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| What is a centrist dad? You asked Google – here’s the answer | What is a centrist dad? You asked Google – here’s the answer |
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| Wed 4 Oct 2017 08.00 BST | |
| Last modified on Mon 27 Nov 2017 15.59 GMT | |
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| You may have heard the term “centrist dad” somewhere over the past couple of weeks as it crests on the wave of mainstream exposure. Who knows, perhaps you – slightly slow on the uptake, for we are already approaching the tailend of the centrist dad craze – have taken to Google to find out and you are concerned that you yourself might have contracted centrist daddishness, and are in urgent need of a symptom checker. | You may have heard the term “centrist dad” somewhere over the past couple of weeks as it crests on the wave of mainstream exposure. Who knows, perhaps you – slightly slow on the uptake, for we are already approaching the tailend of the centrist dad craze – have taken to Google to find out and you are concerned that you yourself might have contracted centrist daddishness, and are in urgent need of a symptom checker. |
| Look no further. The first thing I’ll tell you is that the centrist dad meme originated on Twitter. Feeding, as mainstream media does, off Twitter (as well as vice versa – think of it as an ouroboros-esque human centipede, doomed to subsist on its own detritus), centrist dad is now everywhere. He was helped to prominence by leftwing tweeters, most notably Jeremy Corbyn’s former spokesperson Matt Zarb-Cousin, who told the BBC: “Centrist dads are middle-aged men who cannot come to terms with the world and politics changing.” You know the type: Labour’s lurch to the left physically pains them, to the point that they almost voted Conservative in the last election, yet still they get very upset whenever anyone calls them a Tory in response. | Look no further. The first thing I’ll tell you is that the centrist dad meme originated on Twitter. Feeding, as mainstream media does, off Twitter (as well as vice versa – think of it as an ouroboros-esque human centipede, doomed to subsist on its own detritus), centrist dad is now everywhere. He was helped to prominence by leftwing tweeters, most notably Jeremy Corbyn’s former spokesperson Matt Zarb-Cousin, who told the BBC: “Centrist dads are middle-aged men who cannot come to terms with the world and politics changing.” You know the type: Labour’s lurch to the left physically pains them, to the point that they almost voted Conservative in the last election, yet still they get very upset whenever anyone calls them a Tory in response. |
| Baffled by the ascent of Corbyn, these middle-aged men take to Twitter to communicate their frustration at the younger generation’s baffling lack of interest in David Miliband. Centrist dad’s tone is that of a bitterly disappointed parent lecturing his children on their political failings. Except, um, much like the man your mum moved in with right after the divorce: “You’re not my real dad, so you can’t tell me what to do!” | Baffled by the ascent of Corbyn, these middle-aged men take to Twitter to communicate their frustration at the younger generation’s baffling lack of interest in David Miliband. Centrist dad’s tone is that of a bitterly disappointed parent lecturing his children on their political failings. Except, um, much like the man your mum moved in with right after the divorce: “You’re not my real dad, so you can’t tell me what to do!” |
| Centrist dad, in other words, is a conceptual dad as opposed to an actual dad – although centrist dads can also, of course, be dads too. Perhaps you have a dad who is a centrist who is also a centrist dad. In the spirit of journalistic inquiry, I asked my own dad, who I’m fairly sure is not a centrist because he once referred to the Liberal Democrats as “a bunch of class traitors”, how he might describe his politics. I had him down as a socialist Welsh nationalist dad, an anarcho-syndicalist dad, or even perhaps – of an evening, after a few wee drams of sherry cask whisky and a sesh on the vape – an existentialist dad. In any event, he texted back to say that he defines himself as a Groucho-Marxist, which implies that he is not really taking this seriously. | Centrist dad, in other words, is a conceptual dad as opposed to an actual dad – although centrist dads can also, of course, be dads too. Perhaps you have a dad who is a centrist who is also a centrist dad. In the spirit of journalistic inquiry, I asked my own dad, who I’m fairly sure is not a centrist because he once referred to the Liberal Democrats as “a bunch of class traitors”, how he might describe his politics. I had him down as a socialist Welsh nationalist dad, an anarcho-syndicalist dad, or even perhaps – of an evening, after a few wee drams of sherry cask whisky and a sesh on the vape – an existentialist dad. In any event, he texted back to say that he defines himself as a Groucho-Marxist, which implies that he is not really taking this seriously. |
