I WAS STARTLED WHEN THE GUY WHIZZED past me in his matte-black BMW i8. He was gunning it down my street, all but leaving smoldering tire tracks like in Back to the Future and, perhaps most damningly, making the pavement vibrate to the new Drake album. My dander got all the way up, and I shouted it before I had time to think. Not "Hey!" Not "Slow down, asshole!" Not "Hey, this is a residential neighborhood full of kids and dogs and at least one family with a giant tortoise as a pet, but that's a story for another time-slow down, asshole!" No.
What came up from the depths of my soul was one perfect syllable, a single word that I yelled at a volume that startled me yet again and may even have briefly earned my dog's respect.
"DORK!"
Dork, I have come to learn, is the perfect insult for this precarious time in our culture. We are facing an onslaught of the mediocre, the relentless advance of the shameless. Reason, emotion, and in some cases the full weight of our justice system all seem to be powerless against them. Nothing we hurl at Ted Cruz or Anthony Kiedis will make them any less delighted with themselves. But if you can't shame them, you can at least make yourself smile. You can watch one of Donald Trump Jr.'s webcam rants and say, "Go to bed, dork." Calling someone a dork is a put-down that lifts you up.
Denne historien er fra October - November 2022-utgaven av Esquire US.
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Denne historien er fra October - November 2022-utgaven av Esquire US.
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This Guy Stood Up to Trump - Georgia's Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, rebuffed Donald Trump's demand to find” votes for him in 2020—and received death threats. Now Trump is back on the ballot, and the pressure is mounting from all sides. Can he once again deliver a fair election?
Georgia's Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, rebuffed Donald Trump's demand to find” votes for him in 2020—and received death threats. Now Trump is back on the ballot, and the pressure is mounting from all sides. Can he once again deliver a fair election?Brad Raffensperger is rattling off statistics while we wait. It's just after 4:00 P.M. on Tuesday, May 21, and the Georgia secretary of state is standing outside a small conference room in an underground bunker on the east side of Atlanta, where he and his staff gather on election days. A couple dozen workers are spread around an open seating area, quietly fielding phone calls and staring at their computer monitors. With its fluorescent lights and gray carpet, the place has the muted feel of a regional sales office. The secretary, though, is energized. As the official in charge of overseeing elections in his state, Raffensperger is always ready to dive into the details.
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