Put Down Palace

"These rustics are so inept. It nearly takes the honor out of victory."
--Lord General Cornwallis (The Patriot)

We've suggested that some social behavior, such as the recent WTC mosque/koran building dyad, can be framed inside a model of escalating conflict driven by emotion and selective reasoning. This model is exemplified by, and perhaps even rooted in, juvenile behavior on playgrounds, as the words/actions of one entity provokes response from another.

One juvenile behavior often associated with our escalation model is the 'put down.' Put down is slang for making a disparaging or belittling remark about someone, often intended to embarrass or humiliate. Claiming someone else as being 'stupid' or some variation thereof is perhaps the most commonly employed put down.

While put downs are sometimes conveyed on a face-to-face basis between originator and recipient, they are often transmitted remotely by the originator in a venue that provides safety or social support. For example, the originator might put down someone else while speaking with like-minded friends who will 'like' the claim. Blog pages and social networking websites serve as high tech venues for put downs today.

Reflecting on the put downs that I have personally issued suggests that they are a coping device. When others are successful, I claim that their success must have been 'rigged' in some manner. When others say/do things that I don't agree with, I claim they must be stupid, illiterate et al.

One term that psych folks associate with this type of behavior is 'defensive routine' (e.g., Argyris, 1985). A put down can be viewed as a routine used to defend oneself--most likely one's ego.

Put downs seem likely to foster elitist mentality in the heads of the originators. "We know how to spell better than you...We are smarter than you...We know better than you...We have capacity to rule over you..."

The United States came into being on the back of the elitist mentality of the British. Highbrow Brits looked down on Colonists as a bunch of rubes incapable of governing themselves. When the revolution commenced, Redcoat generals routinely lambasted their adversaries, calling them 'farmers with pitchforks' and the like. They were incredulous when these same rubes sent them packing and created a nation conceived in liberty rather than in class distinction.

Today, elitism has returned...as have the put downs.

References

Argyris, C. 1985. Strategy, change, and defensive routines. Boston: Putnam.