December 29, 2018

What does "you do you" really mean?

That's a question I had to google after reading "The Thinnest Skins In Media In 2018/Their diapers runneth over" (HuffPo). The first entry on the list is "Jake Tapper, CNN Anchor And Respecter Of Troops." And this exchange is presented as evidence:



See the relevant line, in the middle? "I'm not mad. You misquoted me, I pointed it out, and instead of correcting yourself you reacted like a child. You do you."

My Google search turned up "How ‘You Do You’ Perfectly Captures Our Narcissistic Culture" (NYT, March 2015). Excerpt:
Haters hate; that’s them doing them. No matter how saintly you are, the kittens rescued and orphanages saved from demolition, people yearn to bring you down. Classify your antagonists as haters, however, and your flaws are absolved by their greater sin of envy. Obviously, the haters have other qualities apart from their hatred, but such thinking goes against the very nature of the hermetic tautophrase, which refuses intrusion into the bubble of its logic. The hated-­upon must resist lines of inquiry, like “Haters are inclined to hate, but perhaps I have contributed to this situation somehow by frustrating that natural impulse in all human beings, that of empathy, however submerged that impulse is in this deadened, modern world.” To do otherwise would be to acknowledge your own monstrosity....
And if you're wondering why the thin-skinned media people are depicted as corn in that HuffPo article, the answer is here, at Know Your Meme. The meme goes back to some tweet in 2011, but:
Discourse around the term grew popular again in the beginning of August of 2017. On August 2nd, journalist Yashar Ali tweeted an image of Kamala Harris, a rumored democratic candidate for the 2020 Presidential Election, that called her the "Centrist Corncob" candidate. Ali noted how it was remarkable how the "Bernie Sanders Crew" had mobilized against Harris.... Centrist pundit Al Giordano quoted the tweet stated that the term had homophobic and rape culture origins.... The same day, Neera Tanden, a chief strategist on the Hillary Clinton campaign in the 2016 United States Presidential Election did the same. Both were mocked for misunderstanding the term.
References were different in the old days. If you didn't get them, you had to wonder if you weren't in the know... and how badly out of the know you were. Today, you can instantly become in the know and form a judgment about how out of the know you were. In the case of corncob, it's mindbogglingly insubstantial, but I'm glad to be forewarned against making any precipitous rape-culture allegations.

55 comments:

Phil 314 said...

I guess “fetch” happened.

Big Mike said...

I’m old fashioned. I prefer “pwned” to “corn cobbed.”

Big Mike said...

I had a plan to get rich by buying journalists for what they’re really worth, and selling them for what they think they’re worth, but they’ve already been bought and paid for by the DNC (formerly a wholly owned subsidiary of the Clinton Campaign).

rhhardin said...

It's like the mad hater in Alice in Wonderland.

rhhardin said...

Corn cobs are female. The male stuff is at the top of the stalk.

robother said...

To borrow an expression from an instantaneous pundit I occasionally read, I'm enjoying the popcorn that once festooned the corncobs of this Leftist hatefest.

David Begley said...

As a resident of the Cornhusker state, I reject any association between corncobs and rape.

chillblaine said...

this whole thread is pwnd, like the Big Ten after Ohio State got done with them. Also, Badgers, they are the best, best fans, they hop around. It's them hoppin around, like bunnies, bunnies all the wayyyyy down.

Big Mike said...

@chillblaine, go tell that to Purdue.

chickelit said...

Didn't Stephen Colbert raise a stink over corncobs? Or was it corn holes?

plug/socket

glenn said...

For a while I thought Jake was going to be a real reporter. Then he put his collar and leash on.

Earnest Prole said...

Twitter exacerbates individual narcissism and collective mob behavior — the worst of both worlds.

traditionalguy said...

That sounds like a good brand...the Centrist Corn Cob Candidate. General MacArthur did well with that one.

Is it an insult to be an Iowa farmer?

Sam L. said...

These people, as we said in the military, are locked and safety-wired in the pissed-off position.

Hannio said...

"Twitter exacerbates individual narcissism and collective mob behavior — the worst of both worlds."

Making it the equivalent of the high school drama Tapper purportedly eschews, yet there he is. It is the realm of the cut-down artist.

Ken B said...

Stupid article.

Birches said...

