this post was submitted on 05 Oct 2023
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Would it work if they did? Not likely. The naysayers did try going down that road with Trudeau once upon a time, calling attention to his hair on numerous occasions, and nothing ever indicated that it bothered him.
The naysayers will always tailor their attacks to what they think will be more bothersome to the individual being attacked, not with a fixed set of statements used across every individual.
Seemingly it does work when the target is a woman. After all, we have a whole article here about how it does bother many.
It's not about bothering the politician. It's a political attack, designed to score political points. And the thing about political attacks, especially cheap ones, is that the person you attack can try to turn it around and make you look dumb. Trudeau calculated that calling his attackers out for their cheap shots would hurt him more than it would help, and he was probably right, since mocking aesthetic qualities is generally socially acceptable when the target is male. Anderson calculated that defending herself, and in so doing making her attackers look sexist and stupid, was the best move in her position, and I suspect she was right.
The attack has to think it is going to bother the politician. It may fail to, but it has to believe it will, else how is it going to score any political points? "Hey look, you live in BC!" wouldn't go anywhere. All you are going to get is "Yeah, and?" – both from the 'assailed' and those you are trying to score points with. It has to prey on what someone think's is another's insecurity to have any use.