In Defense of the 鈥淲eird鈥�

Republicans, as you鈥檝e probably heard, are being called 鈥渨eird.鈥�

In a quip that launched a million memes, Minnesota Governor鈥搕urned鈥揤P candidate Tim Walz referred to his right-wing political opposition as 鈥渨eird people鈥� in a July 23, 2024, .

Since then, the barb has stuck, with leading Democratic party figures, from Senate Majority Leader to presidential nominee , branding their Republican opposition with the moniker.

Of course, in a classic deployment of the 鈥淚 know you are, but what am I?鈥� retort, the Republicans have tried to flip the script.

鈥淵ou know what鈥檚 really weird?鈥� . 鈥淪oft on crime politicians like Kamala allowing illegal aliens out of prison so they can violently assault Americans.鈥� And in an interview with conservative radio host Clay Travis, , 鈥淭hey鈥檙e the weird ones. Nobody鈥檚 ever called me weird. I鈥檓 a lot of things, but weird I鈥檓 not.鈥�

While I get why both sides are hurling weird bombs at each other, I鈥檓 nevertheless not on board with all the 鈥渨eird shaming.鈥� It isn鈥檛 just hypocritical for each party to claim to speak on behalf of the forgotten and marginalized while mockingly calling the other side 鈥渨eird.鈥� It鈥檚 also deeply regressive.

The weird, I would argue, deserve respect. As someone who has spent the past three decades researching, writing about, and teaching topics including vampires, ghosts, monsters, cult films, and what gets categorized as 鈥渨eird fiction,鈥� .

鈥淲yrd鈥� History

When politicians use the term weird, they鈥檙e trying to depict their opponents as odd or strange. However, the origins of the term are much more expansive and profound.

The Old English wyrd, from which the contemporary usage is derived, in fact was a noun corresponding to fate or destiny. 鈥溾€� signified the forces directing the course of human affairs鈥攁n understanding reflected, for example, by Shakespeare鈥檚 three prophetic 鈥渨eird sisters鈥� in . An individual鈥檚鈥渨eird鈥� was their fate, while use of the term weird as an adjective connoted the supernatural power to manipulate human destiny.

Despite the progressive generalization of the term to refer to all things strange, fantastic, and unusual, resonances of the weird鈥檚鈥渨yrd鈥� origins are retained by what has come to be called 鈥�,鈥� a subgenre of speculative fiction.

The weird tale, explained early 20th-century writer in his 1927 treatise 鈥�,鈥� is one that challenges our taken-for-granted understandings of how the world works. It does this through鈥攖o use Lovecraft鈥檚 characteristic purple prose鈥攁鈥渕align and particular suspension or defeat of those fixed laws of Nature which are our only safeguards against the assaults of chaos and the daemons of unplumbed space.鈥�

A statue of horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, sculpted by the artist Gage Prentiss, sits in Providence, Rhode Island, where the author was born and lived for many years.聽*Photo by ,听*

The weird tale pushes back against human pretensions of grandeur, hinting at just how much we don鈥檛 know about the universe and just how precarious our situation truly is.

Meanwhile, the freaks, geeks, outsiders, misfits, and mavericks are weirdos who push back in a different way. They are the nonconformists whom, as Ralph Waldo Emerson pointed out in his 1841 essay 鈥�,鈥� 鈥渢he world whips 鈥� with its displeasure.鈥�

Where would we be, I wonder, without the artists and scientists and thinkers developing 鈥渨eird鈥� ideas and unorthodox ways to see and appreciate the world?

In this sense, nearly all progress is part of weird history, propelled by visionaries frequently misunderstood in their own time.

From Denigration to Celebration

Of course, not all weirdos change the world through grand gestures and history-altering interventions; sometimes weirdos just do their own thing.

That, too, has been a large part of the story of the past century, as Western culture has increasingly鈥攊f reluctantly鈥攎ade room for once-unorthodox or even taboo forms of self-expression, to.

Proliferating subcultures, gender identities, and forms of self-expression鈥攁lthough no doubt propelled by capitalist market forces鈥攏evertheless demonstrate the premium placed today on individualism.

In fact, pop culture has been keen to invite historical weirdos back into the fold鈥攕o much so that vampires, ogres, and fairy-tale villains from 鈥淪leeping Beauty鈥� now enlist audiences鈥� sympathies by telling their side of the story.

The true villains are now often seen as those who demonize difference and insist on straight-jacketing individual freedom of expression. Many contemporary monsters aren鈥檛 bad, 鈥攁nd their monstrous behavior results from being bullied, excluded, insulted and rejected for being 鈥渨eird.鈥�

Reclaiming Weird

However sincerely felt, the Democrats鈥� deployment of the weird characterization is, of course, strategic.

Walz鈥檚 barb clearly managed to get under the skin of a crowd for whom the idea of not being 鈥渘ormal鈥� is apparently distressing鈥攁nd it is for this reason, I believe, that the Democrats have repeatedly tried to make the idea stick.

Historian of political rhetoric , 鈥淭he opposite of normalizing authoritarianism is to make it weird, to call it out and to sort of mock it.鈥� Said another way, to refer to your opposition and their policies as 鈥渨eird鈥� is to denigrate it as abnormal.

Political expediency, however, comes with consequences鈥攁nd here, much to my dismay, I find myself agreeing with Vivek Ramaswamy鈥攖he conservative entrepreneur who unsuccessfully ran for the Republican presidential nomination.

Ramaswamy that the weird insults are 鈥渁 tad ironic coming from the party that preaches 鈥榙iversity & inclusion.鈥欌€� Ironic puts it mildly.

This whole 鈥渢hey鈥檙e weird鈥� argument from the Democrats is dumb & juvenile. This is a presidential election, not a high school prom queen contest. It鈥檚 also a tad ironic coming from the party that preaches 鈥渄iversity & inclusion.鈥� Win on policy if you can, but cut the crap please.
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy)

While there may well be utility in deploying the term 鈥渨eird鈥� to frustrate political opponents, I鈥檇 prefer to reclaim the weird as something to appreciate, respect, and celebrate.

The weird is that which introduces cracks into the edifice of the status quo, liberating possibilities for different futures and forms of expression. There are many different, more specific adjectives politicians and others can use to characterize their rivals.

Let鈥檚 keep America weird.

This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. Read the .

Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock is a professor of English at Central Michigan University, the Los Angeles Review of Books鈥� associate editor in charge of horror, the founder and president of the Society for the Study of the American Gothic, the founder and general editor of the peer-reviewed journal American Gothic Studies, and the co-founder and past chair of the Modern Language Association鈥檚 Gothic Studies Forum. He is the author or editor of 32 books and more than 100 essays and book chapters on the Gothic, American literature, cult film, and pop culture.

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