Salena Zito is thrown onto this article because she successfully defended herself from charges of being a fabulist. It's like the author realized only the lefties are thin skinned and tried to even things up. Dumb.

Lucien said...

I prefer smocking hot covfefe.

Jupiter said...

What "you do you" really means is "Go ahead, be deeply moved by some bullshit video produced by professional button-pushers who have mapped your every hidden vulnerability and can accurately predict where your eyes are pointed in every single frame".

wholelottasplainin said...

Is there any relationship between the mid-Western farm game called "cornhole", its adoption as a term for anal sex, and "corncob"?

Asking for a friend...

Drago said...

Birches: "Salena Zito is thrown onto this article because she successfully defended herself from charges of being a fabulist."

Indeed. Since 2016 Zito has acquitted herself quite nicely from the non-stop attacks from the lefties and their Soros-funded LLR Chuck approved fake conservative NeverTrumpers.

Achilles said...

Tapper is just mad people don’t think he is a journalist anymore.

It is hard for a tool to admit he is a tool.

Mary Beth said...

When I see ""Centrist Corncob" candidate" I think of someone who is exactly like a bunch of others - like row after row of corn. Maybe pea pod candidate would be clearer.

n.n said...

You are your own worst enemy and best friend forever.

Christopher said...

As Ace has pointed out you can determine how reluctant Tapper is to cover a story by the number of troop related posts he makes in a given time.

Kevin said...

Centrist pundit Al Giordano quoted the tweet stated that the term had homophobic and rape culture origins....

It's going to be entertaining watching the Dem candidates and their surrogates argue about who is more homophobic, racist, and supportive of rape culture than the other.

But hey Democrat Party, you be you.

Bill Peschel said...

Corncob reminds me of Cornholio from Beavis and Butthead, even tho I've never seen an episode. That's how it filters into the mainstream.

I'll never get used to corncob, though, because it's too disassociated from reality.

Besides, most journalists are thin-skinned and defensive. I just learned from Twitter that Giles Coren, a foul-mouthed lout restaurant reviewer for The Times, has a sock-puppet Twitter account. He's impersonating a Polish plumber/electrician.

https://twitter.com/marieiram/status/1078803113614680064

Bilwick said...

Should one do someone else? If so, how? (And am not using "do" in the sexual sense.) If you shouldn't do you, it sounds like a prescription for a society of Peter Keatings.

Ralph L said...

Didn't they used to call that "punching down?"

gilbar said...

speaking of Thin Skins; this shopkeeper in Atlanta was So Thin Skinned, that he REFUSES to sell products to anyone that is wearing Trump hats or t-shirts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PK-mnbH4s74
He doesn't Just refuse to sell; he Orders the customer out of the store, and THEN
ASSAULTS him (not Once, But TWICE).
Today's imaginary thought experiment:
IF (capital I, capital F; IF) 8 years ago, this happened to someone wearing an O'Bama t-shirt; how long would the shopkeeper been in jail? And how long before the store chain declared bankruptcy?

JackWayne said...

I guess I’m giving away my age when I think of corncobs as toilet paper in the South. Is that self-inflicted homoerotic behavior? Or just practicality?

Drago said...

William Chadwick: "Should one do someone else?"

Only if you are not larger, according to the Newest of the New Lefty/LLR Rules.

Leslie Graves said...

What I take from the 2015 article about the meaning of "you do you" is that when it was spoken at that time, it meant something benign and encouraging.

When Jake Tapper uses it the way he did, it is funny and ironic and means something like "Yeah. Just keep on believing that." or "knock yourself out" or "you seem to be comfortable with the belief system you've adopted and far be it from me to attempt to change it".

I have a hard time reading "owned" and "corncobbed" as being innocent of sexual suggestiveness -- specifically, the idea that someone has allowed themselves to be intruded upon and in a way that (according to the speaker) they should feel shame over.

I don't believe the protestations of the 2017ers who claim that the centrists memefully got that wrong.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

"You do You" sometimes means "go 'do' yourself"

Meade said...

"Corn cobs are female. The male stuff is at the top of the stalk."

Tasseled. For her pleasure.

cubanbob said...

Jake Tapper is a thin skinned asshole who fancies himself to be a journalist. That's the long and short of it. No further thought required.

Simon Kenton said...

