# Have high level liberal operatives infiltrated the right-wing message machine? NSFW **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 12, 2009, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-high-level-liberal-operatives-infiltrated-the-right-wing-message-machine-nsfw/492813 "2009-04-12T04:04:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-high-level-liberal-operatives-infiltrated-the-right-wing-message-machine-nsfw/492813/21 "2009-04-12T13:14:16Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > I really think this is another case of people linking their niche/unpopular slang term to a supposed reference in the mainstream and then acting in mock: “How could they not have _known_? Are they that _stupid_?” > > Honestly, it’s moronic. If you ask the average person on the street what “teabagging” means, unless they play Halo 3, they’re going to assume it has something to do with actual teabags. > > The same with 2M4M. First, I haven’t seen a personals section of the paper use the phrase M4M in a long time. It’s always written out “Men Seeking Men.” Because the idea of gay people having to use coded signals so as to not alert the heteros of their presence has pretty much been done away with. Secondly, that’s about the best acronym they could get out of their group’s name. Something less catchy would be less effective. > > Basically, it boils down to this: your cute insider phrase is not as popular as you think it is and if someone on the outside starts using it, it’s likely not connected in any way. I’m a 41 year old mostly conservative white male (for reference) and the term teabagging is not obscure to me. Not at all. It’s been around for years. If I asked any of my peers at either job I’m sure I would get 100% recognition (and some weird looks). Never heard of the 2M thing. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-high-level-liberal-operatives-infiltrated-the-right-wing-message-machine-nsfw/492813/22 "2009-04-12T14:04:17Z")
Of course I wouldn’t expect them to necessarily know what it already means. It’s that it’s funny when it rolls out that way. Like when those guys at the Republican convention were selling buttons marked GOP: God’s Own Party. (What’s Arabic for God’s Own Party? _Hizbullah_.) Also, possibly they might have Googled. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Dead\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Badger)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-high-level-liberal-operatives-infiltrated-the-right-wing-message-machine-nsfw/492813/23 "2009-04-12T14:51:09Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Honestly, it’s moronic. If you ask the average person on the street what “teabagging” means, unless they play Halo 3, they’re going to assume it has something to do with actual teabags. I just asked my friend if he knew what it meant; he got it straight away. And he’s _Greek_. If he knows, it’s a safe bet most english-speakers with a social circle bigger than three people also know. Hell, I’m pretty sure even my Christian friends would at least know it’s something unspeakable, if not precisely what. As deviant sexual practices go, it’s hardly space-docking or the spider-man (don’t ask). 2M4M is certainly more tenuous, but it’s still funny, given the context. ---
**Author:** ![valleyofthedolls](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a4c791/32.png) [@valleyofthedolls](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/valleyofthedolls)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-high-level-liberal-operatives-infiltrated-the-right-wing-message-machine-nsfw/492813/24 "2009-04-12T16:33:49Z")
> [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](#): > > You are right. It was juvenile and peevish, but it was not insane. > > And so, for the second time in so many days … [Enjoy!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsaTElBljOE) How was it juvenile and peevish? Your post, on the other hand… For the record, my mother (getting close to 70) told me to “go to digg and get the clip of Rachel Maddow talking about teabagging.” So yeah, my mother knows what teabagging means. I know what teabagging is. I didn’t necessarily want to know that my mother knew what teabagging was. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-high-level-liberal-operatives-infiltrated-the-right-wing-message-machine-nsfw/492813/25 "2009-04-12T16:38:28Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Honestly, it’s moronic. If you ask the average person on the street what “teabagging” means, unless they play Halo 3, they’re going to assume it has something to do with actual teabags. > > The same with 2M4M. First, I haven’t seen a personals section of the paper use the phrase M4M in a long time. It’s always written out “Men Seeking Men.” Because the idea of gay people having to use coded signals so as to not alert the heteros of their presence has pretty much been done away with. Secondly, that’s about the best acronym they could get out of their group’s name. Something less catchy would be less effective. I don’t play Halo 3, I knew immediately what teabagging meant. 