With the U.S. presidential election a mere 48 hours away, I want to take the opportunity to reclaim a piece of language that I feel has been wrongly taken from the American vocabulary by neo-liberals and neo-conservatives alike and used for the purposes of dividing people and closing conversations.  This kind of double-speak is not uncommon in U.S. society, and one need only consider the new connotations of words such as “freedom,” “patriotism,” and “democracy” to get the gist of how words can be distorted and appropriated by power-wielders for unethical purposes.  Lately, the word “bitter,” the focus of today’s blog, has gotten a bad rap in American society.  I find its recent appropriation to be similar to the ways in which “freedom” and “patriotism” have been distorted into terms that discourage folks from questioning the U.S. government for fear of being considered anti-American. 

Back in the spring during the presidential primaries, the word “bitter,” a word to which I frankly had never given much thought, was twisted into an insult.  Hillary Clinton had picked up on a statement made by Barack Obama that was something to the effect of “Americans bitterly cling to religion and guns.”  Recently, this word has resurfaced on the campaign pulpits as Republic candidates McCain and Palin scramble to gain footing through negative campaigning.  Back in the spring, when Hillary first stole the word “bitter” from my vocabulary, it angered me, and I wanted to take a stand against this type of misuse of language, but I couldn’t find words to explain this theft.  After all, the word was not gone.  I could still use it, but somehow it felt dirty.  Now, as I mentally prepare myself for the upcoming election on Tuesday, I want to explain and reclaim this word and show why bitterness is not un-American, and in fact, it is necessary for moving us forward as a nation.

Over the past year in the political arena the word “bitterness” has been conflated to mean something to the effect of “anger and cynicism to the point of nihilism.”  In effect, being bitter has become an insult of magnanimous proportions, particularly to low to moderate income Americans who are most hurt by U.S. domestic policies and could most benefit from what embracing the power of bitterness could bring.  “Bitter,” the root of which comes from the word “bite,” implies not just a state of being but a physical action (or reaction) and a resulting sensation.  Implicit in the word bite is aggression and pain, but also biting as in food and sustenance.  Furthermore, the word bite implies a relationship—in order for one to bite, something else must be bitten.  In this regard, bitter is very similar.  Consider some of the many definitions of the word “bitter” pulled quickly off the Web:
1)    One of four of the basic taste sensations—acrid, unpleasant, or disagreeable.
2)    Distasteful or distressing to the mind.
3)    Marked by intensity or severity, accompanied by severe pain and suffering.
4)    Being relentlessly determined.
5)    Exhibiting intense animosity.
6)    Harshly reproachful.
7)    Marked by cynicism and rancor.
8)    Intensely unpleasant especially in coldness or rawness.
9)    Expressive of severe pain, grief, or regret.

The “bitter” we have been hearing over the past year has for the most part been derivative of definitions 4-7.  Particularly absent in the way the word has been appropriated are definitions 1-3 and 8-9.  Thus, “bitter” has become a negative, monotone, chronic human condition rather than a relationship or reaction of someone with or toward something else.  The marked difference between definitions 4-7 and the remainder is the absence or presence of an implied relational object.  So for example, in definition #1 a food that is bitter has no bitterness until a person actually bites and tastes that bitterness.  Likewise, a person can’t experience the taste of bitterness unless they are actually placing the food into his or her mouth. Without both subject and object, bitterness does not exist.  And furthermore, a person identifies the object’s bitterness in relation to previous experiences with foods that were not bitter.  Without “not bitter” there is also no such thing as bitter. We can see this same relational undertone in definitions 2,3, 8, and 9. 

As another example, in #9 a person will not feel bitter from grief unless they have experienced the loss of someone or something dear to them.  Without the object in question, there is no opportunity for loss or grief, thus no resulting bitterness.  Or without a dear relationship with the object in question, there would be no bitterness that resulted from having lost the “sweetness” of the relationship.  In definitions 4-7, however, there is no implied object; there is only a human subject in a state of bitterness.  Thus, as people are described as simply bitter, the relationship between the subject and object of bitterness is dissolved and the person who has been described as bitter has no way of naming the source of bitterness because it is no longer relational, it is now simply a human attribute.  In effect, “bitter” has been diffused and can no longer be used as a word for naming an unpleasant (and perhaps oppressive) relationship; it can only be used for name-calling an unpleasant person. 

In its relational form, however, bitter is indeed a powerful word because enables us to a) identify sources of bitterness, and b) also define what or who is not bitter.  So for example, in our current economy a worker may be bitter because he has lost his job or his home.  A person may be bitter because she cannot receive medical care because she does not have health insurance.  A person may be bitter because his retirement investments have drastically declined in the teetering stock market.  A person may be bitter because Exxon Mobile made record profits while she can’t afford to fill her gas tank.  And so on, and so forth.  Strikingly absent from the new connotation of bitterness that we have heard on the campaign trail is the human suffering from which it is spawned.  Common to definitions 2, 3, 8 and 9 is the severe pain that comes along with feeling bitter.  And I believe that many people in the U.S. are bitter, but not as a state of being, rather as the result of the pain of, among other things, being trapped in an abusive relationship with a government that should protect and nurture them but does not.

As I reclaim the word bitterness by opening it up for consideration and conversation, I wish to remind my readers that bitterness is not always bad.  First of all, without bitterness we would not know sweetness.  (If there was one thing I got from my undergraduate education, it was when Shakespeare pointed this out in Romeo and Juliet—parting is such sweet sorrow!)  Without pain there is no pleasure.  Without tears there is no laughter.  Without bitterness there would be no need for change.  In that regard, bitterness can be a mobilizing force.  When I think of bitterness, I also think of the medicinal properties of bitter things.  In both eastern and western medicine bitter herbs have traditionally been used for their cleansing, antiseptic and healing effects.  Examples of this are aloe, gentian, saffron, horseradish, dandelion, myrhh, chocolate, coffee, and many more.  They are known for having pain-relieving effects, anti-inflammatory effects, anti-cancer effects.  They stimulate digestion and improve elimination.  They are known as good accompaniments to heavy or fatty meals (as in the espresso and sambuca served after big meals by my Italian side of the family). 

My point is that “bitterness” as I wish for it to become known is necessary, not shameful.  It enables us to critique, to digest, to settle the stomach, to ease inflammation, to clean wounds, and to heal.  I reclaim my right to bitterness, because I believe that it is through bitterness that we can learn what it means to taste sweetness.  It is through experiencing bitterness that we will seek to change and heal ourselves.  And it is with the taste of bitterness in my mouth, pain in my heart, and the hope that maybe our country can begin to heal that on Tuesday I will cast my ballot.