How many times has a discussion escalated into an argument,
or an argument into violence, with the hurling of insults? It seems we human
beings never outgrow the impulse to call people who disagree with us nasty
names. There have been enough compilations of creative, gleeful, or historical
insults to fill entire libraries. We so much enjoy our own cleverness that we blithely
ignore whether calling someone names actually encourages them to change their
behavior or whether it firmly cements their own negative opinion of us and
their determination to not do
whatever it is we want. The words we use and the comparisons we make say as
much about us as about those we are insulting. The same is true for characters
in fiction.
Let’s accept as given that the purpose of insults is not
reconciliation. If that were true, we’d have long since achieved peace in the
Middle East, not to mention a few dozen other places around the globe. What are
the other possibilities?
- Venting ill temper, including displaced aggression – that’s the man who kicks his dog instead of his boss, the real target of his anger.
- Showing off for a third party.
- Parroting what has been said by those the character respects.
- Being out of control. If violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, then surely hurling insults is an expression of frustration in a person who simply can’t come up with a constructive response.
- Trying to provoke a reaction, whether it’s loss of control in the other character or an escalation of violence.
- Justifying previous ill-treatment of the person being insulted.