| The most notable thing about the centrist dad, other than the fact that a large part of his prefrontal cortex remains in 1997, clutching a can of Grolsch as he sways along tearfully to D:Ream’s Things Can Only Get Better hankering over the politics of the past, is that he also shows himself to be condescending. This man is forever on the internet telling people, particularly young women, that they are wrong. He is, in other words, both a mansplainer and a sea lion. | The most notable thing about the centrist dad, other than the fact that a large part of his prefrontal cortex remains in 1997, clutching a can of Grolsch as he sways along tearfully to D:Ream’s Things Can Only Get Better hankering over the politics of the past, is that he also shows himself to be condescending. This man is forever on the internet telling people, particularly young women, that they are wrong. He is, in other words, both a mansplainer and a sea lion. |
| It’s important to state here that #notalldadsare mansplainers. However, I once met a woman whose father attempted to explain antibiotics to her over dinner (she is 34), so it’s clearly an issue. Even my own excellent father is not immune to this affliction, attempting as he did recently to mansplain Engels to my aunt, who defected from communist Czechoslovakia. But in his defence, it was a wedding, and we were all hammered. | It’s important to state here that #notalldadsare mansplainers. However, I once met a woman whose father attempted to explain antibiotics to her over dinner (she is 34), so it’s clearly an issue. Even my own excellent father is not immune to this affliction, attempting as he did recently to mansplain Engels to my aunt, who defected from communist Czechoslovakia. But in his defence, it was a wedding, and we were all hammered. |
| This man is forever telling people, particularly young women, that they are wrong on the internet | This man is forever telling people, particularly young women, that they are wrong on the internet |
| Similarly, not all mansplainers are centrist dads. Indeed, I have found that some of the worst mansplainers are politically to the left, and are, in fact, the same brocialists and manarchists who decry the obnoxiousness of the centrist dad, yet amusingly fail to note similar patterns of behaviour in their own social media activity. No matter. We women know. | Similarly, not all mansplainers are centrist dads. Indeed, I have found that some of the worst mansplainers are politically to the left, and are, in fact, the same brocialists and manarchists who decry the obnoxiousness of the centrist dad, yet amusingly fail to note similar patterns of behaviour in their own social media activity. No matter. We women know. |
| Finally, while most centrist dads are men, in this age of gender fluidity it’s important to acknowledge that the spirit of the centrist dad can reside within women too. It’s a way of being, a philosophy, not a fixed case of human biology, yeah? Either way, male or female, they walk among us, and it is important not to be too harsh on them (some of my best colleagues are centrist dads). | Finally, while most centrist dads are men, in this age of gender fluidity it’s important to acknowledge that the spirit of the centrist dad can reside within women too. It’s a way of being, a philosophy, not a fixed case of human biology, yeah? Either way, male or female, they walk among us, and it is important not to be too harsh on them (some of my best colleagues are centrist dads). |
| The centrist dad is defensive, though he tries to hide this by being outwardly engaged in attempting to reclaim the term. But be warned: centrist dads bruise easily. And right now, they are hurting. A cult has taken over their Labour party, and they may never regain control. The pain of seeing the neoliberalism they so lovingly embraced rejected by the younger generation is making them crabby, and they are lashing out. Whatever happened to common sense, they wonder? Whatever happened to the dream of PFI? Where did all the “filthy rich” business leaders go? And why isn’t Badly Drawn Boy releasing any more albums? | The centrist dad is defensive, though he tries to hide this by being outwardly engaged in attempting to reclaim the term. But be warned: centrist dads bruise easily. And right now, they are hurting. A cult has taken over their Labour party, and they may never regain control. The pain of seeing the neoliberalism they so lovingly embraced rejected by the younger generation is making them crabby, and they are lashing out. Whatever happened to common sense, they wonder? Whatever happened to the dream of PFI? Where did all the “filthy rich” business leaders go? And why isn’t Badly Drawn Boy releasing any more albums? |
| But forgive the centrist dad, for these poor lambs know not what they do. And, as the left knows only too well, it’s mighty chilly and lonely out there in the wilderness. | But forgive the centrist dad, for these poor lambs know not what they do. And, as the left knows only too well, it’s mighty chilly and lonely out there in the wilderness. |
| • Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a Guardian columnist | • Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a Guardian columnist |
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