Cuckservative Explained

"Cuckservative" is a pejorative[1] formed as a portmanteau of "cuck", an abbreviation of the word "cuckold", and the political designation "conservative".[2] It has become a derogatory label used by white nationalists and the alt-right in the United States to denigrate conservatives.[3] [4]

The word "cuckservative" reached a high level of mainstream political conversation around mid-July 2015, where it gained media attention just a few weeks before the start of the first Republican primary debate for the 2016 United States presidential election.[5]

The term, as well as the shortened form "cuck" for cuckold, originated on websites such as 4chan (specifically the /pol/ imageboard) and 8chan, the right-wing message board My Posting Career,[1] the blog The Right Stuff,[6] and other sites associated with the alt-right.[7] [8]

Definition and origin

One definition of "cuckservative" is someone who is associated with the right-wing politics in contemporary America but also opposes white supremacy.[9] According to Richard B. Spencer, a white supremacist, the term is a shorthand used to express "a certain kind of contempt for conservatives".

Initially, the term was also used by social conservatives in a manner similar to "Republican In Name Only" (RINO) against conservatives who were seen as not conservative enough.[10] Social conservatives use the term to condemn Republicans they accuse of running on socially conservative values to appeal to their base during an election cycle only to use vote trading to compromise on those values while in office and, thus, capitulate to liberal politicians and public sentiment.[11] Some observers, such as the Southern Poverty Law Center, say that the term's usage was rising among white supremacists in the United States as of August 2015.

The term "cuckold" has a long history as an insult implying that a specific man is weak and emasculated, and may even feel pleasure at his own humiliation. The shortened form "cuck" arose in this manner as an Internet insult, and it also refers to a genre of pornography in which a married woman spurns her weak husband for sex with a strong man. The husband is thus cuckolded or "cucked".

Some American political writers have suggested that the terms "cuck" and "cuckservative" are fetish charged due to their pornographic roots, instead of simply being a sexual insult like the original "cuckold".[12] [13] Thus, "cuck" is said by various writers to project the insulter's anxieties and insults by insinuating that the target is weak or enjoys his humiliation.[14] [15] The term "cuckservative" is said to imply that certain Republicans are humiliated through their actions while feeling thrilled from their own degradation of others because of the "abandonment of their own moral standards."[16] [17]

White supremacists have used the term to condemn white politicians who they say unknowingly promote "the interests of Jews and non-whites."[18] The Anti-Defamation League says that the term is used by white supremacists as a synonym of the pre-existing phrase "race traitors".[18] Those in the self-described conservative media targeted by the "cuckservative" slur, as well as journalists and commentators from other media outlets, have decried the term as an anti-Christian,[3] racist slur[19] and a rallying cry for white supremacists and neoreactionaries.[20]

A conservative news site in Spain translated "cuckservative" to "cornuservador", stating that: "Republicans are nothing but the 'controlled opposition' completely in the hands of the political left, whose only aspiration is for those rare occasions when those hands pat them on the head, and the media rewards them with the coveted adjective 'moderate': these are the cornuservadores."[21]

Use

Jeet Heer of The New Republic wrote that the word is a "fine example of how the sound of a word can reinforce its meaning: abrasive on the ears, cuckservative appropriately enough has an ugly origin and meaning".[17] The word was most popularly adopted in mid-2015 after some alt-right web users were disapproving of the attempts by John McCain, Jeb Bush, and other Republicans to establish more politically conservative positions, dubbing those who did "cuckservatives". Over a matter of weeks, the term then proceeded to attain usage additionally on social media and the wider internet.[17]

Writing for Hot Air, Taylor Millard criticized the word and its history of usage by white supremacists on the political right. He called it short-sighted, giving his opinion that Rand Paul's popularity at leading majority-black universities could make African Americans more conservative in the future.[9] Matt Lewis, in The Daily Beast, gave his opinion that the word could become as popular with Republicans as "RINO" (Republican In Name Only), even if they were oblivious to its often fetish connotations.[20] Writing in The Washington Post, David Weigel described the term as arising from disaffected elements of the right wing.[1]

