SOMETIMES AN ASS IS JUST AN ASS!

One of the things I really like about Turkey, is the understanding among the people that strained kindness is unnecessary. By strained kindness, I have in mind especially the myriad times I heard 'thank you' and 'excuse me' in the US and especially, because of its wider implications, the idea of political correctness. Daily discourse in the US is so widely regulated that one speaks in fear of causing offense, especially when identity politics are at stake. I can see the reasons for defining your identity, however, once the identity is socially accepted as a fact, the ongoing usage of a particular term actually turns onto itself and enables more pigeonholing than integration. Politics that were out for integration become separatist themselves. Bestowing so much meaning & importance on a word, I think has limiting consequences. Words should belong to us, not us to them; in the end we created them. Limiting your infinite being to some inadequate consensual description seems to me to be not only a waste of time and friendship but also is damaging to society as a whole where the once liberating differences become rigid categories and thus are used to usurp discursive power over other 'difference-bearers'.
In this sense, we all know that politicians use language in a vacuous way, where meaning sometimes can be disguised to the extent that what ends up coming out is a waste of concentration. I recall the speeches by Bush and Cheney, especially the one where Cheney speaks on account of WMD in Iraq (We know what we didn't know and so on). Somehow we take this for granted. We may laugh but in fact we just stomach it silently, chasing it to the realm of politics, which we should all take part in but since we're civilized, we make do with voting.
Coming back to Turkey, the recent discourse our PM is using is criticized to death as rude, crude and full of fury. I agree totally however, there is something to be said about revealing your true nature through words, without thinking of etiquette. From a larger perspective, it seems to me that Erdoğan frequently has in mind the expression I put in the title. That sometimes, an ass should be called an ass, and not a behind or buttocks etc. And since we all possess one, what in god's name difference does it make when you call it in a more polite way? You're talking about an 'impolite' body part in the first place!
In the same vein, I find Erdoğan's blasting ghetto-mouth as a funny twist in Turkish politics. As much as he is showing his true colors (hideous to you and I, they may be, but that is not the issue), he also is bringing the level of discourse 'down' therefore is setting an example to potential politicians who may break this uniformity that world politics have. How many of you really believe there is a person underneath those black suits and ties? Only socialists and communists break this taboo of dressing and most of us dismiss them as being unrealistic and such. However the buzz word difference can only really be in vogue if we actually see the true colors of our politicians and recognize their differences, albeit it may be from physical appearance at first.
Calling an ass an ass in full comfort and liberty, without causing offense is the point where humans interact with humans directly, without the intervention of power politics. I remember feeling elated when I was able to call my black (African) friends niggers and laugh about it together. They called me 'white-ass' back, which is- in skin color- true and there's nothing I can do about it. I was later promoted to a 'wigga' (white-nigger) which made me even more happy, but hey, I'm not going to go around telling black folk that 'I understand your struggle' (like many white folk do, in a patronizing manner I believe) and such, because I truly can't; my experience in life is different. But I can sympathize and try to understand, as long as I am provided with an entrance to their discourse. Barring me from using your words, is not going to make me appreciate you. Letting me use them provides a lesson in tolerance
Also, like a great friend of mine said once, 'küfür ruhun yelpazesidir' : 'Cursing is a fan for the soul'
So yes, words carry power, yes we have to think twice before saying anything, but sometimes an ass really is an ass, and nothing more.