Bashing (pejorative)

Bashing is a harsh, gratuitous, predjudicial attack on a person, group or subject. Literally, bashing is a term meaning to hit or, colloquially, to assault but when it is used as a suffix, or in conjunction with a noun indicating the subject being attacked, it is normally used to imply a sense of uncompromising vehemence and bigotry about the assailant.

The term applies to two different types of attack: physical assault and verbal or critical assault. In the latter case, bashing is used metaphorically to indicate an attack on a subject that is of similar aggressiveness and motivation to the physical case.

Topics which attract bashing tend to be personally sensitive topics for the bashers, the victims or both. They also tend to be highly partisan issues. Common areas include religion, nationality, sexuality, politics and topics of critical appraisal within fandom.

Definition

The non-pejorative definition of bashing is the act of striking an object with physical blows. Colloquially, it normally refers to a physical assault. When the term is used in conjunction with a topic or with an implied topic, it relates to a class of attacks which share common motivations and levels of intent, taking on a pejorative meaning.

Physical bashing is differentiated from regular assault because it is a motivated assault. Societally, no level of physical assault is normally considered morally acceptable therefore the motivated nature implies that the perpetrators are unaware of societal norms or are sufficiently bigotted and predjudiced to believe that the motivation justifies the actions. This aspect of the definition of bashing overlaps with that of hate crime and other incidents of motivated assault.

In non-physical bashing, the term is used to imply that a verbal or critical attack is similarly unacceptable and similarly predjudicial. Use of the term in this manner is an abusive ad hominem action, used to denounce the attack and admonish the attackers by comparing them to perpetrators of physical bashing.

Motivating Factors

The underlying motivations for "bashers" tend to be the same, irrespective of the target subject. Karen Franklin in her paper "Psychosocial motivations of hate crimes perpetrators" specifically identifies the following:
*socially instilled predjudice or partisan conflict
*the perception that the bashing subject is in some way contrary to, or in offense to, an underlying ideology
*group or peer influence

ubjects

Gay Bashing

One of the more common uses of the term bashing is to describe assault or vilification against people perceived to be homosexual. By looking at the societal prevalence of homophobia, religious objections to homosexuality and the incidence of group assault in cases of gay bashing, it can be seen how the set of motivations applies to this topic.

Political Bashing

The use of the term within this context is most common in editorial or personal commentary. Common terms within this area include "Republican Bashing", "Democrat Bashing", "Clinton Bashing", and "Bush Bashing". These terms are used to imply that the criticism of these groups or individuals is excessive, too frequent, uncompromising or inappropriate given their status.

Since politics is inherently partisan, the term bashing is frequently used to cast negative aspersions on critics for political gain.

Bashing within fandom

Fans of different artistic works often accuse critics, who may be other fans, of bashing the subject or individuals upon which the fandom is centered. A common example of this on the internet is "Lucas bashing", where the term is used to decry criticism of Star Wars or George Lucas personally.

In this case, again the motivations include partisan conflict (for or against an aspect of an artistic work), an offense to an underlying ideology (nostalgic attachment to, or immersion in, an artistic genre) and the group influence of other fans and discussion forums.

There is also "character bashing", which happens when a part of the fandom openly criticises one or more characters in an artistic work, or even real people from media industry. Some reasons given for this conduct include, but are not limited to:

* breaking up a well-loved couple, whether it's canon or fanon;
* being more or less a canon Mary Sue or Gary Stu;
* following some characters stereotypes (this specially goes for girly girl characters);
* being a female character in a mostly male cast or being a male character in a mostly female cast;
* said character's role and actions in the story

Gushing and pejorative identification of bashing

In cases of non-physical bashing, the term is normally used with the intention of having a pejorative effect on the identified bashers by comparing them to perpetrators of criminal assaults. Sometimes this label is applied to criticisms that are not particularly vehement nor even inappropriate. In these cases, the term can be seen to be applied purely for partisan benefit.

Within fan contexts, the opposing standpoint to a basher is a "gusher". The actions of those who take an actively and effusively defensive stance on topics which could arguably draw bashing are termed "gushing". In essence, gushing is any stance on a topic which is implied to be as predjudicial, uncompromising and continual as a bashing but which is in support of the topic. The term is far less frequently used than bashing and is difficult to differentiate from someone who is merely an enthusiastic supporter. The term is normally applied either in retaliation against accusations of bashing or to pejoratively decry ardent supporters of a topic.

References

*Emery, K; Ohanian, S. "Why is corporate America bashing our public schools?", Portsmouth NH, Heinemann, (2004).
*Franklin, Karen. “Psychosocial motivations of hate crimes perpetrators: Implications for educational intervention.” Invited presentation at hate crimes panel, American Psychological Association convention, Aug. 1998.
*Goodsell, Charles T. "Bureaucratic Bashing". In Jay M. Shafritz (ed.), "Defining Public Administration". Boulder, CO: Westview, pp. 128-31. (2000)
*Kantor, Martin. "Homophobia: Description, Development, and Dynamics of Gay Bashing", Praeger Publishers (1998).
*Lee, Mordecai. "Bureaucrat Bashing in the Galactic Senate: George Lucas and Public Administration". "Public Voices" 4 (2): 23-30. (2000)
*Price, Deb. "Hostility to gays planted early". "The Denver Post", Page B-7, October 16, 1998.
*Swanson, Jean. "Poor Bashing. The Politics of Exclusion." Toronto: Between the Lines. 2001.