Gosh, I haven't written about a language virus for several months*, but this one has been bugging me for a long time. Here, as documented by Media Matters, is Bill O'Reilly on Wednesday:
When the caller correctly persisted that "Abramoff gave not one dime to a Democrat," O'Reilly ended the call "because that's just fallacious. And you, madam, don't know what you're talking about. OK? So, you are a Kool-Aid drinker who is blinded by whatever neurosis you have, because that's just insane."I simply cannot tell you how much I cringe every time I hear "Kool-Aid" used this way. And it's used A LOT, especially in the blogosphere, as this Technorati search and this Google News search demonstrates.
OK, let's straighten this one out, shall we? First of all, Jim Jones didn't give his Jonestown followers Kool-Aid. Nope, it was grape Flavoraid. It's nice to Google "Jonestown" and "Flavoraid" and see that I'm not alone in correcting this one, but I just had to pass on this info again. Go to Wikipedia and relive the nightmare.
But more importantly, and this is what I haven't seen addressed elsewhere, it's a bad metaphor that makes no sense. Jim Jones didn't make his followers drink sweetened grape sugar-water laced with cyanide so that they would believe everything he told them (this is what the contemporary usage means), he made them drink it so that they would die. Um, that's just a slightly different meaning, wouldn't you say?
*I've never grabbed the credit for this before, but I'm the one who got the whole ball rolling on the "butterstick" phenomenon in the blogosphere, so by reporting about a language virus, I actually helped create a new one. You're welcome.
11 comments:
Guyana punch!
We use kool aid to dye our childrens hair at halloween. We'd never think to drink the stuff.
Maybe the reference is the the old kool aid acid test? the willing abandonment of reality in favor of bad music and double knit?
I'm with you on this one. I really wish people would think about what they're saying actually means, and not just repeat the "hot" phrase of the moment. Does "moonbat" qualify for the same derisive treatment for it's overusage?
This is why we heart you and worship you from afar Ms.Pony..always right on target and looking out for us...in an off-hand sort of way.
Thank you, Dusty!
Xanthippas, I wouldn't use the word "moonbat" because I'm not a "wingnut", and vice-versa. Those are two very stupid words, indeed.
What about the "aluminum hat" thing? That one pisses me off.
And "moonbat" is to neo-cons what "fucktard" is to people who can't stand Bush.
I think Bush is worth going to the trouble to type out, "fucking retard."
Not to get off topic but has your highness seen the photoshop rendition of: Dumbfuck Mountain yet? I love it and it mentions Condi.
Well, while true that the Republican party wouldn't admit it, really their policies are a slow and early death if you are poor or need medical help. and their policies in dealing with terrorism will get us killed sooner than later. So, maybe drinking the flavoraid is apt after all
All these years I thought the references were to "Electric Kool-Aid", which would make more sense actually. Grape Kool Aid was the only magic mushroom delivery system I was able to handle comfortably.
But Douchebag Bill's thinking Jim Jones, not Tom Wolfe. And using a loofah as an enema.
Hey PSP, have you seen the new show on VH1 called "Kool-Aid of Luv" with that old school Pimp Rapper "Kool-Aid"?
Actually, I think the metaphor works. It doesn't mean that the people "drank sweetened grape sugar-water laced with cyanide [and so now] they would believe everything [they are] told." It means that these people blindly follows their leader so completely that they _would_ drink sweetened grape sugar-water laced with cyanide, without questioning the wisdom. In other words, they are manipulable, not manipulated.
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