That odd thing of it suddenly becoming very important to one subset of US leftists to be allowed to say "retard".
Deus Vult and trebuchet memes.
Sure I've said this here before, but something I find really inexplicable about the obsession alt-right memesters have with the Crusades is that the actual, historical Crusades were ultimately a complete failure and in fact accelerated the collapse of Christian civilization in the Near/Middle East.
But I guess maybe it really doesn't go any deeper than "These guys fought Muslims, omg so cool". Plus, you know, swords are awesome. Like in Game Of Thrones.
A whole register of affectation. Flat vowels that weren't at all the vowels you grew up using. Deliberately docked and stunted language, the way people with less education than you were imagined to talk. Risk-free language, no hostages to fortune, nothing you could get pulled up on.Then in private the real attitudes come out, the disgust for the very people being condescended towards, the resentment at having to cram yourself into this little box in order to be seen as doing right by them.
I live by goldsmiths and work by Tate modern and I see Young People with haircuts and clothes that remind me of the social workers and activists and legal aid lawyers my parents were friends with in the '80s. The Puritan aesthetic. Shaved heads. Sackcloth and ashes. Pursed lips.