#wrong target

Right wing shitbirds always have their finger on the pulse of what’s wrong absolutely nowhere.

[The Daily Don]

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Most of the pop US political lexicon, and all of it coined by America's MAGA Republicans, consists of bogus words, but "woke" takes the cake for utter political nonsense and the audience's willingness to tolerate it. Simon Kuper: Every era generates its own nonsensical political language. The number one meaningless word right now is “woke”, which is used to signify “any acknowledgment of racism or sexism”, “expressing an opinion while black or female”, or just “a new thing that I don’t like”. I’ve tried to identify some of today’s other bogus political words and phrases:

• “Freedom”: typically used by US libertarians to signify “my freedom, not yours”. When they invoke “freedom”, they usually mean, “I should be free to do what I like, whether it’s buying a gun, driving my car through your city or not wearing a mask.” They don’t acknowledge the trade-offs; their freedoms restrict other people’s freedom to go outside safely or not catch Covid-19. The case study of “my freedom, not yours” is self-proclaimed “free-speech absolutist” Elon Musk letting authoritarian regimes censor content on Twitter.

• “Conservative”, “populist”: both terms are routinely applied to Trump-style movements. However, these movements are anything but “conservative” in that they aim to destroy traditional institutions. “Populism” did once have an agreed academic meaning — Cas Mudde defined it as the idea that politics was a clash between the “pure people” and the “corrupt elite” — but this clarity has been lost in popular debate. The best word to describe Trumpian movements is usually “nativist” or “far-right”.

• “Witch-hunt”: a phrase that has become the first refuge of any political scoundrel in legal trouble. Anyone tempted to believe it without asking for corroborating evidence should reflect that it has been used by speakers with the credibility of George Santos, the Republican congressman charged with fraud, and Donald Trump before him.

• “The media” (or “mainstream media”): a meaningless phrase because there are countless very different media, which don’t act in concert.

• “Not a panacea”: a phrase often used to criticise a particular policy, but meaningless because no intervention in society is a panacea.

• “Gets it”: a social media phrase that is used to mean “agrees with me”.

• “Not perfect”: often used to defend a political regime, as in, “My country’s government is not perfect, but . . . ” In truth, since no human creation is perfect, the phrase is intended only to deflect valid criticism.

• “Fake news”: in 2016, this meant factories of low-paid trolls producing false content that masqueraded as news on Facebook. Trump — today’s leading producer of bogus political language — repurposed the phrase to mean any news story inconvenient to the speaker.

• “We will meet this target by 2030, 2050, etc”: this means, “It’s up to future leaders to decide whether they will make any sacrifices to meet this target.”

• “Sustainable luxury”, “sustainable flying”, etc: usually means something like, “We have cut the carbon emissions of our packaging by 7 per cent, so buy more of our stuff.”

• “Critical race theory”, “gender theory”, “Marxism”: terms mostly used by nativists who have read precisely zero works from any of these fields.

• “Cancelled”: some people have genuinely been deprived of public platforms or even sacked for saying things that were perceived (often wrongly) to be bigoted. Usually, though, people who claim to have been “cancelled” mean “criticised”, “convicted of sexual assault”, “replaced by somebody who isn’t an overt bigot” or simply “ignored”. I’ll always remember the obscure French writer who told me that Le Monde was “boycotting” his books.

• “Community”: often used to mean “ethnic group”, as in the “Jewish community”, “Hispanic community”, “black community”, etc. The pretence is that all “Hispanics”, for instance, are united. You can then go and see their “community leaders” — often self-appointed elderly men — who will tell you what the “community” wants. The word is typically used by white people who would never consider themselves members of the “white community”. They think they are individuals, with their own views.

“Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind,” wrote George Orwell in his 1946 essay “Politics and the English Language” (the complete guide on how to write in just 13 pages). He lists other “worn-out and useless” words and phrases that were disappearing in his day: jackboot, Achilles heel, hotbed, melting pot, acid test, veritable inferno. The same fate later befell words overused in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks: “heroes” (a euphemism for victims) and “greatest country on earth” (meaning largest military and GDP). People were also eventually shamed out of saying “international community” or “resigning to spend time with my family”. As Orwell said, you can only think clearly once you ditch meaningless words.

