So I saw this today:
What did it mean, I thought? I assumed it was in reference to the helicopter crash, and culpability.
I was wrong. I googled “get the helicopter” in quotes.
It is this:
me.me/…
If you don’t want to click (or google), suffice it to say that it is a cute little phrase referencing Chile’s death squads under Pinochet. It goes with a “free helicopter rides” meme. It is a thing. Which I did not know.
And it is apparently popular on sites that argue for doing violent things to liberal people. I’ll leave that googling to you.
I’m not sure which is worse: that she thinks this was a hip, incisive thing to say, that she thought it was remotely appropriate anywhere, or that the phrase is part of a culture that features evil ripoffs of Pepe’ the Frog and Reddit threads arguing for the “physical removal” of democrats.
The direct attacks on civil rights, the prospect of armageddon, the loss of American soft power, with all that will mean for the economy — all that gets my attention. But I’ve been most chilled by their language. “I alone can fix it” and the slavish circumlocutions of Potemkin cabinet meetings. Even more than actual choices bringing forth our emergent dystopia — to which I can respond by running from the monster, or sparring with it, or going back to tell the others, or thinking hard about monsters — the language is to me a glimpse, the darkness under the hood, the moment when you truly see not just policy but soul.
And sometimes people’s choice of words can tell you a lot about where they are going and the stories which take them there.
Thank you for reading this very short diary…
