in Michigan on January 13. As he left the Ford F-150 plant, a heckler shouted at the President: “Pedophile protector!” The comment evidently referred to the administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case.
A cellphone video at the scene recorded the President angrily responding with an obscene finger gesture and clearly mouthing twice the gesture’s meaning.
Such explosive anger was made worse when an administration spokesman defended the President’s action. In an account that does not correspond to the video, White House communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement to The Washington Post:
“A lunatic was wildly screaming expletives in a complete fit of rage, and the President gave an appropriate and unambiguous response.”
The Need for Standards
The incident expresses well the nation’s brutal and toxic political climate. It is an atmosphere where everything goes and nothing surprises anymore. These expressions of vulgarity and rage attack the social mechanisms that maintain order.
Indeed, standards of decency and civility mitigate the revolting and destructive impact of these appalling words and gestures. They serve as a layer of self-defense, lest these things become publicly acceptable. Indeed, the legacy media, reporting on the incident, dared not print the mouthed words but blanked the offending w—d with dashes out of respect for their readers.
These standards are especially important for those in a position of authority. Politicians carefully avoid using profanity in public because they speak and act in the name of the State. Such words and gestures degrade the noble and honorable office of governing, as they show no respect for God’s law, the public office or the governed.
Alas, those standards of decency are quickly collapsing. Foul-mouthed social influencers are all over the Internet. Media obscenity protections face challenges from “free speech” advocates. Everywhere, people in authority, including police, are pushing the envelope by employing such words and gestures with ever greater frequency. Everyday conversation is filled with expletives. Even minors use them in public school hallways.
The Greatest Victims: Those Who Uphold Decency
Some might dismiss this lament as irrelevant since the problem only affects those who choose to use profanity. However, the ones most affected by this general trend are those who value and defend decency.
These victims are forced to live in a deplorable climate where these words and gestures are constantly employed. It has reached the point where there is no safe haven to shield people and children from such horrible aggression.
This constant exposure to filth (calling it what it is) has a brutalizing effect on all of society. It desensitizes everyone to the horror of this matter. It lowers the level of acceptable behavior. It beats down and exhausts the upright soul. It favors a general atmosphere of sin and depravity. Everyone suffers.
The Remark Hurt
Thus, the President’s remark and gesture hurt. This small, seemingly insignificant incident signals that another barrier of decency has crumbled, since presidents have almost never expressed themselves publicly in this manner. These things are unbecoming of a president, whose office demands that he shine as a role model for the nation.
It is even sadder that the administration would double down and treat this comment not as an unacceptable outburst of anger but as an “appropriate” response.
Such an attitude reflects the notion that brutality can only be met with brutality in a brutal world, not with Christian firmness and courage. Tragically, brutality only enables and prepares for further brutality.