6-23-2024 9:27pm

"Butthurt"

Beth Callahan Editor

Springboro's Guy Pasvogel, published author, shares his thoughts

This post expresses the views and opinions of the author(s) and not necessarily that of Warren County Post management or staff.

Yesterday, as I was driving north on Route 48 in Lebanon, I noticed a bumper sticker on the back of an SUV in the shape of a Butterfinger candy bar. On the bumper sticker was one word “Butthurt.” It gave me a chuckle as I had heard that American slang many times in the past… “butt” never on a bumper sticker.

To those of you who have never heard that expression, let me enlighten you. "Butthurt," according to the Cambridge dictionary, refers to someone who is offended or easily upset over something that is considered silly or trivial. A similar expression that would convey the same meaning would be “don’t get your panties in a wad” or “don’t sweat the small stuff.”

For further clarification, let me offer some examples…

Last year when we visited our relatives in Virginia, I noticed that Lee Highway had a name change to Langston Boulevard. My step-son said the reasoning was that Confederate General Robert E. Lee had owned slaves and that we should not honor him with a highway. The new name “Langston” was chosen to honor John M. Langston, the first Black person elected to Congress from Virginia. Okay, I get it. Someone in the County got "butthurt" because of the name of a silly street sign.

To make matters more confusing, as you drive along the newly named Langston Boulevard and are out of that county, it then becomes Lee Highway again. Is it any wonder how when I visit my relatives I seem to get lost and end up at the Pentagon or Arlington Cemetery?

Speaking of Arlington Cemetery, isn’t it ironic that its location is on the former property of none other than Robert E. Lee? I am hoping that the same “butthurt” person in that County does not recommend exhuming the remains of all patriotic soldiers buried on a slave owner’s former property just to make a woke point. That would be silly!

On another “butthurt” issue, the Cleveland Indians baseball team enjoyed a rich tradition of baseball greatness for more than one hundred years since 1915. That is, until July 2021 when the owners decided to change the name to the Cleveland Guardians.

How did this transpire? It seems the issue was more the use of the mascot Chief Wahoo than the name Indians. In 2016, the Indians were scheduled to play the Toronto Blue Jays when a Native American activist from Ottawa, Canada filed a motion to prevent the Indians from using the Mascot logo or Indians name on their uniform.

The motion was thrown out of court three hours later and the Indians did not have to change uniforms. This incident did, however, concern the Commissioner of Baseball, Rob Manfred, that future court issues might occur. So in 2018, the image of Chief Wahoo was “chopped” off the Indians uniform. The Indians' name survived.

Thus, due to more pressure from the commissioner’s office and the desire for unity and not diversity, the Cleveland baseball owners made it official in 2021 by renaming the team the Guardians. Isn’t it amazing how one “butthurt” Native American Indian from Ottawa, Canada could wield so much power in destroying over 100 years of rich baseball tradition in Cleveland, Ohio? Meanwhile, other teams like the Atlanta Braves, Florida State Seminoles and Kansas City Chiefs remain.

The ultimate insult is when these fans display the famous tomahawk chop that depicts the action in which Indians were chopping off the scalps of settlers and cavalry as a battle trophy. No, I am not “butthurt” of the Indian names of teams and mascots that remain. That is again silly and trivial. Let them be. I am, however, extremely “gutthurt” to think of a scalping celebration at a sporting event and all three teams are guilty.

Finally, Corporate America has succumbed to the woke movement and "butthurt" customers who have complained about racial and sexual bias in their product nomenclature. Here is a short list of those products:

Frisch’s Big Boy mascot has been replaced by Dolly, a new mascot
Aunt Jemima pancakes are now marketed as Pearl Milling Company
Eskimo Pie is now Edy’s Pie because of the perceived Eskimo slur
Uncle Ben”s rice is getting a new makeover
Procter and Gamble’s Spic and Span is no longer…Latino stereotype
Land O’ Lakes butter has taken Indian squaw off the package
Indian Chief taken off of Mutual of Omaha logo
Dixie Beer is changing name to change any connotations of slavery
Dixie Chicks singing group? Now, “The Chicks”
Ace Hardware…is now the place with the helpful hardware “folks”
Chiquita Bananas…Banana woman mascot is a Latin American slur
Bud Light? Ad campaign that features Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender

How did this “butthurt” society evolve over the years? As a senior citizen who has witnessed the evolution, I can honestly say that some of it is the result of a pampered generation that is used to getting their own way and is hurt very easily when they don’t.

My advice to all the “butthurt” population? “Suck it up, Buttercup”! Don't get caught up in silly trivial minutiae. Find a cause that REALLY matters and fight for it!