NOTE: This isn’t about choosing one political side or the other. Any idiot could have said the following quote. Apparently some idiot did.
Mitt Romney ‘Shellshocked’ After Lost Election, Adviser Says
from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/08/mitt-romney-lost-election_n_2095013.html
OK — so let me get this straight. This dude thought he was capable of being THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and yet losing an election leaves him “Shellshocked” ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
I don’t even know how many “?!” that actually requires at the end of the sentence. It might need more.
Presidents have to be able to handle themselves when the shit goes down. For instance, a President is expected to seem like they’ve got their shit together when they are told that the Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor. THAT is the kind of thing that tests a leader for how big their balls are, not an election.
If a person can’t handle losing an election, they don’t have what it takes to be President.
Shell shock is a term used to describe soldiers who’ve seen combat with bombs dropping on them, not guys who spent piles of other people’s cash and failed to win a popularity contest.
Shell shock was the reaction of soldiers in World War I to the trauma of battle. It has been described as a reaction to the intensity of the bombardment and fighting that produced a helplessness appearing variously as panic, or flight, an inability to reason, sleep, walk or talk. “Simply put, after even the most obedient soldier had enough shells rain down on him, without any means of fighting back, he often lost all self control.”
from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shellshock
With one simple word, his advisor made it seem as if he was the type of guy who couldn’t even handle not being chosen first when they were picking kickball teams.
With an advisor like that, who needs enemies?
Every once in a while, choice of words makes a HUGE difference.
Think about that when naming a product, writing a headline, or describing the politician that you’re allegedy working for.