When they go low, we... do too?

Not long ago, everything was about “cancel culture.” Influencers feared it and republicans cursed it. The court of public opinion did away with checks & balances, giving already-edgy personalities a new enemy and America’s sweethearts an emotional landmine to tiptoe around. It was an exhausting justice system — one in desperate need of a revolution.

The United States’ most qualified and uncanny representatives met on Capitol Hill last year when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., accused Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-TX. of her “fake eyelashes messing up” her understanding of the meeting — to which the room erupted in condemnation.

But Crockett didn’t require a defense squad:

The now-viral exchange sparked widespread criticism, lots of laughter, and perhaps, resonance.

Take the NBA: The father of Indiana Pacers, Tyrese Haliburton, confronted another player, Giannis Antetokounmpo, after the Pacers won against the Milwaukee Bucks, closing out the series.

By the next morning, sports radio shows debated whether the confrontation was an embarrassing or authentic display of emotion.

Days prior, Fox News reacted to Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-NM., calling Republicans grilling Democratic mayors on their compliance with Trump’s immigration policy “total bullshit.” To which Fox host, Dana Perino, criticized as “unpersuasive” and “undignified.”

Bhavik Lathia, a communications consultant for the Wisconsin Democratic Party told the New York Times on Monday:

Is the performance of “professionalism” collapsing? And why does it matter?

Historically, professionalism meant being calm, cool and collected. It looked like appropriately long ties and pants that fit even when sitting. And whether we’re talking about the President or your corporate office — it looked like tone policing and an unemotional leadership.

Michelle Obama famously marked respectability politics by saying, “When they go low, we go high.” But for many, “going high” meant gritting your teeth while being disrespected. “Classiness” was determined by the successful of your attempt at not making anyone else uncomfortable — even if you were deeply uncomfortable yourself.

This cultural shift didn’t happen in a vacuum. The literal President of the United States just returned to office after years of unrelenting public humiliation and name-calling of his opponents.

And let’s be honest: if your cousin or coworker posted the way Trump does, you’d check on them — maybe even stage an intervention. At the very least, you’d stop taking them seriously.

Now, the bar’s been lowered — not just for leaders, but for what we expect of communication itself. When the most powerful man in the country — and arguably, the world — communicates like a Facebook uncle on the frontlines in comment sections, the performance of professionalism doesn’t just erode. It becomes laughable and arguably unnecessary.

Perhaps composition has become equated with weakness in the face of a person expressing emotions without restraint.

Professionalism has arguably been weaponized throughout history — often against the already-marginalized. But what happens when everyone rejects it and only some get criticized for it — when decency, clarity and self restraint are no longer expectations, but liabilities?

Maybe we didn’t just abandon professionalism. Maybe we watched it get mocked, memed and murdered at the podium — and now we’re just following suit. Uninterested in the performance of inner strength, the two-time President of the US calls reporters “losers,” House minutes include representatives insulting each other’s appearances, and I’ve begun wondering — when everyone gets rude, does anyone still listen?

Until decorum is back in style, keep your heels off, because it seems that unfiltered rage is in.