2M4M took a “what if you saw it on Craigslist?” for me to start giggling… I’m 42, female, live in the 'burbs, have two elementary school kids, work for a Fortune 500 company. But I hang on the internet. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-high-level-liberal-operatives-infiltrated-the-right-wing-message-machine-nsfw/492813/26 "2009-04-12T16:53:14Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > I’m 42, female, live in the 'burbs, have two elementary school kids, work for a Fortune 500 company. But I hang on the internet. Everyone replying to this thread will know what it means because they hang on the Internet. The vast majority of people DON’T, that’s my point. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-high-level-liberal-operatives-infiltrated-the-right-wing-message-machine-nsfw/492813/27 "2009-04-12T17:10:57Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Everyone replying to this thread will know what it means because they hang on the Internet. > > The vast majority of people DON’T, that’s my point. It was part of the vocabulary of pretty much everyone I knew in college nine years ago. Plus it was in _Pecker_. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-high-level-liberal-operatives-infiltrated-the-right-wing-message-machine-nsfw/492813/28 "2009-04-12T17:12:32Z")
> [@Dead\_Badger](#): > > space-docking or the spider-man (don’t ask). Sorry your request is denied. What’s space-docking or spider-maning? ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-high-level-liberal-operatives-infiltrated-the-right-wing-message-machine-nsfw/492813/29 "2009-04-12T17:12:53Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Everyone replying to this thread will know what it means because they hang on the Internet. > > The vast majority of people DON’T, that’s my point. So the vast majority of people don’t hang on the internet? I think we are past the point where the internet is something reserved for the few. Everyone I know “hangs on the internet” for at least some news or recreation - from my 70 year old mother in law (who spends more time on Facebook than anyone I know) to my nine year old daughter (who probably doesn’t know what teabagging means - her internet use is censored - but it wouldn’t surprise me if her ten year old brother did - his friends are much more worldly.) ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-high-level-liberal-operatives-infiltrated-the-right-wing-message-machine-nsfw/492813/30 "2009-04-12T17:17:18Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > It was part of the vocabulary of pretty much everyone I knew in college nine years ago. Plus it was in _Pecker_. I don’t think inclusion in a John Waters movie constitutes proof that knowledge of teabagging has gone mainstream. It’s not like we’re saying, “Don’t you remember the teabagging scene from Forrest Gump\*?” \*Feel free to substitute your own blockbuster unlikely to include a teabag reference ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-high-level-liberal-operatives-infiltrated-the-right-wing-message-machine-nsfw/492813/31 "2009-04-12T17:17:18Z")
nvm googled. Eh I’ve read/seen worse. If that bothers you stay way from blumpkins. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-high-level-liberal-operatives-infiltrated-the-right-wing-message-machine-nsfw/492813/32 "2009-04-12T17:23:23Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Everyone replying to this thread will know what it means because they hang on the Internet. > > The vast majority of people DON’T, that’s my point. I would agree, but a huge component of the protest is to use the internet to call people to and to setup the events, I would then say that this is an example of conservatives taking the support of younger people for granted or an example that they sure can learn to use modern tools, but they still assume that all viewer groups are the same. The “vast majority of people” are changing, but the extreme right is ignoring that. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-high-level-liberal-operatives-infiltrated-the-right-wing-message-machine-nsfw/492813/33 "2009-04-12T17:31:37Z")
> [@42fish](#): > > I don’t think inclusion in a John Waters movie constitutes proof that knowledge of teabagging has gone mainstream. It’s not like we’re saying, “Don’t you remember the teabagging scene from Forrest Gump\*?” No, that was just a throw-in. I take the fact that everyone I knew (other than my mother, whose English is patchy) knew what it was as evidence that it’s “mainstream”. Anyway, any major organization these days checks out names before they use them to make sure they aren’t trademarked or offensive to certain groups and the like. I would have assumed that a giant coalition of grumpy right-wingers counts as a “major organization”. ---
