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A new word usually emerges out of an attempt to describe an action or activity which is prominent in the minds of the public. Keyboarding, for instance, has replaced typing in our vocabulary as the use of computers has replaced the use of typewriters for the most part.
To kneecap is one of those new words. I found it while browsing one of my favorite blogs, WordSpy, written by Paul McFedries. While the graphic I have used may have led you to believe that I was going to reference an orthopedic process, the use of kneecap, in this instance, is about a nasty process more related to politics and public comment. To kneecap someone is to undertake a plan to destroy the name and reputation of someone in a vicious way.
During the presidential campaign of Senator John Kerry in 2004, for instance, a group known as Swiftboat developed a publicity campaign to lead the people of the US to believe that Senator Kerry's claims about his Vietnam war experience were false. Coupling their well-financed claims with the fact that he became an opponent of the Vietnam War undermined his candidacy and contributed to his loss in the election. He was kneecapped.
The word is taken from popular references to mob tactics in which a person is shot in the kneecap to cripple them and prevent them from functioning. The Al Capone era in Chicago popularized the technique (according to mob literature). However, it is not unknown in current urban criminal activity, either.
Political campaign energy has ramped up dramatically with the advent of 24 hour news shows, radio talk shows, and popular personal communication tools. Anybody can have access to tens of thousands of people instantly, with very little oversight. A whole new industry of fact checking has arisen in news media circles, but with limited ability to overcome false claims or slanted reporting. Once a message is "out there" it is unlikely that the truth or fiction of the report can be verified before it becomes part of the popular mythology.
Political campaigns in small, seemingly-insignificant districts have ramped up in cost, sometimes costing millions of dollars. Television, radio and print media depend heavily upon campaign purchases in order to survive. As a result the pubilc is blasted with all kinds of reporting, some of which is purely kneecapping. with the intent to injure or destroy the campaign of candidates, depending upon whose campaign finance chest is larger. More and more, political campaigns are won or lost based upon criteria which have little to do with the quality of the candidate or the candidate's capabilities.
I doubt that the word kneecap (used in this way) will enter the public lexicon in other than election years, and then only infrequently. But it is a colorful word, capable of expressing a practice which is graphic and chilling.
Photo credit: Medical Multimedia Group
It surely IS a colorful word. I hadn't heard it. My husband was quite literally kneecapped during a skiing accident a few years back, so this really resonates. Knees AND reputations are hard to repair (and render the victim virtually unfunctional). It's just so INTERESTING ... all these words with political bents.
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