THE LEGENDARY LANGUAGE OF IAN DURY RETURNS: Punk Rocker Foretold This Week’s ‘Spaz’ Controversy.
The late great Ian Dury left behind important words for pop musicians and fans to remember: “I wibble when I piddle / Cos my middle is a riddle.” That’s from Dury’s outrageous but inspiring 1981 single “Spasticus Autisticus,” the most controversial of the singer-songwriter’s bawdy tunes. It gains new relevance with the self-imposed censorship displayed by Lizzo and Beyoncé, the latest pop stars submitting to Internet mob intimidation.
Both Lizzo and Beyoncé announced they would change the lyrics of their respective songs “Grrrls” and “Heated” after public complaints that each track uses the word “spaz.” The slang term for an inept, gangly person who lacks physical control is a clipped version of “spastic paralysis,” as in cerebral palsy. Lizzo and Beyoncé have made it a cause, part of the ongoing language putsch that changes the use and meaning of words — whether “infrastructure,” “recession” or “spaz” — for political purposes and social regulation.
Apparently neither Lizzo nor Beyoncé was aware of Ian Dury’s artistry, bravery, and culture emancipation. Dury was afflicted with polio as a child, but his thin, slightly bent figure possessed compact determination that powered his musical rhythm and wit. He was one of the bright lights during the British punk movement’s efflorescence, carving personal space out of its famously political anarchy. Finding liberty in punk artistry, Dury updated the tradition of British music-hall ribaldry and rude folk humor. “Spasticus Autisticus” was ultimate proof that Dury presented his person as an example of proud self-identification — not shame or pity but unstoppable individual will.
The artistic censorship Lizzo and Beyoncé embrace is really just condescension. It goes against their pretense of free speech and feminist freedom, tactics that limit them as progressive icons. Yet this “sensitive” posturing exposes the PC game-playing that makes dupes of the fans they pretend to glorify. They belong to the new breed of political stooges who don’t know the difference between a label, an epithet, and an insult.
Related: Beyonce Caves to the Leftist Language Police and We Have a Few Things to Say About That.
At what point does the Orwellian attempt to curtail language stop?
The left wants to lock us into a cult where they get to decide what are acceptable words to use. That is absurd. Maybe that’s the point — to remove the ability to criticize anything that they say — so nothing can be idiotic, crazy, lame, or stupid, when so many things the left pushes are exactly that. It’s to stop the questioning of the narrative and conform. It creates continuing chaos, so we no longer have moorings to reality and our own thought. We are always kowtowing to what we are told we must say. Treat each other with respect and you can’t go wrong, but locking yourself into this kind of a construct is nuts.
So, no, I reject that as we all should. That’s just dumb and insane.
If Beyonce had ignored the outrage mob, or simply replied, “Guys, it’s just a song,” the mob would have shrugged its collective shoulders and moved on to the next target. Why would she enable them with her surrender?