Word: wimp
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...could the man Kennedy taunted be so resolute? And let's not forget those who derided him as a wimp, a lapdog, every divorced woman's first husband, a terminal preppy. His painful politeness and unwavering loyalty to Ronald Reagan through mountainous deficits and Iran-contra bumbling raised the question of his backbone. He waffled on issues like abortion and taxes, and even his supporters wondered in dark moments about his inner stuff. What this may suggest is one more flaw in our system of political assessment. In our dizzy campaigns we analyze a candidate too much from...
...that Bush went through all of the known tortures on the way to his decision. But they must have been entirely internal. There is as yet no enemy or friend who claims to have been witness when Bush was either uncertain or unclear. Some wimp...
...courage of patience. But if war begins, anger and resentment is what it will have come down to. "It is about power and commitment," says Fouad Ajami, director of Middle East studies at Johns Hopkins University. "On both sides, the greatest fear is being seen to be a wimp." The best analogy is perhaps literary. In "Shooting an Elephant," George Orwell's colonial functionary kills a rogue elephant because those watching him expect it. "It is the condition of ((the white man's)) rule," Orwell has his character say, "that he shall spend his life trying to impress the 'natives...
...quickly becoming outdated. As we begin the '90s, the zeitgeist has changed again. Now the sensitive male is a wimp and an object of derision to boot. In her song Sensitive New Age Guys, singer Christine Lavin lampoons, "Who carries the baby on his back? Who thinks Shirley MacLaine is on the inside track?" Now it's goodbye, Alan Alda; hello, Mel Gibson, with your sensitive eyes and your lethal weapon. Hi there, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the devoted family man with terrific triceps. The new surge of tempered macho is everywhere. Even the male dummies in store windows are getting tougher...
...really give his all." So today's working stiff really enjoys no more meaningful options than did his father, the pathetic guy in the gray flannel suit who was pilloried as a professional hamster and an emotional cripple. You're still either a master of the universe or a wimp. It is the cognitive dissonance between the desire for change and the absence of ways to achieve it that has reduced most men who even think about the subject to tapioca...