Maybe an allusion to the corncob rape of Temple Drake by Popeye in Faulkner's Sanctuary.

Bilwick said...

gilbar, Atlanta is a shithole city. (Speaking from experience.)

rehajm said...

I thought Tapper graduated from the Olbermann School of ‘Journalism’

(It’s in quotes on the sign)

rcocean said...

Corn-cobbed. Makes me think of Faulkner rape.

I doubt any of the boobs on the intertubes would come from that direction

BTW, isn't everything "Homophobic" or "antisemitic" or "Misogynist" or "Racist"?

rcocean said...

It seems anything related to the anus and/or a pointy object is "Gay".

Therefore, anything related to the anus or a pointy object can be "homophobic".

Paul Zrimsek said...

Annoying as always to see the old third-person singular verb ending "-eth" used with a plural subject.

Sam L. said...

I think it means, be the jerk that you are.

Paul Zrimsek said...

Annoying as always to see the old third-person singular verb ending "-eth" used with a plural subject.

But do ye thee, HuffPo.

bagoh20 said...

"You do you." has been around a long time and it always meant: you be who you are, as opposed to telling others how to be, or "handle your own shit before you go on about mine", or "why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?"

bagoh20 said...

Why is that game with the little sacks called "cornhole"?

chillblaine said...

Thanks Big Mike, way to kick a guy when he's down.

chillblaine said...

Ok, fam, corn-cob lovers, sports fans, this thread deserves every poopie reference from my channel.

Cope Land Says Goodbye to Sponsor Lex-Lax, warning for poopie references.

Cope Land Introduces New Sponsor, Cope Hydration. Goes in the arse.

Yeti Post Game Interview, featuring Cope Fitness Hydration. It goes in your butt.

Finishing with, Cope Land - Mom Calls In, relatively bereft of corn pone humor. We are workshopping new poop-related material for comedic potential. The ideas are coming in chunks, streams, runny, tightly packed, and always smell fresh.

wildswan said...

I like the idea that the Twitterverse is a Humpty Dumpty world where there are no common references so that "corncob" has six or seven unrelated meanings. X and Y know what they mean but A sees the chain and imports other meanings and so B accuses them all of homophobia and then a chain forms and in comes P, a media figure, with other slogans which L,M, and N, understand but 14 knows what X meant and so ridicules L who sends emojis which Chinese censors ban. Meanwhile, due to P's presence, thousands are checking Google to work it all out and exchanging opinions which start to appear on Google also so that millions begin to check Google and exchange opinions. It ain't literature and it ain't culture but - on you go, Twitter - you corncob you.

AllenS said...

"you do you" is the pleasant way to say "go fuck yourself".

rhhardin said...

Tautologies usually depend on the repeated word being taken widely one time and narrowly the second time, the claim being that an essential feature from the narrow sense is to be applied to both.

Right is right.
Rhetoric is rhetoric.

Tina Trent said...

Even setting aside the corncob thing, this is such a disturbing article. I avoid Huffpo and other lefty media fishbowl stuff: do they really act *this much* like vicious teen girls? Do news anchors actually tweet-argue with Huffpo writers? Is the media world this much like Sharp Objects?

That's sad and creepy. But even worse is this list. The journalists are being policed and sexually mocked using a degrading rape reference by Huffpo for the crime of purportedly failing to condemn Trump at all times, absolutely, using the approved vocabulary. It's Stalinism as media criticism (always a precursor to the real thing).

The other apparent mortal sin is failing to properly submit to the barrage of abuse from this woman and her peers. It's a shooting crime to unfollow a nasty "media critic" from a lazy website? Please don't make me agree with Maggie Haberman.

I'd say it couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch, but in reality it isn't funny to watch the bloody purges done to anyone.

And the inclusion of Glenn Greenwald is confusing: I don't agree with him but he is no lightweight. He fights with these people?

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

I saw some PSA on TV about "you be you", some kind of self-esteem building program for younglings.

It's also an example of a trend toward eliminating "self" as a suffix. It seems kind of childish, but maybe it's a good trend, moving toward simpler grammar. as in Chinese.

Joe said...

When did legitimately defending yourself become being "thin-skinned"?

Anonymous said...

I thought “you do you” was what Louis C. K. was hoping to hear when he asked “mind if I masturbate?”