I remember seeing a film about the competitive world of american cheerleaders.
One chant went like this: "We're sexy!, We're hot! We're everything you're not!"
I loved that wit, especially the juxtaposition of self promotion and diminishing the opponent.
It's not enough to praise your own merits. To really make yourself stand out, you have to put everyone else down.
There are many examples of what I'd call Juxta-posers in modern life.
They sing their own praises, and try to widen the morality gap further by implying you are some sort of reactionary yokel.
For example, we were talking about a mutual acquaintance at work who happens to be gay. Our office poser at work says: "He's gay. But I haven't got a problem with that."
As if to imply I did!
Strike a Pose! Vogue!
Of course, I was too dim to be able to articulate why this made me angry. It took me ages to spot the subtle way it was insinuated that The Office Poser was good and that I was a troglodyte! I'm more of an 'esprits d'escalier' type. In fact, words often don't come to me until three weeks later, never mind on the staircase.
Which brings me on to Justin Trudeau.
He's the worst Juxta-Poser ever. In the latest example of his Vogueing, he condemns men for, wait for it, 'Bro Culture'. He then goes on to lecture 'men' that they have to follow his example and be great feminists. Like him.
(What he was really saying was "look at me everybody. Just look at me!"). What an utterly cynical, selfish little creep.
What on earth is Bro Culture? If there is something like that, I've never been informed. I'm clearly not on the mailing list of 'The Patriarchy', because I never seem to get any updates on the manly conspiracy to control the world.
What annoys me about Trudeau is that he's demonising other men, just so he can look good by comparison.
I never trust men who declare themselves a feminist. Surely that's an accreditation that has to be earned anyway. You can't just appoint yourself can you? Isn't there an examining board?
Don't get me wrong, I am slowly being educated by feminism and I don't wet the bed about it any more (well not as much anyway) but I can't hack show boating male feminists.
What a ghastly poser this man is. I hope it all ends badly for him.
To quote another chant from those American cheer leaders: "That's alright, that's OK, but you're gonna pump our gas some day."
Am I being unreasonable to not like Trudeau, his straw man arguments and his ghastly moral exhibitionism?
Advice puh-lease!