Nightmares are nothing more than a bad dream. So why does it make your heart speed up in terror? Keep you awake in the middle of the night, possibly for days. Why does it make you wake up at a time you wouldn’t want to be awake at?

A dream, is all it was. But why does it look so real? She could see the silhouette of a man in the darkness of her room. Sure, (Y/N) has had nightmares before. But this was more extreme, even on her second day in Japan. She just moved here. What is she supposed to expect?

Definitely not a man sitting in her room. She really didn’t believe it either, though. It’s just a dream.

“Who’s there?” She calls out into the darkness.

After a few minutes of silence, and the silhouette not moving, she sits up straighter to get a better look. The moon light from her window being the only light source.

Before she could move half way up, a low chuckle echoes through the walls.

Definitely not a dream, then.

“W-who’s there?” (Y/N) gasps, grasping her blanket as if it’ll protect her.

“You already asked that.” A man finally speaks.

“Well you didn’t answer it the first time.” Her usually snarky remarks pop out of her mouth. She quickly covers her mouth with her hands, scared of what the man would do to her.

The man just chuckles. She watches as his arm moves to rest his head on. Again, only a silhouette. “Wow. You don’t seem afraid at all.”

“I-I’m sorry! It-it just came out!” She quickly answers.

The man stands up, walking closer to (Y/N). The girl gasps once again, scooting herself backwards to get away from him. Only for her back to hit the headboard of her bed.

“Stay back!” She says with confidence.

He grabs her ankle when he gets close enough, dragging her down closer to him. He was so fast, she didn’t notice her wrists being held above her head, and the mans face so close to hers.

She could see him now. A twenty year old, she’d say. Black spiky hair, with bright blue eyes. His skin looked to be burned. No....it was attached back with staples. So technically, he looked like patch work.

He smirks, grabbing something from his pocket with his free hand, as the other is holding her wrists. A switch was heard, and a cold blade was pressed up against her neck. She squeaks at the cold metal, and at the sharp thing so dangerously close to her skin.

“Now, I have a few words from my boss he’d like to say to you.” He pauses, seeing my confusion. “Seeing as your the one who tricked him and all.” He explains to wrap up her memory. He only sees more confusion in her eyes. “You know, Shigaraki?” He adds.

(Y/N) turns her head in even more confusion. “Who?” She asks. He blinks, shocked about her memory not kicking in for one of the most popular villains in Japan. “And tricked him? I don’t even know this guy. Not to mention I just moved here two days ago.” She says casually.

He stays quiet, contemplating on what to do. “So....your not the lady I’m supposed to kill?” He asks aloud.

“I-I don’t know... I don’t think I’ve gotten onto anybody’s kill list yet...” She whispers.

Dabi thinks back to when he got the job.

“Here.”

“What’s this?” Dabi looks at the piece of paper his leader gave him.

“An address. This lady tricked me a while back. Kill her for me.” Shigaraki demands, walking away.

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“402....?” Dabi reads the note as he walks to the apartment complex. It had a room number.

Before he could even put it in his pocket, the wind picks up and takes it out of his hands. Dabi stops, looking back towards the flying piece of paper as it gets further and further away.

“Shit....”

“Damn. I got the wrong place.” He says, letting (Y/N) go and stepping away from her. “What room number is this?”

“Um....401...”

He lets out a long sigh. “Alright. I’m letting you go. Your lucky.” He says, walking out of the room. “Don’t tell anyone about this.” Is the last thing she hears before a door is shut.

(Y/N) sits on her bed, very confused on what just happened. A killer got the wrong place, and wrong target. Let me live...

She goes to fluff her pillow to go back to sleep, only to be stopped by a couple of screams. She looks over at the wall next door. So he was going after my neighbor?

She laughs. “Man, am I lucky...” Sleep overtakes her body, sending her back to the dream world.

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