**Author:** ![Long\_Time\_First\_Time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@Long\_Time\_First\_Time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Long_Time_First_Time)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-high-level-liberal-operatives-infiltrated-the-right-wing-message-machine-nsfw/492813/34 "2009-04-12T17:32:51Z")
In addition to the folks who spend all their time on the internet, there are the ones who watch TV [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGNWCwCrUKk](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGNWCwCrUKk) It’s been a fairly main stream term for quite a while. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-high-level-liberal-operatives-infiltrated-the-right-wing-message-machine-nsfw/492813/35 "2009-04-12T17:56:37Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > So the vast majority of people don’t hang on the internet? I think we are past the point where the internet is something reserved for the few. Everyone I know “hangs on the internet” for at least some news or recreation - from my 70 year old mother in law (who spends more time on Facebook than anyone I know) to my nine year old daughter (who probably doesn’t know what teabagging means - her internet use is censored - but it wouldn’t surprise me if her ten year old brother did - his friends are much more worldly.) No, the vast majority don’t. A lot of people _use_ the Internet, but the vast majority (including your average Republican anti-gay marriage doucebag) don’t hang on it the way we do. Not to mention the fact that 25% of the country don’t really use the Internet at all. > **[internetworldstats.com](http://www.internetworldstats.com/am/us.htm)** ---
**Author:** ![Ichini\_Sanshigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/d9b06d/32.png) [@Ichini\_Sanshigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichini_Sanshigo)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-high-level-liberal-operatives-infiltrated-the-right-wing-message-machine-nsfw/492813/36 "2009-04-12T19:10:42Z")
> [@Dead\_Badger](#): > > I just asked my friend if he knew what it meant; he got it straight away. And he’s _Greek_. If he knows, it’s a safe bet most english-speakers with a social circle bigger than three people also know. Hell, I’m pretty sure even my Christian friends would at least know it’s something unspeakable, if not precisely what. As deviant sexual practices go, it’s hardly **space-docking or the spider-man** (don’t ask). I looked those up. I hate you. This is the first time I’ve ever had to use “brain bleach”. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-high-level-liberal-operatives-infiltrated-the-right-wing-message-machine-nsfw/492813/37 "2009-04-12T19:16:02Z")
Wow, politics ruins everything! We can’t even tease some poor schlubs who inadvertently used a sex term to mean something else? The people calling their protest teabagging, rather than a tea party as others did, clearly didn’t know the sexual connotations of the word. That’s sort of funny. Does it matter if they should have known or not? Or if other people like them know, or if X percent of people know? ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-high-level-liberal-operatives-infiltrated-the-right-wing-message-machine-nsfw/492813/38 "2009-04-12T19:19:02Z")
> [@Dead\_Badger](#): > > I just asked my friend if he knew what it meant; he got it straight away. And he’s _Greek_. BTW, he’s Greek, huh? Does he take many trips to Greece? 😛 Not that I’d know what that means. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-high-level-liberal-operatives-infiltrated-the-right-wing-message-machine-nsfw/492813/39 "2009-04-12T19:29:12Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > BTW, he’s Greek, huh? Does he take many trips to Greece? 😛 > Not that I’d know what that means. damnit I keep googling out of morbid curiosity expecting the worst. It never is. I have to say if this what passes as controversial it’s good thing the Democrats never referred to an aggressive initiative as a Donkey Punch. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-high-level-liberal-operatives-infiltrated-the-right-wing-message-machine-nsfw/492813/40 "2009-04-12T19:31:54Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > Wow, politics ruins everything! We can’t even tease some poor schlubs who inadvertently used a sex term to mean something else? The people calling their protest teabagging, rather than a tea party as others did, clearly didn’t know the sexual connotations of the word. That’s sort of funny. Does it matter if they should have known or not? Or if other people like them know, or if X percent of people know? From what I understand it isn’t called a tea party because part of the protest or movement or whatever called for sending teabags to their representatives. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-high-level-liberal-operatives-infiltrated-the-right-wing-message-machine-nsfw/492813.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-high-level-liberal-operatives-infiltrated-the-right-wing-message-machine-nsfw/492813.md?page=3)