See also

Notes and References

  1. News: Weigel . David . July 29, 2015 . 'Cuckservative' — the conservative insult of the month, explained . Washington Post . August 21, 2015 . April 29, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160429191849/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/07/29/cuckservative-the-conservative-insult-of-the-month-explained/ . live .
  2. News: Rozsa . Matthew . August 13, 2015 . Conservatives' crippling masculinity crisis: Cuckservatives, men's rights activism and the privilege the right refuses to acknowledge . Salon . August 21, 2015 . August 22, 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150822001257/http://www.salon.com/2015/08/13/conservatives_crippling_masculinity_crisis_cuckservatives_mens_rights_activism_and_the_privilege_the_right_refuses_to_acknowledge_partner/ . live .
  3. News: Petersen . Austin . August 4, 2015 . Is "Cuckservative" the New, Hip Racial Slur For White Nationalists? . The Libertarian Republic . August 21, 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150910041435/http://thelibertarianrepublic.com/is-cuckservative-the-new-hip-racial-slur-for-white-nationalists/ . September 10, 2015 . dead .
  4. Web site: 'Cuck,' 'snowflake,' 'masculinist': A guide to the language of the 'alt-right' . Roy . Jessica . Los Angeles Times . November 16, 2016 . March 30, 2017 . June 14, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170614225411/http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-pol-alt-right-terminology-20161115-story.html . live .
  5. News: Bernstein . Joseph . July 28, 2015 . Behind The Racist Hashtag That Is Blowing Up Twitter . BuzzFeed . August 21, 2015 . August 20, 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150820012156/http://www.buzzfeed.com/josephbernstein/behind-the-racist-hashtag-some-donald-trump-fans-love . live .
  6. Web site: Alt Right: A Primer about the New White Supremacy. February 10, 2016. Anti-Defamation League. February 27, 2016. February 18, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170218012105/http://www.adl.org/combating-hate/domestic-extremism-terrorism/c/alt-right-a-primer-about-the.html. live.
  7. News: Gray. Rosie. How 2015 Fueled The Rise Of The Freewheeling, White Nationalist Alt Right Movement. Buzzfeed News. December 27, 2015. February 6, 2016. June 12, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180612211235/https://www.buzzfeed.com/rosiegray/how-2015-fueled-the-rise-of-the-freewheeling-white-nationali. live.
  8. News: Welton . Benjamin . What, Exactly, is the 'Alternative Right?' . The Weekly Standard . February 1, 2016 . February 5, 2016 . January 31, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160131142350/http://www.weeklystandard.com/what-exactly-is-the-alternative-right/article/2000310 . dead .
  9. News: Millard . Taylor . July 26, 2015 . Don't believe the #cuckservative lie . Hot Air . August 21, 2015 . August 21, 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150821051051/http://hotair.com/archives/2015/07/26/dont-believe-the-cuckservative-lie/ . dead .
  10. News: Yuhas . Alan . August 13, 2015 . 'Cuckservative': the internet's latest Republican insult hits where it hurts . The Guardian . August 21, 2015 . August 19, 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150819021412/http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/aug/13/cuckservative-republicans-conservatives-jeb-bush . live .
  11. News: Rappeport . Alan . August 13, 2015 . From the Right, a New Slur for G.O.P. Candidates . New York Times . August 21, 2015 . August 16, 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150816004638/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/13/us/from-the-right-a-new-slur-for-gop-candidates.html . live .
  12. Web site: Walsh. Joan. The GOP crack-up continues. Salon. August 3, 2015. November 18, 2015. August 16, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210816052048/https://www.salon.com/2015/08/03/the_gop_crack_up_continues_the_raging_civil_war_over_the_disgusting_%E2%80%9Ccuckservative%E2%80%9D_slur/. live.
  13. News: Bernstein. Joseph. Behind The Racist Hashtag That Is Blowing Up Twitter. BuzzFeed. November 18, 2015. August 20, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150820012156/http://www.buzzfeed.com/josephbernstein/behind-the-racist-hashtag-some-donald-trump-fans-love#.tfxNevKpWb. live.
  14. Web site: Futrelle . David . Inside the Dangerous Convergence of Mens-Rights Activists and the Alt-Right . . 2017-03-31 . 2017-07-04 . mdy-all . July 19, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210719012407/https://www.thecut.com/2017/03/what-james-jackson-reveals-about-mgtow-and-the-alt-right.html . live .
  15. News: The First White President. Ta-Nehisi Coates. Ta-Nehisi Coates. October 2017. The Atlantic. https://web.archive.org/web/20180518183609/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/10/the-first-white-president-ta-nehisi-coates/537909/. 2018-05-18. en-US.
  16. News: . August 7, 2015 . Getting Cucky: A Brief Primer On The Radical Right's Newest 'Cuckservative' Meme . Southern Poverty Law Center . August 21, 2015 . August 15, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160815052357/https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2015/08/07/getting-cucky-brief-primer-radical-right%E2%80%99s-newest-%E2%80%98cuckservative%E2%80%99-meme . live .
  17. News: Heer . Jeet . July 26, 2015 . Conservatives Are Holding a Conversation About Race . New Republic . August 21, 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150729080954/http://www.newrepublic.com/article/122372/conservatives-are-holding-conversation-about-race . July 29, 2015 . dead . mdy-all .
  18. News: Greenblatt . Jonathan . August 11, 2015 . White Supremacists Relish "Cuckservative" Controversy . ADL . August 21, 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150813235534/http://blog.adl.org/extremism/white-supremacists-relish-cuckservative-controversy . August 13, 2015 . dead .
  19. News: Christopher . Tommy . July 29, 2015 . Trump Fans Target 'Mike Cuckabee' for Being a 'Cuckservative' . Mediaite . August 21, 2015 . August 22, 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150822173812/http://www.mediaite.com/online/trump-fans-target-mike-cuckabee-for-being-a-cuckservative/ . live .
  20. News: Lewis . Matt . July 28, 2015 . Twitter's Right-Wing Civil War . The Daily Beast . August 21, 2015 . August 22, 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150822031124/http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/07/28/twitter-s-right-wing-civil-war.html . live .
  21. News: Esteban . Carlos . August 8, 2015 . 'Cornuservador': el término que saca de quicio al Partido Republicano . es . 'Cuckservative': the term that annoys the Republican Party . Gaceta . dead . August 21, 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150810024539/http://www.gaceta.es/noticias/cornuservador-termino-saca-quicio-partido-republicano-08082015-1229/ . 2015-08-10.

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