I grew up in a household where music, cinema and literature were never censored. I was exposed to television that would have otherwise made the Baptist mother’s of my elementary friend’s quake at their knees. Needless to say, I was savvy to all of the current cuss words. Thats why I was completely shocked at my parent’s recent reaction over the simple turn of phrase, “emo-hispter douchebag.” They were totally taken aback by the fact I would actually think to call someone this (and by someone, I mean emo-hipster douchebags in general…. whoever they are.) For my parents, it was the ultimate insult and held none of the lightness, satire or slang-association that my friends and I applied to it. In a home where I thought anything goes, I had found the household Achilles heel. I mentioned my cussing faux-pas to the Gumboot editors and quicker than you can say Lord Douchebag, the Daily Gumboot was rolling out a weeklong series on douchebags for your education and enjoyment.
I would argue that nowhere in the annals of blogging has the term “douchebag” been more explored than here, on the Daily Gumboot. In particular, the different perspectives that herald from Germany, East Africa and Argentina does as much to shroud this nebulous word in mystery as it does to shed light on it. I’ve learned many things from reading this blog’s line-up of articles discussing the douchebag, Tarado, Makmende and Spacko. I have enjoyed the back and forth play between contributors on the merits and disadvantages of douchebags in the community, and reading about the historical significance of the word – stretching and assimilating every possible meaning behind it.
But most of all, this series has left me thinking about memes. A meme is when something – a word, song, movie, expression, or movement – is passed on from one individual to the next. When we say something has “gone viral,” we mean it’s reached meme status. I would argue that the term douchebag is now a meme. From the emo-hipster douchebag (urbandictionary.com has yet to list this one) to Sarah Silverman’s Douche Canoe, the word douchebag carries a lot of baggage which, if you take the pun seriously, says something about pop culture today.
I have no doubt, that when Saturday Night Live first aired their infamous Lord and Lady Douchbag skit in 1980, my parents were blown away and tickled pink by the gall and humour of the cast and writers. What was fresh and controversial for my parents is classic, pioneer humour for me. When I watch the skit, I think of the words “playful,” “naughty” and “obnoxious.” I suppose you could apply these words, combined or not, to douchebags and those of us who use the term as liberally as we do, today.
Well done, Gumbooters! If there were a douchebag-reporting award, I think we would win it – or is that way too douchey of me to say?