Watch your language while defending Atatürk

The jerks that have insulted Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey, are actually making a living out of animosity toward Atatürk. They go by saying that this is “unofficial history.” They tell obscene rumors claiming that they are secrets hidden from the public. 

They peep into bedrooms and supposedly write the “unwritten” and tell the “untold.” 

They do not blush when they go about telling the most vulgar stories that would compete with all senses of shame. They are not shy, embarrassed, troubled or afraid. 

One of them is reported to be attempting to beg forgiveness in an effort to erase his past; the other, I don’t know what kind of a headache he has, but he is trying to be a “hero” over Atatürk.  

The common denominator of the two is blind bigotry and dark illiteracy. They feed on filth and malice. They fuel crude and stupid behavior which provides them fuel in return. They are never done with abuse. 

It’s true, it is not possible not to lose one’s temper. It’s true, proper language falls short of explaining this degree of shamelessness. Clever references remain inadequate in meeting this amount of disgust. 

However, the language of the reaction shown against this scandal is also problematic. 

Couldn’t historian İlber Ortaylı find better words than, “Whoever says that to our Mrs. Zübeyde [Atatürk’s mother] is an animal.” 

I remember when sociologist Alev Alatlı wrote a book about deterioration in society, Ortaylı did not agree with the terms she used in the book. He agreed with her but found the title rude and too common. 

The master historian calls the perpetrators of this scandal “boors,” but this word apparently felt inadequate to him due to the magnitude of the situation, so he went on to call them “animals.”

I would like to call it curtness. Actually they are all the same. Whatever you call them. Brusque, abrupt, rude, unkempt… 

You can associate them with Dostoyevsky’s “Poshlost” or any other anti-hero in any novel… 

Whatever you call them, do not let them pull you down to their own level. 

Don’t fall into their trap 

If you fall into their trap, then the virus of brusqueness will go wild. It will dominate every language. Then you cannot stop the coarseness, the rudeness and the stupidity. 

Don’t let them foul your language and rot your words. 

If you are really in need, then give yourself various alternatives such as: “Insolent, bum, rancid, arriviste, discredited, stereotypical, loudmouth, coarse, impertinent, immoral and the like…” 

Let us not allow sociologist Alev Alatlı’s fear come true. This virus that haunts society should not infect us here and there like an epidemic that spreads everywhere. 

Writer Çetin Altan said a person’s style of expression revealed who that person is. He wrote that it was a style to swear at a person’s mother, wife and daughter…

It was again a style to say “you are the son of a traitor; you are a puppet…”

It was also another style to threaten, “Whoever says I am a loudmouth, come and see me outside…” 

No matter how narrow the corner you are squeezed into, don’t let these foul-mouths make you one of them… That is the real danger…