Necessity Of Political Vulgarity Analysis

In the “Necessity of Political Vulgarity”, Amber A’Lee Frost argues that vulgarity, which refers to the “crass, ugly dispensation of judgment with little to no regard for propriety” (Frost), is a particularly revolutionary tool in political sphere for fighting the powerful because it reveals the political truths and undermines the opponents’ legitimacy. In contrast, civility, which means the usage of proper and dignified languages, is not as subversive as vulgarity in political sphere because it perpetuates falsehood. At first glance, this message seems convincing because she presents numerous examples to prove that political vulgarity is revolutionary: in the French Revolution, the vulgar cartoons and literatures undermined the aura of the …show more content…
In fact, civility means formal politeness and courtesy in behavior or speech. However, political civility is more than just politeness and courtesy. CivilPolitics, an organization dedicated to encourage civil political debate, explains that political civility “is the ability to disagree productively with others, respecting their sincerity and decency” (“What Is Civility?”). Therefore, in this regard, numerous philosophers in the French Revolution utilized this political civility to develop a series of Enlightenment ideas that paved the way for radical change. For example, Rousseau, a French philosopher, in his Du Contrat Social, courteously advances his argument for direct democracy and popular sovereignty and defines “freedom” as participation in politics and duty to obey the laws one has a hand in making. At the same time he cautiously rejects the contemporary monarchical and aristocratic structure where sovereignty only resided in a small portion of people’s hands without bluntly condemning the regime. Voltaire, another French philosopher in his Dictionnaire philosophique and other philosophical works, formally argues that every individual is born with equal natural rights, and such natural rights are inalienable and God-given, mildly challenging the privileges of aristocrats and …show more content…
However, political vulgarity merely escalates the process of the revolution and provides the excuse and the courage for the public to execute the queen and the king. In terms of constructing the ideological frameworks, transforming the public’s thoughts, providing the public with purposes and agendas and plotting a radical change to the current political system, these civil discourses prove to be much more vital. If the French Revolution is an automobile, then political civility is the wheels, the engine, the frame, and everything it needs to function, while political vulgarity is just the lubricating oil, more of an adjunctive or facilitating element than an integral