Finding the right name
My last several posts [1,2,3] have been about how misleading names can be. The recent death of Senator Lindsey Graham adds an example that I had not previously thought about: when people use a name without knowing what it means, what it actually refers to.
Good manners include not saying bad things unnecessarily about people who have passed away, often stated as the Latin phrase, “De mortuis nil nisi bonum” [4].
Even casual observers of Senator Graham’s activities cannot have avoided noticing, and now recalling, Graham’s innumerable inconsistencies and apparent changes of friendships and loyalties and policies, perhaps most notably becoming one of President Trump’s greatest supporters and closest confidants after having stated publicly, at a much earlier time, that electing Trump would be a disaster for the United States, to be avoided at all costs.
Political pundits and others were faced with the dilemma of how to be reasonably accurate with the facts of unpredictable, more than unhelpful changes of attitude, while not saying bad things about a man who had just passed away. For instance, at MSNOW, which speaks with a determinedly left-of-center-Democratic-Party slant, the emphasis was on what a cheerful individual Graham had been, always ready with jokes, never taking things personally, not holding grudges; as for his chronic and drastic changes of attitude and connections, well, he was just an adept political shapeshifter [5].
Whoever was the first to have thought to resolve this dilemma by using the name “shapeshifter” will have been ignorant of the fact that the term refers to one of the entities in the genre of such postulated psychic entities as Doppelgӓnger, Poltergeist, Ghost. “Shapeshifter” is that kind of postulated psychic entity that is capable of assuming animal or human form, typically with bad intentions, for example in the guise of vampires or werewolves:
“A shapeshifter can assume the physical and psychological signature of virtually any life form whose genetic material it has consumed. They are distinct from Skinwalkers as the latter is capable of shifting into any animal whilst a Shapeshifter can assume a human form. Shifters would gain these abilities either through divine intervention, demonic manipulation, sorcery, spells or having inherited the ability. Regardless of how they obtained their abilities, they are extremely dangerous supernatural beings as they could very easily infiltrate society undetected and cause great damage” [6].
In Scottish folklore, “Kelpies” or “water horses” graze next to large bodies of water, invitingly saddled up, ready to kidnap and drown anyone ignorant and rash enough to get in the saddle [7].
Some political commentators of course thought it more important to be factually accurate about what Graham’s impact on public affairs and well-being had been:
“Let’s remember the real Lindsey Graham: Evil’s Shape-Shifting Enabler” [8].
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[1] More medical names masquerading as knowledge: Dementia; Alzheimer’s;
https://henryhbauer.substack.com/p/more-medical-names-masquerading-as
[2] Reification in medicine: Some misleading names — ADHD; autism; https://henryhbauer.substack.com/p/reification-in-medicine-some-misleading;
[3] Reifying — Giving something a name does not make it a reality; https://henryhbauer.substack.com/p/reifying-giving-something-a-name
[4] The full phrase is “De mortuis nil nisi bonum dicendum est”:
Of the dead, nothing but good should be said
[5] “Remembering ‘shape-shifter’ Congressman Lindsey Graham”, MS NOW;
https://www.reddit.com/r/msnow/comments/1uv8o0t/remembering_shapeshifter_congressman_lindsey
[6] https://the-demonic-paradise.fandom.com/wiki/Shapeshifter
[7] https://folklorescotland.com/kelpies
[8] David Rothkopf, “Let’s remember the real Lindsey Graham: Evil’s Shape-Shifting Enabler”,
https://www.thedailybeast.com/lets-remember-the-real-lindsey-graham-evils-shape-shifting-enabler